Australia’s Jason Scrivener and Nick Flanagan yesterday shared a two-shot lead, while American Kim Kaufman took charge of the women’s tournament at the pioneering ISPS Handa Vic Open.
The event, cosanctioned by the European Tour and the US-based LPGA Tour, is the only one in the world with male and female fields playing, in alternate groups, on the same course and for equal prize money.
Scrivener carded six birdies in his six-under-par 66 on day two, while fellow Australian Flanagan, a former US amateur champion, shot a 68 to go with his opening-round 62.
Photo: AFP
“It’s been two solid days [of] work,” said Scrivener, who continued his strong early season form, which has been rewarded with three top-10 finishes on the European Tour.
“It’s just patience, really. I think knowing there’s a lot of birdies out there helps. If you try to rush them, you can make mistakes, so just plodding your way around and being smart about it,” he said.
James Nitties, who on Thursday sank a world record-equaling nine birdies in a row at the 13th Beach Golf Links south of Melbourne, could only manage one in his round of 74, which was tarnished by a double-bogey on the 18th.
Kaufman, who has never won on the LPGA Tour, positioned herself for the weekend with her second 66 in a row — including a birdie-birdie finish — to be two ahead of Japan’s Haru Nomura.
“I just kind of did the same thing as yesterday. With all the par-fives out there, everything’s just pretty solid. Just been fun,” Kaufman said, adding that she had been keen to play the male-female event.
“Last year was when I kind of heard about it and I’ve been pretty outspoken about coming down here,” she said. “It’s lived up to every expectation, which has been great.”
England’s Felicity Johnson, the first-round leader, could only muster a second-round 74 to be seven off the pace.
One of the day’s biggest movers was veteran Karrie Webb, who stroked a 65 to be six behind Kaufman.
Taiwan’s Teresa Lu carded a one-over 73 to finish the second round tied for 33rd on a three-under 142 total, while Chien Pei-yun and Tsai Pei-ying were in a group tied for 41st on two-under 143.
Additional reporting by staff writer
The next generation of running talent takes center stage at today’s Berlin Marathon, in the absence of stars including Kenyan Eliud Kipchoge and Ethiopian world record holder Tigist Assefa. With most of the major marathon stars skipping the event in the wake of the Paris Olympics just more than a month ago, the field is wide open in the men’s and women’s races. Since 2015, Kipchoge has won five times in Berlin, Kenenisa Bekele has won twice and Guye Adola once — with all three missing today. Kenyan Kibiwott Kandie and Ethiopian Tadese Takele are among the favourites for the men, while
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
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
Nick Castellanos, Trea Turner and Kody Clemens homered on Wednesday as the Philadelphia Phillies beat the Chicago Cubs 9-6 and clinched a first-round bye in the playoffs. Castellanos had three hits and scored three times. Bryson Stott also had three hits and Brandon Marsh drove in three runs for the Phillies, who on Monday claimed their first National League East title in 13 years. Coupled with the Milwaukee Brewers’ 2-1 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates, Philadelphia secured the bye and home-field advantage in the NL Division Series. The Phillies owned the tiebreaker with the Brewers after winning the season series against the
RSS