Hunter Mahan fired a flawless eight-under-par 64 on Friday to take a two-shot lead over John Merrick after two rounds of the US PGA Tour’s Canadian Open.
Mahan’s eight birdies were enough to seize the lead from early second-round pace-setter Merrick, who equaled the Glen Abbey course record with a 10-under 62 that included an eagle and eight birdies.
Mahan had a 13-under-par total of 131, with Merrick on 11-under 133. Former Masters champion Bubba Watson was alone in third place after a 67 for 135, and it was a further stroke back to Patrick Reed (68) and Australian Aaron Baddeley (68) on 136.
Mahan, who played in the final group on Sunday at the British Open and finished ninth in the year’s third major, birdied his last three holes to get past Merrick.
Mahan had got his round going with a similar burst of three birdies at the second third and fourth, and also birdied 11 and 13.
“I kind of built off last week,” Mahan said. “I got some good things I’m doing with my swing and everything, and feel good about that. I’m just going out there and really trying to trust my game. Just allow things to happen and not get in the way of myself and be as present as I can and keep my head up and keep moving forward and just kind of letting my abilities and everything that I’m doing in my game, let it try to come out.”
Merrick’s round matched the course record set by Leonard Thompson in 1981 and tied by Andy Bean in 1983 and Australian Greg Norman in 1986.
However, he acknowledged such a feat was not looking likely after a poor warm-up on Friday morning.
“I wasn’t hitting it that great on the range and I didn’t feel that good,” Merrick said. “Maybe that makes you focus a little bit more, try to figure out what’s going on, and I was able to kind of work a couple things out.”
Merrick, who earned his first US PGA Tour title with a playoff victory at the Northern Trust Open in Los Angeles in February, jump started his round with an eagle at the par-five second hole. He added back-to-back birdies at the seventh and eighth, and his six birdies on the back nine included another brace at 17 and 18.
“It was a great day,” said Merrick, who hit 17 of 18 greens in regulation. “I got off to a good start, hit it over the green on two and chipped in for eagle. “My game has been feeling pretty good lately. Everything kind of clicked today.”
Hopes of a first Canadian victory in 59 years in the country’s national open were looking dim after 36 holes. Mike Weir, who has been hampered by various injuries since winning the Masters in 2003, was the top Canadian after a five-under 67 that left him tied for 26th on 140.
SSC Napoli’s Italian Serie A title hopes suffered a late setback on Sunday when they were held to a 2-2 draw at home against Genoa, setting up a thrilling season finale with closest rivals Inter just one point behind. The hosts remain top with 78 points, holding a slim lead over Inter, who won 2-0 at Torino earlier on Sunday, with two rounds remaining. To make matters worse for Napoli, midfielder Stanislav Lobotka, struggling with an ankle injury, was forced off just minutes after the match began. Scott McTominay delivered a perfect pass into the box where Romelu Lukaku got
Harry Kane opened the scoring ahead of lifting his first career silverware as Bayern Munich beat Borussia Moenchengladbach 2-0, with veteran Thomas Mueller playing his last home game for the club. Bayern officially won the title on May 4 when defending champions Bayer Leverkusen were held to a 2-2 draw at Freiburg, but were presented with the Bundesliga shield in front of their home fans at full-time. Dripping wet after being showered with beer by teammates, Kane said the title win was “an incredible feeling,” and hoped it would be “the first of many.” “It’s been lot of hard work, a lot of
Taiwanese e-sports veteran Lin “ET” Chia-hung yesterday successfully defended his King of Fighters XV title at this year’s Evolution Championship Series: Japan (EVO Japan), securing his second consecutive championship. Lin claimed victory with a 3-1 win over Japanese pro gamer “mok” in the grand final, repeating his earlier 3-1 win against the same opponent in the winners’ final. The 40-year-old earned a ￥1 million (US$6,897) cash prize at the two-day tournament, which drew 294 competitors. Mok, Lin’s toughest rival in the bracket, took home ￥400,000 as runner-up. Lin remains undefeated in match sets against mok in King of Fighters XV, holding a 10-0 record,
Batting great Virat Kohli yesterday announced his immediate retirement from Test cricket, just days before India name their squad for a tour to England. Kohli, who scored 9,230 runs in 123 matches at an average of 46.85, posted his decision on Instagram five days after India captain Rohit Sharma called time on his own Test career. Since making his debut in 2011, Kohli struck 30 hundreds and 31 fifties with a highest score of 254 not out, mainly batting at number four in the order. “It’s been 14 years since I first wore the baggy blue in Test cricket,” the
RSS