SportsXchange: Rain suspends second-round play at Genesis Open

By Art Spander
SportsXchange

PACIFIC PALISADES, Calif. — Tree limbs were falling as well as putts. What was being called "The storm of the decade" hit the Genesis Open just before noon local time Friday, forcing officials to call off play without first-round leader Sam Saunders — Arnold Palmer's grandson -- even hitting a single shot. 

Jhonattan Vegas did play 14 holes, went 3 under par, and with his 4-under 67 Thursday at Riviera Country Club was at 7 under, moving into a tie with Saunders, who on Thursday had a 7-under 64. 

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Copyright 2017 SportsXchange

SportsXchange: Saunders takes early lead at Genesis Open

By Art Spander
SportsXchange

PACIFIC PALISADES, Calif. — He's Arnold Palmer's grandson, and that would be difficult enough — the attention, the questions — had Sam Saunders not become a professional golfer. 

But Saunders, 29, who Thursday took the first-day lead of the Genesis Open (the former L.A, Open) handled himself beautifully, appreciative of his heritage, someone who not only accepts who he is but relishes it. 

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Copyright 2017 SportsXchange

SportsXchange: Spieth vies for California double at Riviera

By Art Spander
SportsXchange

PACIFIC PALISADES, Calif. — This is a place of stars, Riviera, far out Sunset Boulevard, a country club where Hollywood's greatest stars would hang out and play, Humphrey Bogart, Howard Hughes, Dean Martin, Katharine Hepburn. 

A place a golfing star named Jordan Spieth understands and appreciates. 

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Copyright 2017 SportsXchange

S.F. Examiner: Spieth, Pebble deserve each other in best way

By Art Spander
San Francisco Examiner

PEBBLE BEACH — It’s a party, a picnic, a weather forecast, a comedy routine, a study in history and — not incidentally — a golf tournament. One, that thanks to a man’s love of the game and a bit of property described as “the most felicitous meeting of land and water in creation,” is one of a kind.

The AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, the derivative of the Bing Crosby Pro-Am, has been raising umbrellas and money for about a zillion charities on the Monterey Peninsula ever since Bing Crosby hauled it up the coast in 1947, probably before many of you were born. Golf, of course, was born 600 years ago, give or take a century.

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©2017 The San Francisco Examiner

SportsXchange: Spieth strolls to four-shot win at Pebble Beach

By Art Spander
SportsXchange

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. — The 12th hole at Augusta? The two balls in the creek last April? Ancient history now. For Jordan Spieth, for his fans, and not the least for golf. 

He may have lost on one of the sport's biggest stages, but Sunday, in the sunshine, alongside the crashing surf, he won on another big stage.

Read the full story here.

Copyright 2017 SportsXchange