SAMMAMISH, Wash. — Brooke Henderson and Mirim Lee withstood a wild weather day to share the lead at 2 under halfway through the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship. ADVERTISING SAMMAMISH, Wash. — Brooke Henderson and Mirim Lee withstood a wild weather
SAMMAMISH, Wash. — Brooke Henderson and Mirim Lee withstood a wild weather day to share the lead at 2 under halfway through the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship.
Playing in the afternoon, Henderson and Lee fought heavy rain, wind and a significant drop in the temperature Friday at Sahalee Country Club. After six straight pars, Henderson birdied the par-3 17th, but the 18-year-old Canadian bogeyed the 18th for a 2-over 73 that dropped her back into a tie with Lee.
Lee started on the back nine and surged when she got to the front, making three birdies before dropping a shot late. The South Korean player shot a 69.
Top-ranked Lydia Ko was a stroke back along with Gerina Piller and Brittany Lincicome. Ko scrambled to a 70 in her bid to win her third straight major. Piller had a 69, and Lincicome shot 70.
Thailand’s Ariya Jutanugarn, the winner of her last three tournaments, was 3 over after a 75.
Inbee Park missed the cut after winning the event the past three years. A day after wrapping up an LPGA Hall of Fame spot, the South Korean followed her opening 72 with a 79. Park has been dealing with inflammation in the tendons and ligaments around her left thumb.
Michelle Wie also dropped out, shooting 78-80.
FEDEX ST. JUDE CLASSIC
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Daniel Berger shot a season-best 6-under 64 on Friday to take a three-stroke lead in the FedEx St. Jude Classic.
Berger had six birdies in his bogey-free morning round to reach 9-under 131 at TPC Southwind, and nobody caught him atop the leaderboard. Berger has started well, despite breaking in a new driver and 3-wood after his old clubs finally cracked last week from age.
Tom Hoge, part of a three-way tie for the lead after the first round, was second after a 69. He birdied the final two holes in the next to last group.
Dustin Johnson, the 2012 champion, had a chance to catch Berger until dropping three strokes on the final two holes. Johnson finished with a 69 after wiping out four birdies and an eagle with three bogeys and a double bogey on No. 18 with what he called bad swings at the end.
That finish left Johnson tied with Phil Mickelson (65) and Brooks Koepka (65) at 5 under. Mickelson, winless since the 2013 British Open, matched his low round this year with six birdies and one bogey. He’s here fine-tuning his game for the U.S. Open next week, the one major that has eluded him in his career.
CONSTELLATION SENIOR PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP
FLOURTOWN, Pa. — Two-time defending champion Bernhard Langer pulled within a stroke of leader Brandt Jobe in the Constellation Senior Players Championship.
Langer shot a 2-under 68 at windy Philadelphia Cricket Club in the third of the PGA Tour Champions’ five major championships. Jobe topped the leaderboard at 2 under after his second straight 69.
Langer had three front-nine birdies to make the turn in 32, dropped a stroke on the par-4 10th and parred the final eight holes. The German star won in 2014 at Fox Chapel in Pittsburgh and last year at Belmont in Massachusetts. He won the Regions Tradition last month in Alabama for his sixth senior major and 27th career victory on the 50-and-over tour.
Only six players were under par after two rounds on the A.W. Tillinghast-designed Wissahickon Course.
Scott Dunlap had a 69 to match Langer at 1 under.
Vijay Singh followed his opening 69 with a 74 to drop to 3 over. John Daly had his second straight 76.
CURTIS CUP
DUBLIN — 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.
Tardy and Vaughn beat Meghan MacLaren of England and Maria Dunne of Ireland 1 up in the morning foursomes matches to pull the U.S. to 2-1 at Dun Laoghaire. In the afternoon fourball session, Tardy and Vaughn topped MacLaren and fellow English player Alice Hewson 2 and 1.
After another round of foursomes and fourball matches Saturday, the biennial competition will close Sunday with eight singles matches. The United States needs 10 points to retain the Cup, and Britain and Ireland needs 10 1/2 to reclaim it. The U.S. leads the series 28-7-3, winning 13-7 in 2014 in St. Louis.
U.S. Women’s Amateur champion Hannah O’Sullivan and Mariel Galdiano also won a four-ball match for the United States, beating Northern Ireland’s Olivia Mehaffey and England’s Charlotte Thomas 1 up. The 18-year-old O’Sullivan is from Chandler, Arizona, and the 17-year-old Galdiano is from Pearl City, Hawaii.
England’s Bronte Law played in two winning matches for Britain and Ireland. The UCLA player teamed with Northern Mehaffey to edge O’Sullivan and Galdiano 2 and 1 in the morning, and joined Ireland’s Leona Maguire in the afternoon to top UCLA teammates Bethany Wu and Sierra Brooks 4 and 3.
LYONESS OPEN
ATZENBRUGG, Austria — France’s Gregory Bourdy shot a 3-under 69 for a share of the Lyoness Open lead with South Africa’s Zander Lombard.
Lombard had a 70 to match Bourdy at 7-under 137 at Diamond Country Club. France’s Gary Stal was a stroke back after a 71.
