PGA
Rain slows first round
OPELIKA, Ala. — Zac Blair, Martin Flores and Cameron Tringale shared the Barbasol Championship lead at 6-under 65 on Thursday when firstround play was suspended because of darkness.
Flores and Tringale played in the morning at Grand National’s Lake Course, and Blair finished his afternoon round in humid conditions after a rain delay of nearly two hours. “It wasn’t too bad out there even before the delay,” Blair said. “It actually probably got a little muggier after the delay, but overall it was pretty nice.”
The three leaders are winless on the PGA Tour.
Blair eagled the par-5 fifth — hitting his second shot to a foot — and added four birdies.
“I hit a good drive down there, got a good bounce, was able to go for it in two,” Blair said. “I had like 260 [yards] or something like that, hit it right in the middle of the green, kind of took that hill down there. I knew it was going to be pretty close once it started rolling left. Walked up there and it was about 12 inches, so those are always nice.”
Robert Allenby, Chad Campbell, Rory Sabbatini and Tag Ridings (Arkansas Razorbacks) shot 66, and Richy Werenski also was 5 under with two holes left. Allenby, the 46-year-old Australian who won all four of his PGA Tour titles in 2000 and 2001, is used to the hot and muggy conditions.
Ken Duke (Arkadelphia, Henderson State) had a 1-under 70.
LPGA
Piller jumps to front
SYLVANIA, Ohio — Gerina Piller shot an 8-under 63 on Thursday in the LPGA’s Marathon Classic to take a one-stroke lead over U.S. Women’s Open champion Sung Hyun Park and Peiyun Chien.
Winless on the LPGA Tour, Piller had nine birdies and a bogey in the first round at Highland Meadows. The American birdied four of the first five holes and four of the last eight.
Park, who won her first major title last week at Trump National in New Jersey, had seven birdies in a bogey-free round.
Stacy Lewis (Arkansas Razorbacks), her U.S. Women’s Open chances ruined by a third-round meltdown, had a 69 as did Emily Tubert (Razorbacks) who birdied the par-5 18th to get to 2 under.
WEB.COM
Lovelady’s 64 leads
Tom Lovelady opened a 1-stroke advantage Thursday in the opening round of the Web.com’s Pinnacle Bank Championship at the Club at Indian Creek in Omaha, Neb.
Lovelady shot a 7-under 64 to lead Justin Hicks by one stroke. Former Arkansas Razorbacks Andrew Landry and Sebastian Cappelen are three strokes behind Lovelady after both shot a 4-under 67. Zack Fischer (Little Rock) had a 1-under 70, while Taylor Moore (Razorbacks) is a shot behind that. Matt Atkins (Henderson State) had an even-par 72, while Ethan Tracy (Razorbacks) is at the bottom of the field after shooting an 8-over 79.