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| February 12, 2006 | Sunday | Muharram 13, 1427 |
Stadler regains lead by two strokes
PERTH, Feb 11: American Kevin Stadler eagled the last hole of the day to regain control of the 2.1 million US dollar Classic Saturday, wresting a two-stroke overnight lead from Korean KJ Choi.
Stadler finished the round with a six-under par 66 to be two-shots clear of Choi and Australian Richard Green, both 15-under for the tournament after the third round.
Italian Francesco Molinari also made his move on the field with a 66 to draw equal fourth with Australians Nick O’Hern and Gavin Flint, all locked on 14-under.
Stadler’s eagle was helped by an earlier chip shot into the hole on the fifth for a birdie.
Stadler, the son of 1982 US Masters champion Craig Stadler, said scores had been lower throughout the round because overnight watering had softened the course at the Vines Resort and Country Club.
He said if conditions remained the same on Sunday, it would take at least a 20-under par total to be in contention to take the title.
The leaderboard was in a state of flux throughout the day with Choi setting the early pace with a birdie on the first and an eagle on the third.
But the top-ranked Korean said he had not been comfortable in the hot and humid conditions, making a double-bogey on the par-four eighth to blow out his round to a two-under 70.
Molinari, 48th after day one, almost blew his round on the 18th when he had to take off his shoes and socks and venture into a water trap to play his second shot, after almost landing in it off the tee.
American veteran Fred Couples also stayed within striking distance of the field, holding equal seventh with Australian Craig Parry after carding a seven-under round of 65 to be 13 under for the tournament.
World number 10 and defending champion Adam Scott, who had been tied for third place overnight with fellow Australians Green and Tony Carolan, dropped back to 11th with four other players after carding a 70.
Carolan fared even worse, returning a disastrous three-over 75 to fall to equal 36th.
Third round scores:
199 - Kevin Stadler 64-69-66
201 - KJ Choi 65-66-70, Richard Green 66-69-66
202 - Nick O’Hern 67-71-64, Francesco Molinari 71-65-66, Gavin Flint 72-64-66
203 - Craig Parry 68-70-65, Fred Couples 71-67-65
204 - Paul Casey 68-69-67, Ross Fisher 69-67-68
205 - Nick Flanagan 72-68-66, David Diaz 69-72-64, Chris Campbell 71-67-67, Gary Simpson 75-63-67, Ian Poulter 70-66-69, Adam Scott 64-71-70
206 - Kim Felton 71-68-67, Oliver Wilson 72-68-66, Raphael Jacquelin 70-69-67, Peter O’Malley 69-70-67, Shiv Kapur 68-71-67, Robert Allenby 69-68-69, Sung-Man Lee 71-71-64, Nick Flanagan 75-63-67
207 - Steve Webster 71-68-68, Brett Rumford 67-71-69, Stephen Gallacher 71-66-70
208 - Mark Foster 70-69-69, Soren Kjeldsen 70-71-67, Stephen Allan 72-69-67, Prayad Marksaeng 66-72-70, Peter Senior 68-68-72
209 - Leigh McKechnie 73-66-70, Bradley Iles 68-74-67, Andrew Buckle 73-69-67
210 - Richard Finch 72-67-71, Ian Garbutt 71-69-70, Robert Karlsson 72-69-69, Ewan Porter 67-74-69, Anthony Wall 72-67-71, Scott Gardiner 70-66-74, Tony Carolan 66-69-75
211 - Ter-Chang Wang 73-66-72, Gary Emerson 70-70-71, John Bickerton 72-69-70, Sam Little 70-71-70, Marcus Fraser 67-71-73
212 - Terry Pilkadaris 68-72-72, Angel Cabrera 73-68-71, Phillip Archer (ENG) 72-70-70, Peter Hanson 73-69-70
213 - Paul Sheehan 69-70-74, Cameron Percy 71-70-72, Jean Van De Velde 66-76-71, Graeme Storm 74-68-71, Lucas Parsons 69-73-71, Mardan Mamat 72-70-71
214 - Joakim Haeggman 70-71-73, Jarrod Moseley 71-70-73, Simon Wakefield (ENG) 70-72-72
215 - Andrew Marshall 70-69-76, Michael Long 73-69-73, Simon Yates (SCO) 72-70-73
217 - Maarten Lafeber 73-69-75
218 - Ryan Haller 72-69-77
Weir seizes lead
PEBBLE BEACH (California): Canadian Mike Weir nabbed three birdies in his last three holes to emerge with a three-shot lead after two rounds of the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am here Friday.
But the former Masters champion knows it won’t be easy to carry that momentum on to the toughest course of the three used in the 5.3 million-dollar event, when he tackles Spyglass Hill on Saturday.
Weir, runner-up here last year, fired a 67 for a 14-under total of 130, three strokes in front of Aaron Oberholser.
Weir was already leading, but gave himself a nice cushion. He made a six-foot putt at No. 7, a 40-foot putt at the eighth and nearly made eagle on the last hole when his 25-foot putt just missed.
That success, he hopes, may override his negative memories over Spyglass.
Not helping Weir though is the weather, which has seen Spyglass get tougher as the tournament progresses.
Oberholser was one of those at Spyglass and was amazed he shot a 68, the second best score of the day at the course.
Byrd was playing Pebble Beach, that had the same weather, but with no wind put up little defense. Byrd took advantage of it. His 65 tied for the low round of the day. US Ryder Cup Captain, Tom Lehman also shot 65 and is tied for 11th.
Defending champion, Phil Mickelson struggled at Spyglass Hill, shooting a two-over par 74 and dropped to three-under for the event, 11 shots behind Weir.
Second round scores:
130 - Mike Weir 63-67
133 - Arron Oberholser 65-68
134 - Jonathan Byrd 69-65, Luke Donald 62-72, Fredrik Jacobson 67-67
136 - Michael Allen 65-71, Greg Chalmers 66-70, Davis Love 69-67, Nick Watney 65-71, Mark Wilson 68-68
137 - Alex Aragon 68-69, Craig Barlow 69-68, Tim Clark 66-71, John Cook 67-70, Chris DiMarco 68-69, Robert Garrigus 68-69, Tom Lehman 72-65, Jerry Smith 69-68, Darron Stiles 66-71
138 - Daniel Chopra 71-67, Brian Davis 66-72, Brendan Jones 67-71, Jon Mills 71-67, Jose Maria Olazabal 71-67, Rory Sabbatini 69-69.—Agencies
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