Brian Davis chipped in for birdie at his last hole on Thursday for a six-under 65 and a one-shot lead after the first round of the PGA Tour Valspar Championship.
The Englishman, a two-time winner on the European Tour, had Americans Sean O’Hair and Ricky Barnes hot on his heels.
Sweden’s world No. 3 Henrik Stenson, Alex Cejka of Germany, Zimbabwe’s Brendon de Jonge, and Americans Justin Thomas, Derek Ernst and Nicholas Thompson shared fourth on four-under 67.
Photo: AFP
Cejka was coming off a playoff victory on Sunday at the Puerto Rico Open.
Davis, seeking his first victory on the PGA Tour, had stumbled late with bogeys at his 16th and 17th holes, the seventh and eighth at Innisbrook’s Copperhead course.
He regained sole possession of the lead when he chipped in from 25 feet.
Davis had started strong with five birdies in his first nine holes.
He got to seven-under with birdies at the par-five fifth and par-four sixth, but three-putted for bogey at the seventh, before a bogey at the par-three eighth, where he was unable to get up and down after missing the green.
He was just off the green at his closing hole, but got out of trouble with a perfectly judged chip.
“The golf course was there, no wind and fairly soft, so you have to try to make your score today if you could,” Davis said.
O’Hair set an early target with a 66 that included eight birdies and three bogeys.
The 32-year-old, who won the Valspar title in 2008, is seeking his first victory since the 2011 Canadian Open.
He admitted that returning to a course where he has won before was a confidence-builder.
“I’ve always liked this golf course,” O’Hair said. “That’s more where the confidence comes from... results from the past.”
Barnes’ six birdies included four in a row starting at the ninth, but his only bogey of the day, at the par-three 17th, cost him a share of the lead.
Stenson, playing at Innisbrook for the first time, even though he lives in Orlando — about 160km away — was pleased with what he found, especially after a bogey-free round.
“Kept my patience and kept my game plan. All in all, a good day,” Stenson said.
Defending champion John Senden of Australia carded a three-over 74 that left him tied for 114th place.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but
Taiwanese gymnast Lee Chih-kai failed to secure an Olympic berth in the pommel horse following a second-place finish at the last qualifier in Doha on Friday, a performance that Lee and his coach called “unconvincing.” The Tokyo Olympics silver medalist finished runner-up in the final after scoring 6.6 for degree of difficulty and 8.800 for execution for a combined score of 15.400. That was just 0.100 short of Jordan’s Ahmad Abu Al Soud, who had qualified for the event in Paris before the Apparatus World Cup series in Qatar’s capital. After missing the final rounds in the first two of four qualifier