Published : Aug. 18, 2013 - 20:05
GREENSBORO, North Carolina (AP) ― John Huh refused to let tough conditions ― and one terrible hole ― get him down. He was rewarded with a share of the lead at the Wyndham Championship.
The PGA Tour’s reigning rookie of the year shot an even-par 70 on Saturday and joined Patrick Reed atop the field after a soggy third round. Huh and Reed, the second-round leader who shot a 71, were at 10-under 200.
Huh shook off a triple bogey on his second hole, making up for it with three birdies in a four-hole stretch of the back nine.
John Huh hits out of a bunker during the third round of the Wyndham Championship. (AP-Yonhap News)
“Since the rain picked it up this morning, it wasn’t easy for us to play out there, but I told myself, ‘Be patient, stay dry and keep grinding out there,’” Huh said.
Zach Johnson had the day’s best round ― a 66 ― and was one stroke back along with Bob Estes and John Deere winner Jordan Spieth. Estes shot 68, and Spieth had a 70.
Eight players were within two shots of the lead.
“It’s a Monday qualifier,” Reed said. “I had a lot of success at Monday qualifiers, and that’s basically what it is. I let everybody back in the field and to now, all of a sudden to have it as bunched as it is, it’s going to be whoever can make as many birdies as possible tomorrow and shoot a low number.”
Europe hangs onto Solheim lead
PARKER, Colorado (AP) ― Instead of seeing their lead disappear at the Solheim Cup, the Europeans saw it only cut in half.
They owed their slender advantage to a hole-in-one by Anna Nordqvist and a half-point from out of nowhere.
Nordqvist crashed a 7-iron on the 175-yard 17th into the pin, then the hole, to give Europe its only win in Saturday morning’s alternate-shot matches. It was the highlight of a topsy-turvy stretch of golf on the back nine that ended with Europe holding a 6 1/2-5 1/2 lead over the United States.
“It was just an unbelievable shot,” Nordqvist said after she and Caroline Hedwall beat Jessica Korda and Morgan Pressel 2 and 1. “It was the right shot at the right time.”
Pressel, who watched her dreams of a U.S. Open title disappear in 2005 when Birdie Kim holed out from a greenside bunker up the road at Cherry Hills, saw another one slip away cruelly in Colorado.
“Are you kidding me?” she said on the tee box as she watched the shot go in.
The Americans were feeling the same way in the day’s third match after letting a half-point get away.