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Thursday
Aug202009

It all begins on ...

Sunday, September 7, 2008
Writing from Town and Country, Mo.

… the back nine on Sunday, or so Dan Jenkins said about The Masters decades ago. It's also true in the Western Open, where the leader or co-leader has gone on to win 32 times in the last 50 years, or 64 percent of the time.

The last sole leader at the turn not to win was Steve Lowery, who was overhauled by Stephen Ames on the back nine of Cog Hill's Dubsdread course in 2004. Since then, Jim Furyk, Trevor Immelman and Tiger Woods have led, either solo or as part of a group, and gone on to win.

Furyk's chasing this time. Camilo Villegas holds the solo lead in the 105th Western Open, a.k.a. the BMW Championship, with nine holes remaining at Bellerive Country Club. Furyk bogeyed the ninth hole to fall to 12-under-par. He'd been the lone leader after Villegas bogeyed the fifth and sixth holes, but was rejoined by Villegas in the lead when the Columbian birdied the par-5 eighth, eliciting a roar from the huge gallery on hand.

The leaders, then, as the back nine beckons:

-13: Camilo Villegas (9)
-12: Jim Furyk (9)
-11: Dudley Hart (10), K.J. Choi (9), Anthony Kim (9)
-10: Stephen Ames (11), D.J. Trahan (10)

Wonder of wonders, the sun came out almost on NBC's cue.

– Tim Cronin

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