LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Hale Irwin overcame a four-shot deficit Saturday to grab the lead, then frittered it away with a double bogey on the last hole to drop into a tie with Ki- yoshi Murota at the Senior PGA Championship.
Seeking a victory that would make him the oldest winner of a senior major and oldest Champions Tour winner, Irwin — who will be 66 on Friday — shot a 2-under-par 70 that could have been better if not for the finish.
“I enjoy beating people,” Irwin said of the competitive fire that still burns within him. “I enjoy the competition. I enjoy getting in the hunt and having a chance to win a golf tournament. That’s me. It defines me. That’s what I do.”
Irwin and Murota, who battled back pain to shoot a 74, were at 9-under 207. Hall of Famer Tom Watson, the 2007 Senior PGA champion, shot a 68 and was just one stroke back.
Jock Hutchinson was 62 when he won the 1947 Senior PGA, and Mike Fetchick set the Champions Tour record at 63 in the 1985 Hilton Head Seniors.
• Ryan Palmer fought through a breezy day for a 3-over 73 at the Byron Nelson Championship in Irving, Texas, that was good enough to top the leaderboard.
Even with two bogeys on the last three holes, Palmer (who is 5-under after three rounds) finished a stroke ahead of playing partner Sergio Garcia (74).
• Luke Donald birdied two of the last three holes for a 1-over 72 and a share of the lead at the BMW PGA Championship in Virginia Water, England, with Italian teenager Matteo Manassero (72).
Top-ranked Lee Westwood and Fabrizio Zanotti were two strokes back after 69s. The second-ranked Donald needs to finish in front of Westwood to take the No. 1 ranking.
• Heather Bowie Young shot a 6-under 66 to take a two-stroke lead over Suzann Pettersen and Lindsey Wright at the LPGA Tour’s Brazil Cup, a 30-player, 36-hole exhibition in Rio de Janeiro.
Zabriskie wins another time trial
GREENVILLE, S.C. — David Zabriskie won the U.S. pro cycling time trial championship for a fifth time.
Zabriskie won the title by 31 seconds, completing the 20.7-mile course in 40 minutes, 23.5 seconds. Last year’s winner, Boulder’s Taylor Phinney, finished 50 seconds back in seventh place.
• Spain’s Alberto Contador closed in on his second Giro d’Italia title, finishing eighth to keep his lead after a next-to-last stage that ended in Sestriere, Italy, won by Vasili Kiryienka of Belarus.
Footnotes.
Nebraska backup quarterback Cody Green, a junior- to-be, has reportedly decided to transfer to another school.
• Brandon Everage, a safety on Oklahoma’s 2000 national championship team, drowned while swimming in a Texas river. He was 30.
