Wheatcroft shoots 68 at Barbasol event
Steve Wheatcroft collected five birdies and limited his damage to only two bogeys to finish his first round at 3-under 68 and tied for 24th place Thursday at the Barbasol Championship.
The Washington native completed his round before play was suspended because of darkness.
Wheatcroft began his run of birdies on holes 14, 15 and 16 after starting play on the back nine. He added another birdie on hole No. 18.
Martin Flores, Cameron Tringale and Zac Blair shared the Barbasol Championship lead at 6-under 65.
Flores and Tringale played in morning at Grand National’s Lake Course, and Blair finished his afternoon round after a rain delay of nearly two hours.
Robert Allenby, Chad Campbell, Rory Sabbatini and Tag Ridings shot 66, and Richy Werenski also was 5 under with two holes left. Steven Alker was 6 under after eight holes, then bogeyed two of the next five. He was 4 under with five holes to play.
Rohanna struggles in opening round: Waynesburg native Rachel Rohanna’s struggles came early and often in the Marathon Classic. With five bogeys through her first nine holes, Rohanna finished with a 6-over 77 to tie for 140th place at the LPGA event.
Gerina Piller shot an 8-under 63 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 had seven birdies in a bogey-free round. Chien, a LPGA Tour rookie from Taiwan, had eight birdies and a bogey.
Kelly Shon, Aditi Ashok and In-Kyung Kim shot 65, Angel Yin and Sandra Changkija followed at 66, and U.S. Solheim Cup players Lexi Thompson, Brittany Lincicome and Alison Lee topped the group at 67.