Love, Els atop leaderboard at MCI Classic
Love, Els atop leaderboard at MCI Classic
HILTON HEAD, South Carolina (AFP): Ernie Els, trying to put his Masters disappointment behind him, trailed halfway leader -- and four-time winner -- Davis Love by one stroke after Saturday's chilly second round of the MCI Classic.
South Africa's Els, let down by his putter at Augusta as he finished runner-up to Fiji's Vijay Singh on Sunday, carded a 67 for 135, one shot behind Love, whose five-under 66 put him at 134.
Love, looking for his first PGA Tour win since he triumphed here in 1998, eagled the par-four 16th and nabbed a birdie at 18 that "probably felt like an eagle" after his double-bogey there on Thursday.
"Davis knows this place pretty well," Els said. "So I just kind of followed him around today."
Their group started on the 10th, and Love sealed his round with a 15-foot birdie at the ninth.
"He looks very comfortable out there," Els said. "He plays the safe shot off the tee, and he knows where the greens are running to."
"It's nice to put two good rounds together, and I'm still looking for the four good ones," Love said. "I haven't done it this year, even really last year."
"But, you know ... a one-stroke lead over Ernie Els is certainly nothing to get all excited about."
Els' stayed in touch with back-to-back birdies to start his back nine, and made an eight-footer to save par at the ninth.
"I played pretty solid," he said. "I thought it was pretty cold out there today. We had no wind, which was good for us, especially the way we finished yesterday."
Asked if he remembered tougher conditions during an event in the United States, Els said, "Yeah, Saturday at Augusta."
Steve Lowery successfully battled the conditions, rocketing up the leaderboard with a 64 for 137, joining a group sharing third that also included Notah Begay (66) and Dan Forsman (71).
Lowery, whose lone U.S. tour victory was six years ago, birdied four of his first five holes and three of his last four as he shaved nine strokes off his first-round 73.
"I could beat anybody today, and yesterday I couldn't beat anybody," he offered by way of explanation. "That's golf."
Seve Ballesteros
In Sunningdale, England, torrential rain has delayed the start of the second day's play in the inaugural Seve Ballesteros Trophy, the Press Association reported on Saturday.
Play was scheduled to start at 8:10 a.m. local time with the second set of fourballs - but heavy rain during the night of Friday to Saturday and Saturday morning left greens and bunkers under water.
Weather permitting the fourballs will now start at noon with the contest finely poised at 4-4 after Friday play.
Earlier Friday, Sergio Garcia led Europe back to a 4-4 tie against Britain and Ireland on the first day.
Britain and Ireland won the morning foursomes 3-1 but Europe took the fourballs 3-1. Four more fourballs and four greensomes - where all four players drive before each pair plays alternate shots with the preferred drive - will be followed on Sunday by 10 singles in the Ryder Cup-style event.
The 20-year-old Garcia won both his matches, linking with Jarmo Sandelin of Sweden to overcome European captain Colin Montgomerie and British Open champion Paul Lawrie 3 and 2 in the afternoon fourballs.
Garcia, who had to be persuaded to play by his captain, Ballesteros, because of a schedule conflict, was in spectacular form in the afternoon with two eagles on his card.
The first was from 20 feet on the first, the second came when he holed from a greenside bunker at the 273-yard par-4 ninth.
Sandelin also had an eagle after a five-wood second shot to two feet at the 14th and he and Garcia were 10 under par. In the morning, Garcia and Frenchman Jean Van de Velde beat Lawrie and Gary Orr 3 and 2.
Garcia had intended to play the MCI Heritage Classic on the U.S. Tour this week and hesitated to commit to this new event because of a dispute with European Tour officials.
But Ballesteros persuaded him to change his mind.
"I felt I had to do it because Seve has helped me so much. I think my place was here," Garcia said.
"Sergio played very well. He likes this format, as we found at the last Ryder Cup," Montgomerie said. Garcia also won both his matches on the first day at Brookline last September.
Facing the loss of the morning foursomes, Ballesteros injected himself into the fourball lineup. But he and Jose Maria Olazabal, his former Ryder Cup partner, could not handle Englishmen Lee Westwood and David Howell and lost 2 and 1.
But the other three European partnerships came through.
Thomas Bjorn of Denmark atoned for missing a two-foot putt at the last in the morning to join with Miguel Angel Jimenez of Spain in a 2 and 1 success over Darren Clarke and John Bickerton.
And Germans Bernhard Langer and Alex Cejka made up for a loss in the foursomes to beat Ian Woosnam and Padraig Harrington 2 and 1 in the fourballs.
Ballesteros, a former world number one, has slipped to number 590 in the rankings and admitted he played like it.
"I played four or five good holes then four or five bad ones. Inconsistent but not bad for match play," he said.
In partnership with Olazabal, they won 11 matches, lost two and drew two when they played together in four Ryder Cups from 1987 to 1993.
Bjorn, playing with Robert Karlsson of Sweden, cost Europe a valuable half point in the foursomes when he missed a two-foot putt on the final hole to lose to Padraig Harrington of Ireland and Welshman Phillip Price.
Montgomerie, the world number three, thought that full point could be vital.
"To be 3-1 instead of 2-2 makes a big, big difference," the Scot said.
And so it proved.
Bjorn and Karlsson led by one hole with three to play, but Bjorn missed the green at the 438-yard 16th and dropped the hole with a bogey.
Montgomerie and Ian Woosnam won the opening match against Spaniards Olazabal and Miguel Angel Jimenez after Woosnam put them two holes up with a 20-foot eagle putt at the 14th.
Van de Velde, golf's most famous loser for throwing away the British Open title last year, gained a small measure of revenge when he and Garcia beat Open Lawrie and fellow-Scot Orr 3 and 2.
Ballesteros was delighted at how the day went in the event bearing his name, with large crowds on the Sunningdale course in the stockbroker belt west of London.
"I felt like the players are the chicken and the people are the sauce," he said. "If you have chicken with no sauce it doesn't taste very good, does it?"
"I was happy to see so many spectators and their response was great. It felt like the Ryder Cup."
Results
MCI Classic (USA unless noted): 134 - Davis Love 68-66 135 - Ernie Els (Rsa) 68-67 137 - Steve Lowery 73-64, Notah Begay 71-66, Dan Forsman 66-71 138 - Brad Fabel 71-67, Frank Nobilo (Nzl) 69-69 139 - Stewart Cink 71-68, Tim Herron 68-71, John Huston 71-68,
Jesper Parnevik (Swe) 70-69 140 - Paul Azinger 70-70, Jay Don Blake 73-67, Robert Friend 71-
69, Fred Funk 71-69, Jimmy Green 71-69, Jonathan Kaye 73-
67, Tom Lehman 70-70 141 - Edward Fryatt (Gbr) 67-74 142 - Nick Price (Zim) 75-67, Greg Chalmers (Aus) 72-70 143 - Carlos Franco (Par) 73-70 144 - Esteban Toledo (Mex) 75-69, Retief Goosen (Rsa) 71-73
Failed to qualify 145 - Nick Faldo (Gbr) 72-73, David Frost (Rsa) 74-71 146 - Shigeki Maruyama (Jpn) 72-74 147 - Robert Allenby (Aus) 70-77, Stephen Ames (Tri) 76-71 148 - Bradley Hughes (Aus) 75-73 150 - Fulton Allem (Rsa) 76-74, Trevor Dodds (Nam) 76-74 154 - Sandy Lyle (Gbr) 74-80 158 - Wayne Grady (Aus) 80-78, Gabriel Hjertstedt (Swe) 80-WD