LDN - Sports

Golf glance

[March 07, 2017] By Tom LaMarre, The Sports Xchange

COMING UP

PGA TOUR: Valspar Championship on the Copperhead Course at Innisbrook Resort and Golf Club in Palm Harbor, Fla., Thursday through Sunday.

TV: Thursday and Friday, 2-6 p.m. EST on the Golf Channel; Saturday, 1-3 p.m. EST on the Golf Channel and 3-6 p.m. EST on NBC; and Sunday, 1-3 p.m. EDT on the Golf Channel and 3-6 p.m. EDT on NBC.

LAST YEAR: Charl Schwartzel of South Africa claimed his second PGA Tour victory, and first since the 2011 Masters, by making a par on the first playoff hole to turn back Bill Haas, who made a bogey after hitting his approach shot into a greenside bunker and could not get up and down for par. Schwartzel, who has 15 victories as a pro, came from five strokes behind in the final round with a 4-under-par 67, sinking birdie putts of 65 feet on the 13th hole and 25 feet on the 17th to tie for the lead. Haas, who took the lead into the final day after playing the middle rounds in 67-67, could manage only a closing 72 but still held a two-stroke lead before making a bogey on the 16th hole.

PGA TOUR CHAMPIONS: Tucson Conquistadores Championship Classic at Omni Tucson National in Tucson, Ariz., March 17-19.

TV: Friday, 9:30-1:30 p.m. EDT; Saturday and Sunday, 5-7 p.m. EDT; on the Golf Channel each day.

LAST YEAR: Woody Austin won for the first time on the Champions Tour in his 28th start, salvaging a bogey after hitting his tee shot into the water on the final hole to beat Jim Carter by one stroke. Austin, who added two victories later in the season on the senior circuit after winning four times in his PGA Tour career, took the lead in his closing 7-under-par 65 when he holed his third shot for an eagle on the 15th hole. He also opened with a 65 and had a 70 in round two. Carter, still looking for his first Champions Tour victory after winning once on the PGA Tour, shot 63 in round two, but his closing birdie in a final-round 68 left him one shot short.

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LPGA TOUR: Bank of Hope Founders Cup at Wildfire Golf Club at JW Marriott Phoenix Desert Ridge Resort in Phoenix, March 16-19.

TV: Thursday through Saturday, 6-9 p.m. EDT; Sunday, 7-9 p.m. EDT; on the Golf Channel each day.

LAST YEAR: Sei Young Kim of South Korea, 2015 Louise Suggs Rookie of the Year on the LPGA Tour, closed with a bogey-free, 10-under-par 62 -- including an eagle on the 11th hole -- to win by five strokes over top-ranked Lydia Ko of New Zealand. Kim, who won three times on the circuit as a rookie, claimed the first of her two victories in 2016 and tied the tournament record of 27-under 261 set by Annika Sorenstam in 2001, when the Swede became the first and still only player to shoot 59 on the circuit in the second round of what was then the Standard Register Ping. Kim, who has five victories on the LPGA of Korea Tour, opened with a 63 and led almost from wire to wire.

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