Stewart Cink moved to the top of the Travelers Championship leaderboard making two long eagle putts in a 6-under 64 that left him a stroke ahead of defending champion Hunter Mahan and two others on Friday.
Cink, the 1997 winner at TPC River Highlands, is seeking his first victory of the season after six top-10 finishes.
“I hope it’s just a matter of time,” Cink said. “I hope it’s a matter of about two days.”
It didn’t look good early for Cink, who began the day at 4 under and promptly bogeyed the first two holes. He got one back with a birdie at the third before knocking in a 26-foot putt for eagle on the par-5 sixth. He bettered that shot by curling in a 49-foot right-to-left eagle putt on the 13th.
“I just kept staying down and staying focused on doing what I can do and that’s just stroking the putter through the ball, almost not looking up to watch it,” said Cink, who opened with a 66 on Thursday en route to a 10-under 130 total.
Mahan shot a 63, the best round of the day, to join Ken Duke and Lucas Glover at 9-under. Duke and Glover shot 66s.
■ WEGMANS LPGA
AFP, PITTSFORD, NEW YORK
US player Morgan Pressel posted her second straight bogey-free round to vault into sole possession of the lead at the US$2 million Wegmans LPGA tournament on Friday.
Entering the round in a six-way tie for eighth place, the 20-year-old shot seven-under 65 to move to a 10-under 34 total.
Taiwan’s Candie Kung (龔怡萍) carded 69 to move to 140, while Yani Tseng (曾雅妮), who also shot 69, moved to 141.
The jammed leaderboard after Thursday’s opening round included a seven-way tie for first place.
■ BMW INTERNATIONAL
AFP, MUNICH, GERMANY
Germany’s Martin Kaymer stormed into a five-shot lead at the BMW International on Friday sparking playing partner, and illustrious compatriot, Bernhard Langer to compare the 23-year-old to Tiger Woods.
Kaymer, the 2007 rookie of the year, carded a second round nine under par 63 to stand at 13 under par after two rounds and favorite to be the first first German winner of this event.
Kaymer’s round was just one shot off the course record at the Golfclub Munchen and further enhanced his chances of playing in the Ryder Cup in September.
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
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
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