Berger maintains three-shot lead in Memphis

Ivan Lendl, the former top-ranked men’s tennis player in the world, used his connections to get Berger, whose father was a friend of Lendl’s, the after-school work.

Daniel Berger shot a 1-under 69 on a hot, sticky Saturday at the FedEx St. Jude Classic, giving him a three-stroke lead over Phil Mickelson, Steve Stricker and D.A. Points.

A dropped shot at 10 was followed by a string of pars before a routine birdie at the par-5 16 to get within one of Berger’s lead.

“He says only his wife calls him that, I can’t call him that until I win on the PGA Tour”, Berger said.

Hoge birdied the final two holes of his round to move up the leaderboard late in the day, while Johnson fell away as he dropped three shots over the final two holes. Tom Gillis (Lake Orion) shot 72 and failed to make the cut at 2 over.

Lombard had four birdies before needing seven shots following a mishit on the par-4 ninth.

Jude Classic didn’t enter the week with a very strong field, but a couple of intriguing names have worked their way onto the top of the leaderboard with just one round to play.

“I’m playing a lot better than my score”, Johnson said.

Then Lee slipped up with a bogey on the final hole to finish at two-under 69, tied in third place with three others.

DUBLIN (AP) – Bailey Tardy and Monica Vaughn teamed to win two matches to help the United States tie Britain and Ireland 3-3 after the first day of the Curtis Cup amateur matches.

Koepka is certainly one to watch next week at Oakmont, but before he tries to win his first major, he has a golden opportunity to collect his second PGA Tour win if he can get off to a better start on Sunday. “Giving myself a few six to 10-footers I should be able to capitalize on those the way I’ve been putting”.

“I just look at it and I see it, it’s just from years and years of putting on it. Overall just excited to play a bogey-free round”.

Berger took the lead back to himself by taking advantage of the par-5 at No. 16. “It’s just extremely long and extremely penalizing”. “I was using older clubs and you hit them thousands and thousands of times and, essentially, the faces cave”.

“The rhythm has been a little bit quick”.

“I’m hitting it even better than I was before I cracked it”, he said.

However, his lead would have been larger had he not dumped his tee-shot at the par-three 14th into the water, leading to a double-bogey five. Koepka had five birdies without a bogey.

“I know it’s about to click”, he said.

Berger, who opened with a 67, rolled off back-to-back birdies at Nos.

“It was a pretty easy adjustment”, Berger said. “Speed control is going to be huge, and hitting fairways”. As far as ball-striking goes, it was good.

After another round of foursomes and fourball matches Saturday, the biennial competition will close Sunday with eight singles matches. “I think that’s all you can ask for when you get a new driver in your hands”.