Jason Dufner, seeking his first US PGA Tour title since his major triumph at the 2013 PGA Championship, fired a seven-under-par 65 on Friday to take a one-shot lead in the CareerBuilder Challenge.
Dufner had eight birdies in his round on the TPC West Stadium Course in La Quinta, in the southern California desert, the toughest of three par-72 layouts in use over the first three days of the US$5.8 million tournament.
His 36-hole total of 15-under-par 129 put him one stroke in front of Jamie Lovemark, who carded a seven-under 65 on the Nicklaus Tournament Course for 130.
Photo: AFP
Dufner got off to a blazing start on the West Stadium Course, back in the tournament rotation for the first time since 1987, with six birdies in the first nine holes.
After a bogey at 10 he birdied two of the next three and parred the last four to equal the best score of the week on that course.
“It’s a difficult golf course,” Dufner said. “There’s a little bit of room to play off the tee, but if you get off the path a little bit, you can get into some trouble... It’s definitely the most difficult of the courses we have played here.”
Photo: Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY
Lovemark teed off on 10 and enjoyed a round highlighted by an eagle at the par-four first, where he holed a shot from 105 yards out.
“Got a little tired coming down the stretch,” said Lovemark, who also had six birdies and a bogey. “There’s some long rounds out here.”
Defending champion Bill Haas, a two-time winner of the event, carded a second straight 66 and was among a group sharing third on 132.
Photo: AFP
He was joined by overnight coleader Anirban Lahiri of India, who shot 68, Canada’s Adam Hadwin (66), Jason Gore (64) and Andrew Loupe (66).
Five-time major champion Phil Mickelson headlined a group sharing eighth on 133 after a 65 on the Nicklaus Tournament Course.
He was joined at 11-under by Argentina’s Angel Cabrera, Michael Thompson, Brian Harman, Brendan Steele, Ryan Palmer and John Huh — who carded an eight-under 64 on the Nicklaus Tournament Course.
Mickelson, teeing it up for the first time since September last year, said he was still not 100 percent confident in his game.
However, he still thought he had a shot at adding a third title to the ones he captured here in 2002 and 2004.
“I’m probably a week away, if I’m being honest, but I’ve also won with a lot less game than I have right now,” Mickelson said.
ABU DHABI
Reuters, ABU DHABI
Fog again delayed the start of play at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship, making it unlikely the third round would be completed yesterday.
Play began at 10:30am, almost three hours behind schedule, with 60 golfers — including four of the world’s top six — still to finish their second round following a similarly late start on Friday.
The third round is to begin no earlier than 1pm, so the likes of Masters champion Jordan Spieth, four-time major winner Rory McIlroy and talented amateur Bryson DeChambeau could again struggle to get around the course in time.
Dusk is at about 6pm.
England’s Andy Sullivan, who has completed 36 holes, was the overnight leader on 10-under, with DeChambeau a stroke adrift after playing 27 holes.
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