RIO GRANDE, Puerto Rico — Chandler Blanchet did more than make his first cut of the year on the PGA Tour.
His 5-under 67 on Friday (Saturday in Manila) gave him a four-shot lead in the Puerto Rico Open with a pair of teenager and John Daly’s son around for the weekend.
Blanchet made birdies on all the par 5s at Grand Reserve and matched the tournament record for largest lead through 36 holes.
Gordon Sargent, one shot off the lead when the day began, shot 70 to fall four back.
Blanchet was at 13-under 131.
“The first part of the season, it’s been difficult, for sure,” Blanchet said. “It’s no fun practicing on Saturday and Sunday and not playing and waiting five days. So will be very happy to play some golf on a Saturday and Sunday this weekend.”
Blades Brown, the 18-year-old who turned pro before graduating high school in January, gets another crack at becoming the youngest PGA Tour winner in 95 years. Brown shot 67 and was tied for third, hoping to build off the experience of playing in the final group with Scottie Scheffler at The American Express last month.
Brown was at 8-under 136 along with Ricky Castillo (68), Jesper Svensson of Sweden (69) and Jeremy Paul of Germany (67).
“Yeah, we’re halfway there,” Brown said. “A lot can happen in two days, so I’m excited for the weekend.”
Daly played bogey-free and was six shots out of the lead in a tie for seventh. The Arkansas alum is making his PGA Tour debut.
His father, the two-time major champion, played the Puerto Rico Open six times, making the cut four times with his best finish at tie for 10th in 2015, when his son was 11. AP
ORLANDO, Florida — It’s OK to feel sad for Shane Lowry.
He had one hand on the trophy and the other hand outstretched to hug his 4-year-old daughter when she ran onto the 18th green at PGA National to celebrate the first time seeing her father win. That was the plan, anyway. Lowry could practically picture the whole scene.
“Just to see her little ginger hair running down the 18th green would have been the most special thing in the world,” he said. “I thought I had it. I thought I was going to win.”
That was before he hit 3-iron off the 16th tee and into the water and had to scramble for a double bogey just to stay one shot ahead. Before he could hit another shot, Lowry watched Nico Echavarria make birdie on the par-3 17th to tie him. And then Lowry hit a chip 7-iron — perfect number, perfect club, imperfect swing — into the water for another double bogey.
A five-shot swing in two holes. It was cruel to watch, and especially painful to hear him talk about how badly he wanted to win for 4-year-old Ivy, no one else.
But there’s no need to feel sorry for Lowry.
There will be other opportunities, perhaps more painful outcomes, no promises. Such is sport. This is what golf does to players at the highest level. The game can turn on the best of them without notice, as it did Sunday in the Cognizant Classic.
“Golf does strange things to you at times,” Lowry said, “and it certainly did it to me today.”
Lowry, of course, has plenty of company on far bigger stages.
