Lewis vaults into tie for lead in Portland
NORTON, United States: Dustin Johnson continued his hot streak on Friday, firing an opening round five-under 66 at the Dell Technologies Championship for the one-stroke lead over the star-studded PGA Tour play-off field.
World number one Johnson picked up where he left off last week when he won the Northern Trust event, making another roaring start in the second leg of the FedExCup Playoffs.
“When you win, you’re playing well, so it gives you a lot of confidence,” said Johnson. “For me, that was one thing that was probably lacking a little bit the last few months.
“I wasn’t seeing the shots that I wanted to see. I wasn’t hitting them consistently. So the confidence was just down a little bit.
“But you know, after last week, obviously I’ve got a lot of confidence now.”
The 33-year-old American is in good company at the top of the leaderboard as Aussie Marc Leishman, American Kyle Stanley, Jon Rahm of Spain and reigning Masters champion Sergio Garcia share second after shooting 67s.
Johnson birdied the 10th hole to begin his opening round in cool windy conditions at the TPC Boston. He converted a putt from five feet for eagle at No 18 to make the turn at fourunder.
Johnson won last week’s play-off opening tournament, snapping a five month winless drought which was exacerbated by a back injury.
He is vying for his fifth win of the year, which would break a tie with PGA champion Justin PORTLAND, Oregon: Stacy Lewis shot an 8-under-par 64 on Friday to move into a three-way tie for the lead after two rounds of the LPGA Cambia Portland Classic in Portland, Ore.
Lewis has a two-round total of 10-under 134, which leaves her in a tie with first-round leader In Gee Chun of Korea, who shot a 4-under 68 on Friday, and 19-year-old Canadian Brooke Henderson, who shot a 67.
Those three are two shots ahead of the rest of the field, with Jodi Ewart Shadoff of England (67), Ai Miyazato of Japan (67) and Moriya Jutanugarn of Thailand (69) tied for fourth at 8 under.
Lewis carded eight birdies and no bogeys in her round, which she considered one of her best of the year.
“I think, one, the golf course was softer this morning; the greens rolled a lot better; and then my swing felt a lot better,” Lewis said regarding her one-day improvement. “Kind of found something after the round yesterday; obviously felt a lot better out there. Felt like really any hole I could make birdie on.
“It was probably one of the easiest rounds of the year, to be honest. Kind of had a lot of rounds where I was having to fight through it. It was one that I just felt like I could make a lot of birdies. Haven’t felt that way in a while, so it was really nice.”
Lewis was not shy about saying how important winning this event would be.
“It would honestly probably be one of the most special,” she said. “It would probably be up there with a major. That was the goal to start the week, Thomas for most on the US Tour this season.
Kevin Na, of the US, and Sweden’s Jonas Blixt are part of a group of a half dozen golfers at 68. Three-time Masters winner Phil Mickelson, South Africa’s Louis Oosthuizen and 2014 US Open runner-up Rickie Fowler are three shots off the lead after posting two-under 69s.
Garcia collected five birdies on the front nine and finished with six against two bogeys before scrambling for par on his final hole.
“I was very happy to see that I hit a lot of good shots, a lot of good putts,” Garcia said. “I made some nice putts here and there early on. And the ones that I didn’t make, they looked like they were going to go in. So a lot of positives.”
STRONG FINISH Rahm notched four birdies on his final five holes to join the four-under group. Leishman, of Warrnambool, Victoria, recorded his second-best opening round on this season. He shot a 66 at Quicken Loans National.
Defending champion Rory McIlroy, of Northern Ireland, shot a one-over 72 and is tied for 42nd with world number two Jordan Spieth.
McIlroy won here last year and in 2012 to become one of just two players, along with Fiji’s Vijay Singh (2004, 2008) to win this event more than once.
Open Championship winner Spieth, who lost to Johnson in a sudden-death play-off on Sunday in New York, didn’t make a birdie until his 13th hole.
The postseason field is now down to the top 100 players this week. The top 70 players on the FedExCup points list after the Dell advance to the BMW Championship in Lake Forest, Illinois. was to take a big check home.”
Miyazato announced earlier this year that she is retiring, and this tournament is her last official event on American soil as a full-time member.
“I’m glad I made the decision, though, actually,” she said. “I was kind struggling to make the decision last few years. Even though after I announced my retirement I’ve been really happy and, you know, I’ve been really positive about my game and trying to enjoy best as much as I could out there. “I’ve been playing really good, so it’s not a surprise to me these scores today.”
Sitting at 7-under are Kim Kaufman, Candie Kung (69) and Nasa Hataoka of Japan (70). Kaufman moved up a from a tie for 73rd after the first round by shooting a 7-under 65.