LPGA CHAMPIONSHIP ADVERTISING LPGA CHAMPIONSHIP PITTSFORD, N.Y. — Brittany Lincicome opened a three-stroke lead Friday in the wind-swept LPGA Championship, the tour’s fourth major championship of the season. The long-hitting Lincicome followed her opening 67 with a 68 to reach
LPGA CHAMPIONSHIP
PITTSFORD, N.Y. — Brittany Lincicome opened a three-stroke lead Friday in the wind-swept LPGA Championship, the tour’s fourth major championship of the season.
The long-hitting Lincicome followed her opening 67 with a 68 to reach 9 under at Monroe Golf Club. She won the 2009 Kraft Nabisco for her lone major title and has five LPGA Tour victories.
Lincicome had an eagle and three birdies to go with one bogey for her second solid day. She averaged 277.5 yards off the tee on the two measured holes and needed 26 putts for the second straight day.
Lexi Thompson, tied for the first-round lead with Meena Lee, dropped into a tie for second with defending champion Inbee Park of South Korea. Thompson had a 72, and Park shot 66.
That gave the United States two players at the top as the Americans go for their fourth straight major title of the season. Thompson won the Kraft Nabisco to start the run.
Seventeen-year-old Lydia Ko of New Zealand had a 69 to join Lee, from South Korea, and Jane Park at 5 under. Lee had a 73, and Park shot 69.
WYNDHAM CHAMPIONSHIP
GREENSBORO, N.C. — Heath Slocum and Scott Langley each shot 5-under 65 for the second straight day to share the lead in the Wyndham Championship.
Brian Stuard, Nick Watney, Martin Laird and Andrew Svoboda were a stroke back in the final regular-season event of the season. Watney and Svoboda shot 64, Stuard had a 65 and Laird a 66.
Ryo Ishikawa had the best round of the day — a 62 that was one stroke off the course record and included six birdies on the back nine.
Since the tournament returned to Sedgefield Country Club in 2008, every two-day leader until now had been at 11 under or better.
DICK’S SPORTING GOODS OPEN
ENDICOTT, N.Y. — John Cook birdied the final two holes for a 7-under 65 and a share of the first-round lead with Olin Browne in the Champions Tour’s Dick’s Sporting Goods Open.
The 56-year-old Cook had eight birdies and a bogey on the En-Joie course. He won the last of his nine titles on the 50-and-over tour last year in the season-opening event in Hawaii.
Cook missed 10 weeks of the season after injuring his back in a February fall at his Florida home. He made an 8-foot putt on the par-3 17th and a 25-footer on par-4 18th.
The 55-year-old Browne birdied five of the last seven holes in a bogey-free round. He won the 2011 U.S. Senior Open for his lone Champions Tour victory.
Defending champion Bart Bryant was a stroke back along with Steve Lowery and David Frost.
U.S. AMATEUR
JOHNS CREEK, Ga. — Pepperdine junior Frederick Wedel advanced to the U.S. Amateur semifinals, beating 36-year-old Pittsburgh financial adviser Nathan Smith 4 and 3 at Atlanta Athletic Club.
The 19-year-old Wedel, from The Woodlands, Texas, took a 4-up lead with consecutive birdie wins on Nos. 12 and 13 and closed out the match with a par halve on the par-3 15th.
Wedel will face South Korea’s Gunn Yang in the semifinals. Yang, a sophomore at San Diego State, beat high school senior Cameron Young of Scarborough, New York, 2 up.
In the other semifinal, Canada’s Corey Conners will play Denny McCarthy of Rockville, Maryland. Conners beat Zachary Olsen of Cordova, Tennessee, 2 and 1, and McCarthy topped Roman Robledo of Harlingen, Texas, 3 and 2. Connors is coming off his senior season at Kent State, and McCarthy is a senior at Virginia.
MADE IN DENMARK
AALBORG, Denmark — Wales’ Bradley Dredge shot a 3-under 68 to take a four-stroke lead in the Made in Denmark tournament at 8-under 134.
Englang’s Simon Wakefield was second after a 67. Danish stars Thomas Bjorn (73) and Thorbjorn Olesen (70) were another stroke back along with Scotland’s David Drysdale (68) and England’s Garrick Porteous (68).
By wire sources
