Koepka muscles way into share of lead
300-yard-plus 3-wood turns round around at the Northern Trust
PARAMUS, N.J.— Brooks Koepka showed some muscle and unleashed a monstrous finish Friday to share the lead in the Northern Trust.
Tiger Woods missed yet another putt and was relieved to still be playing.
Koepka spent most of the second round trading birdies and bogeys, going nowhere. One swing changed everything on the 631-yard 13th hole at Ridgewood Country Club. From just under 310 yards, he swung 3- wood as hard as he could and saw the tight draw that had been missing all day. It stopped 20 feet from the hole, Koepka made the putt for eagle and then closed with three straight birdies for a 6-under 65.
He tied Jamie Lovemark, who shot a 66.
“I wasn’t happy the first 11 holes the way I hit it,” Koepka said. “When I hit that 3-wood, it all clicked. I felt like I was finally able to release the golf club. Just tried to hit as hard as I could, big draw. Aimed at the tree on the right and tried to draw it back to the flag. When I did that, everything started to click.” The U.S. Open and PGA Championship winner took it from there.
Lovemark, winless in 135 starts as a professional, made five birdies in a six-hole stretch around the turn and was the first to reach 10-under 132.
Before long, a list of contenders lined up behind them in an entertaining start to the FedEx Cup playoffs.
Adam Scott, building on his confidence from the PGA Championship, had a 64 for the low round of the tournament and was one back. Another shot back was Dustin Johnson, the world No.1, who had another 67 that for the second straight day featured a triple bogey. At least he got this one out of the way early, taking five shots from a mangled lie in deep rough behind the first green.
“That was not a fun start,” Johnson said. “There was nothing to do but laugh at that point.” Bryson DeChambeau had a 66 and joined Johnson at 134. The group at 7-under 135 included Sean O’Hair, who is No. 112 in the FedEx Cup and needs to get to No. 70 by the third playoff event at the BMW Championship being played this year at Aronimink, his home club outside Philadelphia. He already is planning to play the memberguest a few weeks later, but O’Hair would love to play Aronimink for a $9-million purse.
Adam Hadwin, of Abbotsford, B.C., matched Koepka’s 65, and went from even-par at the start of the day, tied with Woods, to 6-under 136, tied for 11th.
Woods was not part of the action, even though he hit the ball beautifully. Woods had a birdie putt on every hole until the par-3 15th, when his tee shot rolled just off the green against the collar. All he had to show for it was two birdies, giving him four birdies in 36 holes.
He finished with a three-putt bogey from just inside 30 feet, giving him another 71. He made the cut on the number, leaving him 10 shots behind. “The name of the game is you’ve got to make putts, and you’ve got to roll it,” Woods said. “I didn’t putt very well today. I had a hard time seeing my lines, and consequently didn’t make anything.”