The Press and Journal (Inverness, Highlands, and Islands)
Fitzpatrick to fore as he finds form in Florida
Golf: Englishman right in title hunt in Arnold Palmer invitational event
England’s Matthew Fitzpatrick remained firmly in contention to add a first PGA Tour title to his impressive CV in the Arnold Palmer Invitational in Orlando, Florida, yesterday.
Fitzpatrick shared the overnight lead at Bay Hill and added a second round of 69 to his opening 67 to reach halfway at eight under par, two behind early clubhouse leader Charley Hoffman.
Paul Casey was four shots further back after a 72, with world number three Rory McIlroy on course to make the halfway cut after adding a 71 to his opening 74, the same halfway total as Scot Martin Laird, whohit back with a 68 after his opening 77.
Northern Irishman Graeme McDowell was on
“Unfortunately there will not be an Aberdeen Masters”
one-under 143 after also shooting 71.
Fitzpatrick was the leading amateur in the 2013 Open at Muirfield and won the US Amateur title a month later, before making a successful transition to the paid ranks in 2014.
Victory in November’s DP World Tour Championship came two years to the day since he gained his card via the qualifying school and saw Fitzpatrick eclipse Nick Faldo’s record as the youngest Englishman to win three times on the European Tour.
It also gave him the security of a five-year exemption on the European Tour and a PGA Tour card is the next goal for the world number 30, who carded five birdies and two bogeys in his 69.
Banchory-born James Byrne is on 10-under-par 134 after rounds of 65 and 69 in the Asian Development Tour’s PGM Northport Championship at Glenmarie Golf and Country Club, Shah Alam, Malaysia.
But the Scot, joint second with Englishman Steve Lewton, is still eight shots behind leader Ben Leong (Malaysia) (64, 62 for 18under 126) and with the tournament reduced to 54 holes due to several lengthy bad weather delays it looks as if Byrne and Lewton are playing for the outright runner-up spot.
Singapore-based Byrne is twice a winner on the Asian Development Tour.
Nick Robson, the Aberdeen businessman who put the £ 50,000 Aberdeen Masters tournament on the seniors’ golf calendar in 2015 and 2016, has had to accept that the third staging of the tournament at Meldrum House will have to be delayed until 2018.
He said: “Unfortunately there will not be an Aberdeen Masters this year. The date that suited was the week before the Senior British Open (July 27 to 30) at Royal Porthcawl in South Wales but there is already a similar event in Wales arranged for that slot. We have spoken to the organisers of the Welsh seniors’ tournament and they have agreed to leave that week free next year when we will have the Aberdeen Masters the mid July week before the Senior Open at St Andrews.”
England’s Georgia Hall carded a six-under-par 67 to claim a one-shot lead after the first round of the World Ladies Championship on Hainan Island, China.
South Korean duo Kim Ye-jin and Kim Hae-rym are one stroke behind.
Hae-rym had looked set for a share of the lead at six under before a costly tee shot into the lake on the par-5 18th saw her finish with a bogey. Scotland’s Kylie Henry is one of five players tied in fourth place after her four-under 69.
Graham Powell and Henry Smart won the Sunningdale Foursomes at the Ascot venue yesterday. Powell and Smart beat Ryan Harrison and James Johnson by 5 and 4 in the final.