Sport Watch

Filed under: PGA, FedEx Cup

NORTON, Mass. (AP) — Zach Johnson and Jason Day beat up on the course and beat the weather at the Deutsche Bank Championship.

Johnson (pictured) strengthened his Ryder Cup case Friday by rolling in putts from everywhere in easy scoring conditions ahead of Hurricane Earl, giving him an 8-under 63 to share the early lead with Day.

Geoff Ogilvy, without a top 10 on the PGA Tour since he won the season-opener at Kapalua, was 8 under with three holes to play.

On perhaps the easiest day players will see all week, Tiger Woods made it hard on himself.

Woods put his FedExCup playoffs in jeopardy by making four bogeys through six holes, and he had to fight back in occasional bursts of rain for a 1-over 72. He was nine shots out of the lead, likely to start the second round three shots below the cut line.

If he were to miss the cut, he would not make it to the third round next week outside Chicago.

“I’m going to have to shoot something good tomorrow, hopefully move up a little bit,” Woods said. “Obviously, get off to a better start than I did today.”

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Fanhouse Golf

Filed under: PGA

GREENSBORO, N.C. (AP) — Brandt Snedeker feels right at home in central North Carolina, no matter which course he plays.

Snedeker shot a 65 Friday and shared the lead with Arjun Atwal at 12-under 128 after two rounds of the Wyndham Championship.

Snedeker had an eagle and three birdies to move into familiar territory atop the leaderboard of golf’s final pre-playoff event. He won this tournament in 2007 and shared the lead after a rainy first day last year.

He again has company in the lead: Atwal, who lost his tour card last month and is bidding to become the first Monday qualifier to win an ensuing tournament in 24 years. He followed his tournament-record-tying first round with a 67.

Since the Wyndham returned to the par-70 Sedgefield Country Club in 2008, both winners — Carl Pettersson in 2008 and Ryan Moore last year — either held or shared the lead after two rounds.

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Filed under: PGA

WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, W.Va. (AP) — Jeff Overton overcame a tough start to shoot 4-under 66 Saturday for a three-stroke lead entering the final round of the inaugural Greenbrier Classic.

Overton made five birdies on the back nine of the Old White course to move to 18 under.

The second-round leader kept the lead despite a pair of others flirting with 59. D.A. Points three-putted the par-5 17th for bogey, finished with a 61 and is alone in second at 15 under, and J.B. Holmes couldn’t convert a 10-footer for eagle at No. 17 and shot 60.

Boo Weekley shot a 67 to reach 13 under, and Holmes is in a four-way tie for fourth with Jonathan Byrd (64), Brendon de Jonge (65) and Jimmy Walker (67) at 12 under for the tournament.

Holmes was among 17 players who made the 36-hole cut on the number. He looks to repeat the performance of Carl Pettersson, who a week ago also made the cut on the number at the Canadian Open, shot 60 in the third round and eventually won by a stroke.

Double heart transplant recipient Erik Compton, seeking his first top-10 PGA Tour finish, is among three players at 11 under.

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Overton didn’t come close to matching the 62 he shot Friday, his best round of the year.

 

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Filed under: British Open

ST. ANDREWS, Scotland — Surprise. Intrigue. Newcomers. Proven veterans. Spry old guys. Play suspended, not by rain, but wind. Faltering favorites. Two days into the 150th British Open, golf’s oldest major championship is at St. Andrew, the game’s oldest course, hell bent on providing a show unlike any before.

It starts with the 36-hole leader, unknown South African Louis Oosthuizen. Just how unknown is he? After being invited into the media interview center after shooting 67 to go 12 under, the leader by five shots was welcomed as “Peter,” most likely confused with Peter Oosterhuis.

The confusion is understandable. The 27-year-old may have claimed his first European Tour victory earlier this year after four wins on the South African Tour, but when it comes to major championships he is a long way from recognized. In six previous starts the O-man has five missed cuts with his best finish being 73rd at the 2008 PGA Championship.

“Yeah, it wasn’t very great, was it?” Oosthuizen said of this record in the majors. “But it was a matter of not believing in myself, I think. Everyone around here is telling me, ‘you’ve got the shots, you’re playing well,’ and again, that win earlier this season just got my mind set in a different way.”

When the long day finally ended in darkness, there were plenty of golfers in need of a little mental adjustment.

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Pick your poison. Players, like Oosthuizen, who had drawn early tee times, went out in rain and wind. Those who began later played dry condition, but in WIND!!!

 

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Filed under: PGA

CROMWELL, Connecticut (AP) — Justin Rose of England closed in on his second straight PGA Tour victory Saturday, shooting a 2-under 68 to take a three-stroke lead over Ben Curtis into the final round of the Travelers Championship.

Rose, the 29-year-old who won the Memorial three weeks ago but then failed to qualify for the U.S. Open, had a 16-under 194 total at TPC River Highlands after setting the tournament 36-hole record with rounds of 64 and 62.

“It was just a day when nothing went in on the greens at all,” said Rose, a stroke off the best 54-hole total in tournament history. “The tale of the day was that I made nothing on the greens. The longest putt I made was 4 feet, 10 inches for par on 17.

“So, I’m really happy to have a day like that on the greens and still shoot 68 and still maintain my lead.”

Curtis, the 2003 British Open champion, shot a 64. Vaughn Taylor (67) was 11 under, and Ricky Barnes (64), Scott McCarron (66), Brendon de Jonge (67), Bubba Watson (67), Matt Jones (68), Ryder Cup captain Corey Pavin (69) and Bill Lunde (69) were 10 under.

Charlie Wi cut Rose’s lead — four strokes after the first two days — to two early in the round, but that was as close as Wi or anyone else could get.

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