Harris English, an American in only his second season on the US PGA Tour, matched his low round of the year with a six-under-par 64 on Friday to seize a two-stroke lead at the St Jude Classic. English, whose other 64 came in the first round at last month’s Byron Nelson Championship, stood on 10-under 130 for 36 holes with compatriot Shawn Stefani second on 132 after a firing a second-round 65.
“I’m still getting comfortable out here, just trying to get in the hunt of a golf tournament every time,” English said.
English, seeking his first PGA triumph, opened with three birdies in a row and holed out from 175 yards in the fairway for an eagle at the par-4 fifth.
“I was playing a little short of it because that green goes front to back pretty good,” English said. “It landed about 10, 12 feet short and kicked right and rolled right in.”
The 23-year-old former University of Georgia standout with three top-10 finishes this season, added birdie putts at 15, from 15 feet, and 16, from nine feet, before closing with his lone bogey.
“When I get in that kind of situation, everything is pretty much going my way and I’m very much in control of my ball,” English said.
Stefani had a bogey-free round with back-to-back birdies at the par-5 third and par-3 fourth as well as the par-3 eighth and par-4 ninth and a final birdie at the par-5 16th.
Americans Scott Stallings and Paul Haley shared third on 135, five strokes off the lead. Davis Love was in an all-American group on 136 that also included Glen Day, Justin Hicks, Nicholas Thompson and Doug LaBelle.
Defending champion Dustin Johnson, in his first event since a back injury forced him out of the Players Championship last month, hit a 70 to stand in a pack on 137.
Phil Mickelson, a five-time US Open runner-up who is set to try again to finally claim the long-sought crown next week at Merion, fired a 67 to stand in a group on 138, much happier than after his opening-round 71.
“I let a number of shots slide [on Thursday],” Mickelson said. “I made a couple of dumb mistakes and I think that’s why I enjoy the competing element before a big event like the US Open next week.
“And I’m not selling myself out this week. I feel like if I play better than I did today, I’ve got a low round in me,” he said.
LYONESS OPEN
AP, ATZENBRUGG, Austria
Joost Luiten of the Netherlands shot a 4-under 68 on Friday to take a one-stroke lead into the third round of the Lyoness Open.
Luiten holed three birdies on both the front and back nine, offset by two bogeys, to sit at 11-under 133. He is one shot in front of Paul Waring of England (67), Callum Macaulay of Scotland (66) and Eduardo de la Riva of Spain (69).
“I played well, I hit the ball well,” Luiten said, adding that he was not fully satisfied with his game. “I didn’t make as many long putts as yesterday.”
Luiten trailed Tom Lewis by two strokes overnight but the Englishman made five bogeys in shooting a 74.
Hennie Otto of South Africa hit a 65 to climb to fifth place, three shots off the pace, and was later joined by Romain Wattel of France who had a 68.
Defending champion Bernd Wiesberger, at 61st the highest-ranked player in the field, carded a 71 and dropped to 17th at five under.
“The first 11 holes I played pretty well,” the Austrian said, who likely needs a top-10 finish to qualify for next week’s US Open.
Wiesberger added a double bogey on the par-3 15th but improved his score with two birdies on the final three holes.
Former winners Markus Brier of Austria (2006), Richard Green of Australia (2007) and Jose Manuel Lara of Spain (2010) all missed the cut.
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