American Hunter Mahan held a one shot lead over German world No. 1 Martin Kaymer and Italian Francesco Molinari following the second round of the WGC Cadillac Championship in Doral on Friday.
The 28-year-old Californian posted a solid one-under-par 71 to follow up his impressive 64 Thursday.
Kaymer, composed and as tidy as ever, was bogey free as he shot a 70 and he looks well placed to keep hold of his top spot in the ranking given Britain’s Lee Westwood — who can return to No. 1 with a win here — is nine shots off the lead.
Photo: AFP
Westwood, who was grouped with Kaymer, shot two over on Friday.
One player Kaymer will be wary of, this weekend at least, is Molinari, who moved up the leaderboard with a four-under-par 68 built around some excellent work around the greens.
Scotland’s Martin Laird also put himself in contention moving to seven-under-par overall, along with Americans Matt Kuchar, Nick Watney and Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy.
Former world No. 1 Tiger Woods, now ranked 5th, had another frustrating day shooting two-over-par to end on even par, nine shots off the lead.
The 14-times major winner had two embarrassing moments — hitting a woeful 122 yard drive on the second hole, not even reaching the ladies tee, and then skying with a three wood off the 14th tee, making just 188 yards.
Japan’s Ryo Ishikawa, who had been a shot off the lead after the completion of the first round on Friday morning, shot four over par with four bogeys and a double-bogey.
With the news of the tsunami from his homeland having emerged in the morning, Ishikawa said it had been a testing day.
“I tried my best to block everything out but as you can imagine it has been a tough day,” he said.
PUERTO RICO OPEN
REUTERS, RIO GRANDE, PUERTO RICO
American Chris Tidland fired an impressive nine-under-par 63 on Friday to join compatriots James Driscoll and Troy Matteson at the top of the leaderboard of the Puerto Rico Open on Friday.
The 38-year-old Californian, seeking his maiden PGA Tour win, said he was enjoying the greens after going bogey free on Friday for a 10-under-par total of 134 after two rounds.
“I had a lot of great looks from three to 12 feet and I made a lot of them today,” Tidland said. “These greens are in such good shape and there’s not a whole lot of break around the hole ... you can make some putts and I fortunately did.”
Matteson made a second successive 67, while overnight leader Driscoll blew his chance of the outright lead when he double bogeyed the par-five 15th.
Canadian Stephen Ames and Americans George McNeill and Hunter Haas were tied in fourth.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
MLB on Friday announced a formal investigation into the scandal swirling around Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter amid charges that the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar was the victim of “massive theft.” The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s long-time interpreter and close friend, after Ohtani’s representatives alleged that the Japanese two-way star had been the victim of theft, which was reported to involve millions of dollars and link Mizuhara to a suspected illegal bookmaker in California. “Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara from the news media,” MLB