World No. 5 Rickie Fowler fired another bogey-free 66 on Friday to take a one-shot lead after two rounds of the US PGA Tour’s Honda Classic.
Fowler’s second straight four-under effort on the Champion course at PGA National in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, gave him an eight-under total of 132.
American golfer Jason Bohn suffered a mild heart attack during Friday’s round after complaining of chest pains on the course.
Photo: AFP
The 42-year-old was transported by ambulance to a Palm Beach Gardens hospital for tests and was in a stable condition.
Fowler was one stroke in front of fellow American Jimmy Walker, who capped his 66 with a birdie at 17 and an eagle at the par-five 18th.
“I’ve been swinging well,” said Fowler, whose strong early-season form included a victory in Abu Dhabi and a playoff loss to Hideki Matsuyama in Phoenix.
“It’s nice to hit fairways, hit greens, especially at a place like this where it’s very demanding tee to green,” he said. “I felt like I didn’t hit it as good as yesterday, but I hit some really good drives through the middle, through the end of the round, and made a few more putts, which was nice.”
First-round co-leader Sergio Garcia, playing alongside Fowler, signed for a 69 for a total of 134, and Australian Adam Scott powered up the leaderboard with a bogey-free 65 that included an eagle and three birdies and put him in fourth on 135.
“I felt like I played quite well. Obviously the course is not getting any easier as the week goes on. The wind was not as much as yesterday, but it was still challenging,” Garcia said.
The course, designed by Jack Nicklaus, got the better of Rory McIlroy, whose second straight two-over 72 included a triple-bogey six at the par-three fifth and saw him miss the cut with a four-over total of 144.
It was another disappointing finish in a tournament where Northern Ireland’s McIlroy has experienced wildly fluctuating fortunes.
McIlroy’s 2012 victory at PGA National propelled him to No. 1 in the world for the first time.
Defending his title the following year, he was struggling when he withdrew complaining of a painful wisdom tooth. After missing out in a playoff in 2014, he missed the cut last year.
In fact, Fowler was the only one of four top-10 players to make the cut.
Along with world No. 3 McIlroy, ninth-ranked Patrick Reed and 10th-ranked Branden Grace will also miss the weekend.
Playing alongside McIlroy, defending champion Padraig Harrington of Ireland rebounded from his opening 73 with a gritty two-under-par 68 that had him heading into the weekend on one-over 141.
Harrington nabbed seven birdies to offset three bogeys and a double-bogey.
Fowler became the first player to go bogey-free over the first two rounds of the tournament since it moved to the Champion course in 2007.
He rolled in a 22-foot birdie putt at his final hole and Walker, playing behind him, heard the roar, but stayed in touch with his strong finish.
“I think it’s important to be close to the lead in a tournament like this, because it’s such a hard golf course,” Walker said.
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
HSIEH MAKES QUARTERS: Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens of Belgium won in the women’s doubles and face Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Sofia Kenin of the US Top-ranked Iga Swiatek and US Open champion Coco Gauff were knocked out of the women’s singles at the Miami Open on Monday, while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei advanced in the women’s doubles. Swiatek lost to Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-4, 6-2, hours after third seed Gauff fell in three sets to No. 23 Caroline Garcia 6-3, 1-6, 6-2. Alexandrova beat a top-ranked player for the first time and advanced to face Jessica Pegula, a 7-6 (7/1), 6-3 winner over Emma Navarro, in the quarter-finals. Alexandrova recorded her second win over Swiatek, following a 2021 victory in Melbourne. Swiatek had won their three matches since. “We played quite