Chacarra leads by 5 shots at LIV event
BANGKOK, Thailand – One of the best former amateur golfers in the world is leading after two rounds of the LIV Golf tournament in Thailand.
Ex-Oklahoma State player Eugenio Chacarra turned professional to play on the LIV series. The two-time first-team All-American was No. 2 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking before he signed a three-year contract with the Saudibacked LIV tour.
On Saturday he birdied three of his first five holes and eagled his sixth on the way to a 9-under 63 and a five-stroke lead after two rounds of the 54-hole event.
The Spanish player, one of the coleaders after the first round, had a 36hole total of 16-under 128 on the newly opened Stonehill Golf Club course north of Bangkok.
There was a four-way tie for second. First-round co-leader Richard Bland (68), Sihwan Kim (66), Harold Varner III (66) and Patrick Reed (65) were at 11 under.
Branden Grace, one of the first-round leaders with Chacarra and Bland, withdrew after three holes Saturday with an undisclosed injury.
“The conditions are great and the course is unbelievable,” Chacarra said. “But I think the key was I went back to see what I was doing in college because I was working so good and I didn’t do as good the first four weeks as a pro, and it was just try to have fun and then play to not make bogeys.
“I’m actually hitting it pretty good, but I’m playing smart and I’m having fun.”
PGA Tour
LAS VEGAS – Patrick Cantlay came within one putt of a 59, instead matching his low score on the PGA Tour for a share of the lead with 20-year-old Tom Kim going into the final round of the Shriners Children’s Open.
If the third round was any indication, anything goes on the TPC Summerlin high above the Las Vegas Strip.
Cantlay had five birdies in his opening six holes, and then poured it on again down the stretch with five birdies in a sixhole stretch that put him on the cusp of his first sub-60 round.
He had a birdie putt from just inside 25 feet that broke sharply to the right, and Cantlay played it a little too high of the cup.
It was his first 60 on tour as a pro – his other 60 was at the 2011 Travelers Championship as a 19-year-old amateur after Cantlay finished his freshman year at UCLA. Cantlay has never shot 59 even at his home course of Virginia Country Club in Long Beach, California, and he smiled when asked about the stress of his final putt.
“I would have liked to have made it, yeah,” he said.
Kim is a budding star, having won the Wyndham Championship and delivering big moments in his debut at the Presidents Cup.
He birdied five of his last six holes, sticking a wedge to 2 feet on the 18th, for a 62 that put him in a tie with Cantlay at 19-under 194.
They were three shots clear of a Mito
Pereira (67) and Matthew Ne Smith (63), with defending champion Sungjae Im (63) another shot behind.
There were nine scores of 64 or better on a perfect day for scoring. The course average for Saturday was 67.9. Perhaps another example of the low scoring was Cantlay. His group of NeSmith and S.H. Kim played so well that Cantlay never had hit first from a tee box on the back nine. NeSmith had a 63 and S.H. Kim had a 64.
European Tour
MADRID – Jon Rahm took a one-shot lead of the Spanish Open after carding a thrilling 6-under 65 in the third round.
No. 6-ranked Rahm, who entered the round two shots back, hit six birdies on an error-free day at Club de Campo Villa de Madrid.
Rahm won the Spanish Open in 2018 and 2019. A third title would tie him with Seve Ballesteros for the tournament record. Ballesteros won the last of his 50 titles on the European tour at this tournament in 1995.