ST. ANDREWS, Scotland – Daniel Willett, Llewellyn Matthews (pictured) and John Gallagher emerged victorious in England, Wales and Scotland respectively capturing national championships Saturday.

Willett, a sophomore at Jacksonville State, capped a glorious two weeks by winning the English Amateur Championship at Royal St George’s.

The 19-year-old from Rotherham, England, defeated 27-year-old Matthew Cryer, 3 and 2, in the 36-hole final. It was Willett’s second title in as many weeks. He warmed up for his national championship by winning the South of England Amateur Championship at Walton Heath by 10 shots.

“Winning this title means a lot,” Willett said. “I’ve been up there in the amateur game for a long time, but the last couple of weeks shows I am up there with the best.”

Willett’s two victories should give the Great Britain & Ireland Walker Cup selectors something to think about. GB&I captain Colin Dalgleish announces his team next week, and Willett should be considered highly.

It will be hard for Dalgleish to ignore Matthews’ claim for one of the ten Walker Cup spots. Matthews, from Southerndown Golf Club, won the Welsh Amateur Championship for the second year in a row when he defeated Ben Westgate, 2 and 1, in at Royal St. David’s.

Matthews also won the prestigious St. Andrews Links Trophy this year.

Matthews is already a member of the GB&I squad, and will be hoping his latest victory makes him one of three possible Welshmen to make the trip to Royal County Down, Northern Ireland on Sept. 8-9, along with veteran Nigel Edwards and East Tennessee State’s Rhys Davies.

Gallagher defeated Keir McNicoll, 4 and 3, at Prestwick to take the Scottish Amateur Championship.

Gallagher probably won’t make the Walker Cup team, but his victory is a win for underdogs everywhere. The Edinburgh native is unique in amateur golf as he swings cack-handed, left hand below right.

Gallagher first came to prominence two years ago when he lost in the 2005 British Amateur final to Brian McElhinney. He has suffered from a wrist injury this year, and wasn’t expected to contend at Prestwick.

“It’s an unbelievable feeling to have won,” Gallagher said. “I’ve had a very difficult year with my injury and not been able to play too much golf so this is beyond all expectations.”

Alistair Tait is a Golfweek senior writer. To reach him e-mail atait@golfweek.com.

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Tags: ANDREWS, Britain ST. ANDREWS, Daniel Willett, English, English Amateur Championship, golf, John Gallagher, Llewellyn Matthews, Royal, Scotland, team, victory

The Japanese have a special historical relationship with old-style forged irons, but that hasn’t stopped Mizuno from making some major updates to its 2009 product line.

Overall, Mizuno will release four irons for 2009, three forged and one cast. The entire Mizuno line will include seven models, six of them entirely or partially forged.

Say goodbye to the MP-32 and MP-60, two Mizuno forged blades used by hundreds of touring professionals around the world. Say hello to the MP-62, which takes the place of the 32 and 60 models in better players’ bags. Also new will be the MP-52 with an undercut cavity.

Production of the MX-25, Mizuno’s top-selling iron in the United States, also will end. In its place comes the MX-200, a forged iron with a theme of forgiveness.

The fourth new iron will be the MX-100, which incorporates hybrids into the set.

Mizuno, a huge sporting-goods company headquartered in Osaka, Japan, has produced forged irons since 1933. When most companies began switching to cast irons in the 1970s and ’80s, Mizuno remained true to its roots and stuck with forged irons.

This strategy paid off for Mizuno, in brand loyalty if not in popularity. Before Tiger Woods the professional was paid tens of millions of dollars to play Titleist forged irons and then Nike forged irons, Tiger Woods the amateur played Mizuno forged irons.

Although Woods and many other highly skilled American golfers are loyal to forged irons, it was the Japanese who fostered forged traditions when cast irons swept through the golf industry. While Americans were experimenting with castings, a large segment of Japanese consumers stuck exclusively with forgings.

And when many American companies returned to forging, they looked to Japan as the primary source of clubheads.

Japan remains the epicenter for quality forgings, despite the emergence of China as the world’s dominant producer of cast iron heads and titanium metalwood heads.

Mizuno’s MP family of forged irons is famous for its classic lines and soft feel. These irons are true blades, designed to be played by low-handicap golfers with above-average clubhead speed. Meanwhile, the MX forged family addresses the needs of serious golfers who might not have the time to practice or play as much as they would like.

Mizuno’s decision to shake up the forged-blade fraternity by replacing the MP-32 and MP-60
was not taken lightly.

“We wouldn’t do this,” said Dick Lyons, vice president and general manager of Mizuno USA Golf, “if we didn’t feel we had two fabulous new irons.”

The heritage of the MP-52 and MP-62 is directly from the PGA Tour. For starters, Mizuno engineers looked at the grinding on the MP-32s played by two of its Tour endorsers, Luke Donald and Jonathan Byrd.

The MP-62, expected to become Mizuno’s primary tour iron, resembles the irons in the bags of Donald and Byrd. The trailing edge of the narrow sole is rolled up – or rounded off – to prevent drag with the turf. It is longer heel to toe than the classic forged irons of the 1950s or ’60s, but from address it is very much an old-school forged iron.

In a nod to modern forging techniques, the MP-62 contains a shallow cavity in back – Mizuno calls it a “Dual Muscle” cavity – to promote perimeter weighting and add a measure of forgiveness.

The MP-52 is similar, albeit with a larger undercut cavity and a slightly wider sole,
beveled to roll up the trailing edge.

Suggested retail for both new MPs (eight irons) is $1,100 with Dynamic Gold steel shafts and $1,200 with Project X steel shafts.

These and the other two new irons, the MX-100 and MX-200, join three holdovers
in the line: the MP-57, MP-67 and MX-950.

MX-100 (cast, eight clubs, MSRP $850 with graphite shafts, $700 with steel): A mixture of
4- and 5-hybrids, 6- and 7-irons with an extreme pocket cavity and 8-iron through sand wedge with an undercut cavity. Uniquely, a drop-down crown on the hybrids allows them to be placed into a standard loft-and-lie machine.

MX-200 (forged, eight clubs, MSRP $1,100 with graphite shafts, $850 with new DynaLite Gold XP steel): The MX-200 features a bigger pocket cavity and also a larger pocket pad to maximize feel. “This will be the biggest-selling iron Mizuno has ever had in the U.S.,” Lyons said.

Overall, Mizuno’s 2009 introductions could be characterized as a story of sound and feel.

“A lot of golf companies are into dampening the feel (through inserts or badges in the back cavity),” said David Llewellyn, research and development manager for Mizuno Golf USA. “We want to improve the sound and the feel, not dampen it or take it away. On all our new irons, we’ve really concentrated on this.”

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Tags: cast irons, cavity, Edge, golf, line, manager, Mizuno, mx, Nike forged irons, Tiger Woods

SILVIS, ILL. – Before nearly beating the world’s best golfer at last year’s PGA Championship, Woody Austin was a master of intergalactic warfare.

In the mid-1980s, no one on the University of Miami golf team could navigate a spaceship and destroy alien invaders in the arcade game Galaga as well as Austin.

“He’d get crowds,” said former teammate Nathaniel Crosby, the 1981 U.S. Amateur champion. “People would gather because he could make a quarter last an hour. He was one of the best.”

The same could be said about pingpong, pool and just about anything involving a stick and ball. Austin was a Little League all-star in Tampa, Fla., his highlight a hard-hit single up the middle off future Cy Young Award winner Dwight Gooden. Austin still competes in softball and basketball leagues at home in Derby, Kan.

“He’s what we call in South Africa ‘an all-arounder,’ ” said former PGA Tour player Ronnie McCann, Austin’s college roommate. “He’s good at everything.”

His impressive hand-eye coordination has helped him become one of the world’s best ballstrikers. But substandard putting and career interruptions have left him dealing with the frustration of unfulfilled promise.

Last year’s PGA Championship, where he finished two shots behind Tiger Woods, gave Austin a taste of stardom. He was the only player to shoot par or better in all four rounds
at Southern Hills, earning him a seat in the interview room each day and a chance to reveal his refreshingly honest personality.

The finish also earned him the final automatic spot on the Presidents Cup team, setting the stage for the most high-profile moment of his career.

But he’s not going to hide his disappointment.

“I can’t help but think (the PGA) was a great tournament,” Austin said, “but it’s still not what I was hoping for. I feel I played well enough to win.”

It’s a feeling he’s used to. For players who make a living with their short games, each made par putt brings a sense of accomplishment. For a ballstriker such as Austin, many rounds are full of frustration as another birdie opportunity slides by the hole.

Austin made the most of his time in the spotlight at Southern Hills. While none of his 274 strokes may be remembered, the 7,500-plus words he spoke in front of the cameras and microphones are a different story.

Austin’s honesty gave his Q-rating a big boost. His endorsements have increased from two to eight during the past year.

“What you see now with Woody is what he’s always been,” said former Miami teammate Tom Hearn, who played the PGA Tour and is now a Nationwide Tour rules official. “He speaks his mind. He doesn’t hide his emotions.”

Austin, 44, returns to the PGA Championship Aug. 7-10 at Oakland Hills Country Club. The penal layout plays to his ballstriking prowess, but not to his putting. He held the first-round lead at the 1996 U.S. Open at Oakland Hills after a bogey-free 67, eventually tying for 23rd. This year, Austin is 19th on Tour in greens in regulation but is 166th in putts per GIR.

“That’s my style of course, where you’ve got to play really good,” Austin said. “I don’t really care for the diabolical greens, and that’s what eventually ran me (in ’96). I think I was tied for third with nine to play, then 21 putts the last nine holes and you’re down the road.”

The PGA also is the final week to earn points for the U.S. Ryder Cup team standings. Austin was 10th on the list after the British Open. His fans have created a Web site (woody4rydercup.com) to lobby for his inclusion on the team.

“(The Ryder Cup) would kind of put a cap on the career,” Austin said. “I can say I’m a multiple Tour winner; I’ve stayed out here a long time; I’ve played the Presidents Cup; I’ve been in the top 40 in the world rankings for a good part of this year. Not bad for a hacking bank teller.”

Austin has won three PGA Tour events, most recently at last year’s Stanford St. Jude Championship after a final-round 62. He won the 1995 Buick Open and beat out David Duval for that season’s Rookie of the Year honor.

But nothing will match the attention he received at last year’s Presidents Cup. He went 1-1-3, then became a YouTube sensation when he fell headfirst into a lake on the 14th hole of his four-ball match on the second day of competition.

Austin played along with the gag, sporting a snorkel mask during his singles match.

Forgotten is that he made birdie on the three holes after his plunge to help him and David Toms earn a halve against Trevor Immelman and Rory Sabbatini.

It’s another example of Austin striving to be taken seriously instead of being treated as
a sideshow.

“Is Woody an oddball?” his agent, Kevin Canning, said. “Absolutely not. He is the most sincere, honest, loyal guy I’ve ever met. The fact that he’s a really good dude is not portrayed.”

Austin isn’t afraid to share his opinion. After granting a 20-minute interview at the John Deere Classic, he turned to a reporter before entering TPC Deere Run’s clubhouse and said, “Don’t make me look too bad.”

He has been ridiculed for his colorful golf shirts. Video of him banging his head with a putter at Harbour Town in 1997 has gotten heavy rotation whenever he appears on the leaderboard.

But Austin is his own biggest critic. Earlier this year, he admitted to choking after blowing chances to win the Zurich Classic and Buick Open.

“We live in such an excuse-oriented society,” Austin said. “It’s OK to be politically correct, but it’s not OK to tell the truth. I tell the truth, and I get lambasted because, ‘You’re too hard on yourself.’ I’m the one who hits the shots. I’m the one who takes responsibility.”

He didn’t have a privileged childhood, learning the game on Babe Zaharias Golf Course, a short muni in Tampa where he once shot 57.

It took Austin eight years to make it to the Nationwide Tour after graduating from Miami in 1986. He finished 24th and 32nd on the money list in his first two years on Tour, but an improper eyeglass prescription sent his game into a downward spiral. He didn’t return to the top 50 in earnings until 2003. He had to play the Nationwide Tour in 1998 and make it through Q-School in 2002 to keep his PGA Tour card.

All that toil set the stage for one memorable week at Southern Hills. Even if it wasn’t up to his standards.

Sean Martin is a Golfweek assistant editor. To reach him e-mail smartin@golfweek.com.

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Tags: Austin, golf, Open, PGA, PGA Championship, player, Presidents, teammate, Woody Austin

ASSOCIATED PRESS

SONOMA, Calif. – Sitting out most of last season while recovering from surgery on his right shoulder taught Denis Watson to appreciate the little things.

Even after struggling through the third round Saturday at the Champion Tour’s season-ending Charles Schwab Championship, he isn’t complaining.

Watson shot a 4-under 68 to take a one-stroke lead over defending champion Jim Thorpe and Brad Bryant into the final round at the Sonoma Golf Club.

“This is great. I haven’t been in it for a while, I’ve been kind of fighting it a little bit,” said Watson, who has sporadically struggled with his game ever since winning the Boeing Classic in late August. “It’s what you live for. You gotta love it.”

Watson, who also won the Senior PGA Championship in May, had five birdies but fought his game all day. He trailed by two strokes after 13 holes and went into No. 18 a shot behind Thorpe, the 2003 and 2006 winner. But Thorpe made a double bogey on the 412-yard, par-4 final hole to finish with a 69.

Watson had a 15-under 201 total.

“I really scrapped it out,” said Watson, from Zimbabwe. “I was kind of fighting with my swing a little bit until the back nine.”

Thorpe had been in command most of the afternoon after cutting a half inch off his driver following Friday’s second round. He played bogey free through the first 17 holes Saturday and was seemingly in good shape before falling apart on No. 18.

Thorpe pulled his tee shot into the rough then opted to lay up with his second shot rather than going for the green in two. His third shot landed 10 feet away from the pin but spun backward and rolled off the green onto the fringe. A chip and two putts later, Thorpe’s lead was gone.

“If I had taken another look at that pin I wouldn’t have laid it up,” said Thorpe, who threw his ball away in disgust after walking off the 18th green. “It was kind of cool and I wasn’t quite sure if I could carry the bunkers if I didn’t hit it perfect.”

Bryant, one of four players in contention for the Charles Schwab Cup race for a $1 million annuity, matched his best round of the tournament, a 67 to close the gap behind Watson. Bryant, who trails Loren Roberts in the Cup race by 697 points, can become just the second player to win both the season-finale and the Cup championship in the same season and needs to win on Sunday to have a chance.

“I’ve got more to play for than anybody in the world tomorrow,” Bryant said. “At this point, the best possible thing that could happen to me is to go out there tomorrow and just not think about anything. So hopefully we will not be worried about scenarios or anything else, just try to go play.”

Bryant will need some help in his quest for the Cup.

After struggling through the first two rounds and beginning Saturday with three bogeys in four holes to fall to 1 under, Roberts rebounded on the back nine with five birdies for a 69. At 6-under 210, Roberts was tied for 18th place.

“I was able to get up to where I at least can see some daylight now,” said Roberts after carding his best round of the tournament. “I just hope I can play tomorrow as I did on the back nine today. That’s my only defense.”

Jay Haas, 165 points behind Roberts, shot a 71 to reach 7 under. Tom Watson, the fourth player in contention for the Cup, was tied for 25th at 1 under.

Scores with relation to par from the thirdround of the Charles Schwab Cup Championship, played Oct. 27 at thepar-72, 7,012-yard Sonoma Golf Club in Sonoma, Calif.

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Tags: back, Brad Bryant, Charles Schwab, Charles Schwab Championship, Denis Watson, game, golf, Jim Thorpe, round, Sonoma, Tomorrow

GOLFWEEK STAFF

TUCSON, Ariz. – Shelly Haywood was named women’s head coach at Arizona, athletics director Jim Livengood announced Monday. She has been the assistant coach for the past three seasons under Greg Allen, who left to take a similar position at Vanderbilt.

“Shelly has been a superb assistant coach and now is a great time for the University of Arizona to move forward with her as the head coach of our women’s program,” Livengood said. “She knows the game as a player and teacher, knows Arizona’s heritage in the sport and has the vision to help keep that going, and then some.

“We looked at various coaching scenarios and it always came back to Shelly Haywood. Sometimes the best person for the job is right on your doorstep and we’re thrilled it worked out this way.”

Said Haywood: “To be the head coach of what is arguably the most storied program in the history of NCAA women’s golf is an incredible feeling. Arizona has such an unbelievable standard of excellence that it will be my main focus to bring that championship formula back to Tucson.”

Active in the golfing community locally and nationally, Haywood is a member of the LPGA’s Teaching and Club Professional Division and USGA Women’s Amateur Public Links Committee. She has served on the Arizona Golf Association board of governors.

A two-time all-Big West Conference selection at New Mexico State, Haywood was a multi-sport athlete in high school, lettering in volleyball, basketball and softball at Skyview High School in Smithfield, Utah.

Haywood, 40, graduated from New Mexico State in 1993 with a degree in professional golf management and a minor in exercise physiology. She was assistant golf pro at Tucson County Club for 10 years, where husband Michael is PGA Director of Golf, and began coaching in 2003-04 as head girl’s coach at Tucson’s Rincon High School, before accepting the Arizona post.

Arizona finished the 2006-07 season with a 14th-place finish in the NCAA Championships and ranked 13th in the Golfweek/Sagarin College Rankings.

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Tags: Arizona, Arizona women GOLFWEEK STAFFTUCSON, club, coach, director, golf, GOLFWEEK, Jim Livengood, NCAA, Shelly Haywood, the University of Arizona

ASSOCIATED PRESS

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. – Gil Morgan won his 25th career Champions Tour title Sunday, closing with a 5-under 67 for a two-stroke victory over Hale Irwin in the Wal-Mart First Tee Open.

The 60-year-old Morgan won at Pebble Beach 15 years after a disappointing finish in the U.S. Open on the historic course. In 1992, Morgan was 12 under after seven holes of the third round, the lowest anyone had been in a U.S. Open, but played the next seven holes in 9 over and ended up tying for 13th.

“Pebble Beach is finally going to let me survive,” Morgan said. “I kept thinking, ‘It’s going to give me a reprieve.’”

Morgan finished with a 14-under 202 total, birdieing four of the first six holes Sunday and adding another on No. 16. He opened with a 70 at Pebble Beach and shot a 65 on Saturday at Del Monte.

“I was able salvage some par putts and I think that was the difference today,” Morgan said.

The 62-year-old Irwin closed with a 69. Irwin who began the round tied for the lead with Morgan and Smyth, opened with a double bogey and missed a 31/2-foot birdie put on the 15th hole.

“It’s a long way to come back. You just can’t come back from double bogeys, particularly when it’s right out of the box,” Irwin said. “It was such a reverse momentum, I knew I was in a big, big hole.”

With the victory, Morgan broke a tie with Miller Barber for third place on the 50-and-over tour’s career list. Irwin is the leader with 45, and Lee Trevino has 29 wins.

Tom Watson shot a 69 to finish third at 10 under. Scott Simpson, the 2006 winner, had a 67 to join Des Smyth (73) and Don Pooley (67) at 8 under. Bernhard Langer shot a 71 to tie for 10th at 6 under in his Champions Tour debut.

Morgan earned $300,000 from the $2 million purse.

Final scores with earnings and relation to par from the First Tee Open, played Aug. 31-Sept. 2 at the par-72, 6,822-yardPebble Beach Golf Links (p) and par-72, 6,365-yard Del Monte GolfCourse (d) in Pebble Beach, Calif.

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ORMOND BEACH, Fla. – Liz Bennett “didn’t know anything” about the South Atlantic Ladies Amateur before arriving on Florida’s Atlantic coast. On Saturday, she scrambled her way to one of the most prestigious titles in women’s amateur golf.

The Englishwoman shot a final-round 72 at Oceanside Country Club to finish at 1-under 287 and win “The Sally” by two shots over Florida freshman Jessica Yadloczky, who was runner-up for the second consecutive year. The victory will help Bennett as she tries to earn a spot in another important competition later this year in another seaside town.

Bennett, the 2006 English Stroke Play champion, is a member of the 16-woman practice squad for this year’s Great Britain & Ireland Curtis Cup team. Six squad members made the trip to Florida as prepartion for the Cup, which will be held May 30-June 1 at The Old Course at St. Andrews.

Bennett, who started the final round with a two-shot lead, opened the day by holing a 6-foot par putt. She hit just 12 greens in regulation Saturday, but got up-and-down four times in five opportunities.

“I’m pleased that I held it together going into the day with the lead,” Bennett said. “Even with bad ballstriking I still managed to get it around, which is a good feeling.”

She made three par putts of at least 5 feet in the first five holes, as well as a 15-footer for birdie on No. 3. That stroke maintained Bennett’s two-shot lead over two-time U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur champion Meghan Bolger, who was playing with hopes of making the U.S. Curtis Cup team.

Bolger made a second consecutive birdie on No. 4 to pull within a shot, but then found trouble. She had to take penalties for a lost ball and an unplayable lie on two of the next three holes after hitting shots into palm trees. Despite making four birdies, she shot 74 to finish fourth at 3 over.

Bennett didn’t make a bogey until the par-5 12th, where a botched lay-up found the water. Her only other miscue came on the par-3 16th, when she failed to save par from behind the green.

Yadloczky pumped her fist after hitting 7-iron to 3 feet on the same hole. She sank the birdie putt to pull within a shot with two holes to go, but Bennett made par on the final two holes to hold off Yadloczky, who made bogey on No. 18 after almost holing her chip shot to force a playoff.

Earlier in the round, Yadloczky burned the edge on two eagle attempts – a 25-foot putt on the par-5 7th and a bump-and-run on No. 12 – and watched several birdie putts lip out.

“I was giving myself close calls,” said Yadloczky, No. 32 in the Golfweek/Sagarin College Rankings. “She had a great tournament and made a lot of crucial putts, but I gave her a run for her money.”

Bennett graduated with an economics degree from Iowa in May 2005 after an undistinguished college career. She was never strongly considered for the 2006 Curtis Cup, winning the English Stroke Play while GB&I’s best were at Bandon Dunes.

But Bennett has “put in the difficult hours” to give herself a shot at being on this year’s team, including a drastic change to her putting stroke. Bennett is so hunched over at address that she grips well down on her Ping Redwood putter, which is only 31 1/2 inches long.

She raised her fist above her head several times Sunday after holing especially crucial putts, like an 8-footer for par on No. 13 and a 6-foot putt that completed a sand save on No. 15.

Bolger would like to have a rematch with Bennett at St. Andrews. Despite her two Mid-Am titles, Bolger came to the Orange Blossom Circuit in need of a couple strong showings.

She closed 71-69 to finish T-7 at last week’s Harder Hall Invitational before finishing fourth this week. A USGA committee is scheduled to meet next week to determine the U.S. Curtis Cup team.

Bennett only helped her chances with Sunday’s victory.

“The Curtis Cup is at St. Andrews, which is nothing like (Oceanside),” she said. “But it’s a competition, and they wanted us to come play. If you win, it can’t do any harm.”

Sean Martin is a Golfweek assistant editor. To reach him e-mail smartin@golfweek.com.

Final scores with relation to par from the South Atlantic Ladies Amateur (“The Sally”), played Jan. 9-12 at the par-72 Oceanside Country Club in Ormond Beach, Fla.

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GOLFWEEK STAFF

The University of Akron hired a pair of golf coaches Monday.

Jenny King was named the first head women’s golf coach, while Nick Goetze was named head men’s coach.

King, who spent the past four seasons (2003-07) as an assistant coach at her alma mater, the University of Kentucky, will have the 2007-08 year to recruit a squad, set a schedule and begin the daily operations of the program.

“The opportunity to be the first head women’s golf coach in the history of UA athletics is an honor,” King said. “I am going to take pride in every step to get this program off to a great start. The University of Akron has so much to offer a student-athlete and the city is a very supportive golfing community. Mack Rhoades and the entire athletics department is very committed to the immediate success that the women’s golf team can achieve. I am very anxious to get started.”

Goetze comes to Akron with an extensive background in collegiate golf, as well as experience as a professional athlete on the PGA Tour, Canadian, Asian and NGA Hooters tours.

Goetze, a three-time All-American as a collegiate golfer at Clemson, led Mississippi State to the 2000 NCAA Championship as that program’s head coach, while leading Mississippi State and University of Texas at El Paso to a total of three NCAA Regional berths. He also helped Florida to an NCAA Regional as an assistant coach, had two stints as a professional golfer (1994-96 and 2003-04), and worked in private business over the past two years.

Prior to his time serving as a financial advisor for PMFM Inc., for the past two years, Goetze was head coach at Florida State from 2000-03. During his tenure, he led the Seminoles to 21 top-10 finishes in tournament play, nine in his last season at Florida State. Among those was placing sixth at the 2002 Atlantic Coast Conference Championship, which was the program’s best finish at the nationally renowned ACC since 1995.

“I was extremely impressed by athletics director Mack Rhoades and senior associate athletics director Hunter Yurachek for the vision they have for the men’s golf program,” Goetze said. “I feel we have a talented group of young golfers on the team, and I am looking forward to building on the past success and taking this group to the regional and national levels.”

– Information from the University of Akron contributed to this report

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TULSA, Okla. – Brad Lardon was only moments removed from getting within a stroke of the PGA Championship lead when the manual scoreboard at the 17th green was updated to show he was approaching.

There it was, in giant capital letters: LARDON, followed by a big red 2. Through 16 holes at the year’s final major, he was 2 under par.

Pardon the scoreboard operator – and everyone else at Southern Hills, for that matter – if Lardon’s name wasn’t familiar. After his birdie at the 16th, an alert went out to fans carrying new handheld electronic scoreboards explaining that Lardon had qualified for the PGA through a tournament for club professionals and was using a local caddie.

Just don’t expect Lardon to be pleased by one good round.

“I like to put some pressure on myself to play well,” Lardon said Thursday after finishing at even par 70. “I’m ecstatic to be at the PGA, but that wasn’t the goal. This was about playing well at the PGA, and that’s what I’m trying to do.”

A former PGA Tour regular, Lardon was one of 20 club pros who earned a spot in the field through their finish at a tournament in Sunriver, Ore. Lardon just barely made it, tying for 16th with five others. He survived a playoff that eliminated one of the pros.

That put him in position to go up against the world’s best, and he was one stroke better than Tiger Woods on Thursday. History is against a charge from Lardon. No club professional has won the PGA Championship, and Chip Sullivan’s 31st-place finish in 2004 was the highest in the past decade.

“It’s certainly different than it used to be. There’s younger, better athletes,” Lardon said. “But I think venues like Southern Hills create opportunities for us to play well because you don’t have to hit 350 yards out here. Experience means a lot, strategy means a lot, execution means a lot.

“I think any one of the 20 of us that are out here, if we play well we can be competitive. The biggest parts of it for us are just kind of keeping your nerves calm and keeping your anxiety under control because we’re not in this environment every day.”

That was evident on the first hole, when club pro Ryan Benzel nearly smacked Brian Bateman in the face while warming up for his opening tee shot. Moments later, he glared at a photographer who started snapping shots about halfway through his backswing.

Other club pros in the field included Tim Thelen from a club near Lardon’s in Bryan, Texas, and Kevin Burton, the head golf coach at Boise State University. The Broncos’ football team beat nearby Oklahoma 43-42 in an overtime thriller in the Fiesta Bowl this January. Mike Small, the University of Illinois golf coach, caught a flight late Wednesday after winning the Illinois Open and birdied three of his first six holes to get to 3 under early in his afternoon round.

Lardon backed off professional golf in recent years. He qualified for the tour in 1991, 1994 and then for four straight years from 2002-05. He had only one top 30 finish, and that came in his first year on the tour.

“I just didn’t shoot the numbers I needed to shoot when I was out there. I didn’t play consistent enough, enough of the time,” Lardon said. “I have four wonderful kids, a beautiful wife and I’m glad to be home for a little while.”

For Lardon, preparing for the PGA Championship meant a minor deviation from his routine of playing golf about twice a week at the Miramont Country Club in Bryan, and practicing chipping and putting about twice as often.

He played Saturday and Sunday at Miramont and then the next three days at Southern Hills – the two, he notes, are not remotely similar – and called the five straight days of golf “probably more than I’ve played in a year”

“My practice rounds were my practice,” Lardon said. “I joked a lot about it as I was sitting behind a desk doing e-mails a few days ago: ‘I’m sure Tiger’s preparing a little bit better than me.’”

Lardon was able to provide a few thrills for the 45 or so family and friends who traveled to see him, including a wedge shot that he holed from 108 yards on No. 1 to start his day with a birdie. He also birdied the second, fourth, sixth and 16th holes. He bogeyed the third hole and the last two on the front and back nine, ending his round in greenside bunkers on the 17th and 18th.

“I love coming out and doing this a few times a year, but I also love being a club pro and being with my members,” Lardon said. “I kind of feel like I have the best of both worlds. I can do that, and I can still play.”

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Tags: birdie, Brad Lardon, golf, PGA, PGA Championship, scoreboard, tournament, wasn

ASSOCIATED PRESS

PATTAYA, Thailand – Jin Joo Hong of South Korea emerged as a surprise first-round leader Thursday after shooting a 6-under 66 at the LPGA Thailand.

In a field boasting all the world’s top 10 players, it was the unheralded Hong who made six birdies and an eagle against two bogeys to open a two-stroke lead over Sweden’s Helen Alfredsson and four Americans: Paula Creamer, Angela Stanford, Kristy McPherson and Brittany Lang.

“My putting was really good. It really saved me,” the 25-year-old Hong said. “I had some really bad drives but I was able to catch up with my great putting.

“I came to Thailand a month in advance and practiced with my coach Ahn-joo Hwan in Ayutthaya for a month. I felt really good coming into this tournament because I have a lot of confidence in my game.”

Lorena Ochoa, the world’s top-ranked player, struggled on the firm greens and had a 71, along with nine other players, including former No. 1 Karrie Webb of Australia.

The world’s No. 3 Creamer made a late charge with birdies on three of the final five holes.

“The green is fast. The pin points are very difficult to get to,” Creamer said. “I hit just 11 greens but I was chipping and putting well. I was third here the last time and this time I will try to win. It was a good start but there are three more days.”

Stanford, who along with Hong had an eagle on the 11th hole, showed the form that saw her win in Hawaii two weeks ago.

“It’s been a wild ride. I had so much fun hitting the ball. I didn’t look at the result. I was rolling the ball well,” Stanford said. “My confidence is high. I’m not worried what surrounded me. My caddy made me play one shot at a time.”

McPherson was another player who said her low score did not reflect the difficulty of both the course and the tropical heat.

“The green is firm. It’s tough here. I did well on course management,” McPherson said. “The scores were a lot lower than they should be.”

American Nicole Castrale (69) was alone in seventh place, a shot ahead of Sweden’s Sophie Gustafson, 2006 champion Hee-Won Han of South Korea, LPGA Championship winner Yani Tseng and Morgan Pressel.

Scores with relation to par from the first round of the LPGA Thailand, played Feb. 26 at the par-72, 6,477-yard Siam Country Club in Chonburi, Thailand

1. Jin Joo Hong 66

-6 2. Kristy McPherson 68

-4 2. Angela Stanford 68

-4 2. Paula Creamer 68

-4 2. Helen Alfredsson 68

-4 2. Brittany Lang 68

-4 7. Nicole Castrale 69

-3 8. Sophie Gustafson 70

-2 8. Hee-Won Han 70

-2 8. Yani Tseng 70

-2 8. Morgan Pressel 70

-2 12. Juli Inkster 71

-1 12. In-Kyung Kim 71

-1 12. Mi Hyun Kim 71

-1 12. Leta Lindley 71

-1 12. Young Kim 71

-1 12. Natalie Gulbis 71

-1 12. Lorena Ochoa 71

-1 12. Karrie Webb 71

-1 12. Ai Miyazato 71

-1 21. Christina Kim 72

E 21. Karen Stupples 72

E 21. Teresa Lu 72

E 21. Jane Park 72

E 21. Seon Hwa Lee 72

E 26. Minea Blomqvist 73
+ 1 26. Mika Miyazato 73
+ 1 26. Inbee Park 73
+ 1 26. Se Ri Pak 73
+ 1 26. Candie Kung 73
+ 1 26. Na Yeon Choi 73
+ 1 26. Eun-Hee Ji 73
+ 1 26. Jee Young Lee 73
+ 1 26. Ashleigh Simon 73
+ 1 26. Allison Fouch 73
+ 1 26. Katherine Hull 73
+ 1 26. Laura Diaz 73
+ 1 26. a-Moriya Jutanugarn 73
+ 1 39. Giulia Sergas 74
+ 2 39. Cristie Kerr 74
+ 2 39. Ji Young Oh 74
+ 2 39. Sun Young Yoo 74
+ 2 39. Lindsey Wright 74
+ 2 39. Meena Lee 74
+ 2 39. Melissa Reid 74
+ 2 39. a-Thidapa Suwannapura 74
+ 2 47. Louise Friberg 75
+ 3 47. Shiho Oyama 75
+ 3 47. Stacy Prammanasudh 75
+ 3 47. Jiyai Shin 75
+ 3 51. Song-Hee Kim 76
+ 4 51. Angela Park 76
+ 4 51. Carin Koch 76
+ 4 51. Laura Davies 76
+ 4 51. Maria Verchenova 76
+ 4 51. Shanshan Feng 76
+ 4 57. Russy Gulyanamitta 77
+ 5 57. Suzann Pettersen 77
+ 5 59. Jimin Kang 79
+ 7 59. Hee Young Park 79
+ 7

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Tags: golf, Jin Joo Hong, Paula Creamer, Thailand