Jordan Spieth caught fire on the greens on Friday as he seized a share of the halfway lead at the Northern Trust, the first tournament of the USPGA Tour’s FedEx Cup playoffs.
Spieth’s seven birdies included five in a row from the 10th through the 14th — six in all on the back nine in a five-under-par 65 that gave him a six-under total of 134.
He completed a group of four sharing the lead that also included world No. 1 Dustin Johnson, Venezuela’s Jhonattan Vegas and Rickie Fowler.
Photo: AFP
Vegas also posted a 65, nabbing five birdies without a bogey. Fowler carded a 66 and Johnson posted a one-under 69 on the Glen Oaks Club course in Old Westbury, New York.
Johnson, whose opening-round 65 put him one off the overnight lead, was three-under through 12 holes and eight-under for the tournament before errant tee shots led to back-to-back late bogeys.
“Other than that, I felt like it was a really solid day,” Johnson said. “I’m really pleased with the way the golf game is right now and I’m looking forward to this weekend.”
Reigning Open champion Spieth had dropped out of the leading group with a bogey at the 15th, but he rebounded with a 40-foot birdie putt at 16.
“I put in a little work in an early session before my warm-up session today,” said Spieth, who also drained a 23-footer at the 12th. “I just was messing around a little with alignment and ball position.”
CANADIAN OPEN
Reuters
Chun In-gee of South Korea on Friday carded her second consecutive four-under 67 to move to the lead after 36 holes at the Canadian Pacific Women’s Open in Ottawa.
Chun, one shot off the lead after Thursday’s opening round, had five birdies against one bogey to advance to eight-under 134 for a two-shot lead over a trio of Americans — Mo Martin, Brittany Lincicome and first-round leader Marina Alex.
There were four Taiwanese in a group sharing 28th place on 141 overall.
Min Lee shot a 68 after a first-round 73; Yani Tseng shot 71 on Thursday and 70 on Friday; Candie Kung also shot 71 and 70 and Chien Pei-yun had a 69 and a 72.
Hsu Wei-ling was a further shot back after a 72 and a 70.
Cheng Ssu-chia’s second-round 72 was not enough to make the cut after she shot a 79 in the first round.
Additional reporting by staff writer
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