Closing-hole birdies from the US’ Gary Woodland and South Korea’s KJ Choi lifted them into a share of the second-round lead at the Farmers Insurance Open outside San Diego on Friday as a host of big names missed the cut.
While defending champion Jason Day, world No. 4 Rickie Fowler and local favorite Phil Mickelson all failed to advance at Torrey Pines, Woodlands and Choi fired matching five-under-par 67s to finish at nine-under 135.
Long-hitting Dustin Johnson was alone in third at eight-under after a 66, one stroke in front of fellow Americans Scott Brown (71) and Billy Horschel (70), and Scotland’s Martin Laird (68).
Photo: AFP
Veteran Choi, an eight-time winner on the PGA Tour who has not triumphed on the circuit since the 2011 Players Championship, birdied three of his last five holes on the easier North Course to move joint top.
“My putting hasn’t been too good inside 15 to 20 feet, but today I made five or six outside 15 feet,” Choi said. “I heard the weekend will be very windy and rainy, so I’m hoping my imagination, my driving and putting will be stable.”
Power hitter Woodlands, winless on the PGA Tour since the 2013 Reno-Tahoe Open, piled up five birdies on his front nine to reach the turn in a flawless five-under 31.
Though he stumbled late on with bogeys at the 16th and 17th, he rebounded by getting up-and-down from a greenside bunker to birdie the par-five 18th on the challenging South layout.
“The way I’m driving the ball right now, I’m very comfortable with my golf swing,” said Woodlands, who made an equipment change during the off-season.
Australian world No. 2 Day withdrew from the pro-am competition on Wednesday because of a virus he picked up last Friday and was unable to practice ahead of his title defense until his warm-up session for Thursday’s opening round.
“That was the frustrating part, knowing that I wasn’t able to prepare the way I wanted to,” said Day, who followed his first-round 72 with a two-over 74 to miss the cut by three strokes.
“I’m not trying to make any excuses. I’m just looking forward to getting over this virus that has run through our family,” he said.
Fowler, who won the European Tour’s Abu Dhabi Championship on Sunday last week, almost holed a greenside bunker shot on his final hole, but had to settle for a closing par and a 71 that left him one shot outside the cutline.
Mickelson bogeyed four of his last six holes for a 76 and a one-over total. On his ninth hole, a wild second shot ended up in a car park, but his ball bounced back underneath an iron fence marking out-of-bounds, thereby saving him a penalty stroke.
To play his third shot there, the American left-hander walked to the car park side of the fence to make a swing from where he banged his club on the fence before finishing up with a double-bogey seven.
Japan’s Shohei Ohtani is the record-breaking baseball “superhuman” following in the footsteps of the legendary Babe Ruth who has also earned comparisons to US sporting greats Michael Jordan and Tom Brady. Not since Ruth a century ago has there been a baseball player capable of both pitching and hitting at the top level. The 30-year-old’s performances with the Los Angeles Dodgers have consolidated his position as a baseball legend in the making, and a national icon in his native Japan. He continues to find new ways to amaze, this year becoming the first player to hit 50 home runs and steal 50 bases
Zhang Shuai yesterday said that she nearly quit after losing 24 matches in a row — now the world No. 595 is into the quarter-finals of her home China Open. The 35-year-old is to face Spain’s Paula Badosa as the lowest-ranked player to reach this stage in the history of the tournament after Badosa reeled off 11 of the last 12 games in a 6-4, 6-0 victory over US Open finalist Jessica Pegula. Zhang went into Beijing on a barren run lasting more than 600 days and her string of singles defeats was the second-longest on the WTA Tour Open era, which
Taiwan’s Tony Wu yesterday beat Mackenzie McDonald of the US to win the Nonthaburi Challenger IV in Thailand, his first challenger victory since 2022. The 26-year-old world No. 315, who won both his qualifiers to advance to the main draw, has been on a hot streak this month, winning his past nine matches, including two that ensured Taiwan’s victory in their Davis Cup World Group I tie. Wu took just more than two hours to top world No. 172 McDonald 6-3, 7-6 (7/4) to win his second challenger tournament since the Tallahassee Tennis Challenger in 2022. Wu’s Tallahassee win followed two years of
Taiwanese martial artists bagged one gold, four silver and three bronze medals at the World Junior Wushu Championships in Brunei, the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Brunei Darussalam said yesterday. Liu Yu-tzu won the gold medal in the girl’s taijiquan A group and also picked up a silver medal in the girl’s taijijian A group. Hu Hsin-ling, Yu Min-hsun and Chen Chao-hsiang each won a silver medal in the girl’s jianshu B, boy’s nangun B and boy’s taijijian A groups respectively. Hu also won a bronze medal in the girl’s qiangshu B group, while Yu and Lin Shih-hung picked up bronze medals
RSS