Johnson Wagner fired a three-under par 69 and has a three-shot lead after the rain-shortened second round at the US$5.6 million PGA Houston Open. Wagner finished his round, something 36 others couldn’t say as a storm blew over the Redstone Golf Club.
His 12-under 132 total gave him a three-stroke cushion over Mathew Goggin and Charlie Hoffman.
Play was stopped for two hours in the afternoon before the golfers returned to the course then halted for the day because of darkness.
PHOTO: AP
The three dozen golfers were due to return to the course early yesterday morning to complete the second round and a cut will be established, then the third round will begin.
“It was hard for me to sleep [Thursday] because I really wanted to get out there and keep playing,” Wagner said. “I missed a bunch of chances coming in, but I’m pleased with the round.”
“There’s nothing about this place I don’t like,” Wagner told reporters. “The course is incredible. I love the setup. The condition is great, and I think if I had to pinpoint one thing I would say my ability to read these greens.”
Aussie Goggin shot a 64 to get to nine-under and into a tie with Hoffman.
Goggin’s round was highlighted by two eagles. His first was on the fifth hole when he holed out with an eight-iron from 161 yards. The second was when he holed a bunker shot on No. 8.
“Obviously, it was a bonus,” Goggin said of his eagles. “You always think that when you hit the shot. But it’s important the next two holes not to give them back.”
Six Australians have won eight Houston Opens, including Adam Scott last year and Stuart Appleby in 2006.
Goggin offered a tongue-in-cheek theory on why Australians have had so much success here.
“Maybe we’re just better on courses you don’t have to think around,” he said. “You just smash it and go find it. You dumb it down for us and we do all right.”
American Chad Campbell also returned a 64 to stand alone in fourth place with a seven-under tally of 137, one stroke better than compatriots Lucas Glover and Robert Garrigus.
Joining Scott at 139 were Ben Crane and Jose Maria Olazabal.
First round leader Scott got caught in the rain delay and nearly didn’t finish his round. He stumbled in the soggy conditions with three birdies, five bogeys and a double-bogey, finishing with a four-over 76.
His bogey on the second hole ended his tournament streak of 55 holes without a bogey.
One golfer who apparently wasn’t able to tough out the conditions was American John Daly.
He played seven holes before the rain delay and decided he had enough. He withdrew, claiming a bad back.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but
Taiwanese gymnast Lee Chih-kai failed to secure an Olympic berth in the pommel horse following a second-place finish at the last qualifier in Doha on Friday, a performance that Lee and his coach called “unconvincing.” The Tokyo Olympics silver medalist finished runner-up in the final after scoring 6.6 for degree of difficulty and 8.800 for execution for a combined score of 15.400. That was just 0.100 short of Jordan’s Ahmad Abu Al Soud, who had qualified for the event in Paris before the Apparatus World Cup series in Qatar’s capital. After missing the final rounds in the first two of four qualifier