Associated Press Associated Press ADVERTISING SYLVANIA, Ohio — The Marathon Classic isn’t a match-play tournament. Except for maybe this year. Beatriz Recari birdied the two closing par 5s to catch Paula Creamer atop the leaderboard through 54 holes Saturday, setting
Associated Press
SYLVANIA, Ohio — The Marathon Classic isn’t a match-play tournament.
Except for maybe this year.
Beatriz Recari birdied the two closing par 5s to catch Paula Creamer atop the leaderboard through 54 holes Saturday, setting up a head-to-head battle between players who are three shots clear of the field.
Recari, a 26-year-old Spaniard who has won twice on the LPGA Tour, conceded that it’s hard not to get caught up in a two-person competition.
“Definitely, it’s easier because you’re playing with the player closest to you in score,” she said. “You still have to do your best. You can’t control what she does, so you always have to stay focused on what you’re doing.”
They were at 12-under 201 after each shooting 4-under 67.
The showdown could be a preview. Recari is expected to make the European team for the Solheim Cup next month — where match play rules — and Creamer is one of the mainstays of the American side.
Creamer, who won in 2008 when the tournament was known as the Jamie Farr Toledo Classic, led throughout the round by as many as two shots before Recari’s late surge at Highland Meadows.
She was pleased to find herself being the hunted instead of the hunter.
“I love this feeling,” said Creamer, who has nine wins but none since the 2010 U.S. Women’s Open. “I haven’t felt it for a while. I’ve normally been chasing the leaders, but this is great. This is right where I wanted to be.”
The last time she played in the same group with Recari, it was Recari who had the edge. In the third round of the Kia Classic in March in California, Recari shot a 69 when paired in the last grouping with Creamer, who had a 71. Recari, who had won the CVS last year, ended up winning in a playoff with I.K. Kim. Creamer faded to a tie for 17th.
“She’s a great player,” Recari said. “It’s always great to play with her.”
Creamer, who set the tournament record with a first-round 60 in her victory lap five years ago, is expecting a battle.
“She’s steady. She hits a lot of fairways and greens and gives herself a lot of opportunities to make birdies,” she said about Recari.
SANDERSON FARMS CHAMPIONSHIP: Daniel Summerhays waited out a rain delay before making a 19-foot birdie putt on the final hole for a share of the lead with Nicholas Thompson in Madison, Miss.
Summerhays finished with a 3-under 69 to match Thompson at 17 under at Annandale Golf Club. Winless on the PGA Tour, Summerhays also led last week going into the final round of the John Deere Classic before finishing fourth — a stroke out of a playoff.
Thompson shot a 65. He’s trying for his first PGA Tour win and would join sister Lexi as only the third brother-sister combo to win on the LPGA and PGA Tours.
U.S. AMATEUR PUBLIC LINKS: Oklahoma State sophomore Jordan Niebrugge won the U.S. Amateur Public Links at Laurel Hill in Lorton, Va., beating California junior Michael Kim 1 up in the 36-hole final.
The 19-year-old Niebrugge, from Mequon, Wis., was 1 up after the morning round and increased the margin to four in the first six holes in the afternoon.
Niebrugge went without a bogey until the 31st hole when he three-putted and had his lead cut to one.
Kim, the 20-year-old Walker Cup player from Del Mar, Calif., rallied with birdie wins on the 27th, 30th and 31st. They halved the final five holes, with Kim virtually ending any chance of extra holes when he hit his second shot on the 36th into the water.
