Marc Leishman posts another low score to widen BMW Championship lead.
GOLF Leishman by 3
Marc Leishman followed his great start with another low score, a 7-under 64 that gave him a three-shot lead over Jason Day and Rickie Fowler going into the weekend at the BMW Championship at Lake Forest, Ill. Day made a hole-in-one Friday for his third eagle of the week at Conway
Farms in his round of 65. Fowler holed out a chip for eagle on the 14th hole. Leishman also got in on the act. He turned a tough par into an unlikely birdie on the par-4 seventh hole when he hit into the native grass, chipped out to the fairway and hit a pitch-and-run from 50 yards that he holed for birdie. Leishman, who opened with a 62, was at 16-under 126. Defending champion Dustin Johnson struggled again and was 16 shots behind.
Park leads new start
Sung Hyun Park took full advantage of a fresh start to the Evian Championship on Friday, firing an 8-under 63 to lead the rescheduled first round by three shots. That meant a 14-shot turnaround for the No. 3-ranked Park, who had been 6 over in the rain and wind on Thursday morning. Play was abandoned and all scores wiped from the record, leaving the fifth and final women’s major as a 54-hole event. The South Korean regrouped and had seven birdies and an eagle to lead by three from Australia’s Katherine Kirk (66). Park, the U.S. Women’s Open champion, played in a stellar group with top-ranked So Yeon Ryu (75) and No. 2 Lexi Thompson (70). Ryu suffered a six-shot swing having been 2 under on Thursday when play stopped. Gaby Lopez (Arkansas Razorbacks) shot a 72.
Duncan out front
Tyler Duncan shot a 7-under 64 on Friday to take a 1-stroke lead into the weekend at the Web.com Boise Open at Boise, Idaho. Duncan has a two-round total of 12-under 130. Alex Cejka and Taylor Moore (Arkansas Razorbacks) are tied for second at 11 under. Cejka had a 68 and Moore a 65 on Friday. Ted Potter Jr. is alone at 10 under. Rob Oppenheim, Ryo Ishikawa and Kyoung-Hoon Lee are 9 under. Austin Cook (Jonesboro, Razorbacks) is 4 under after a 71. Andrew Landry (Razorbacks) is 3 under after a 70. Matt Atkins (Henderson State), Tag Ridings (Razorbacks), Ethan Tracy (Razorbacks) and Ken Duke (Arkadelphia, Henderson State) did not make the cut.
Flesch, Smith in lead
Steve Flesch and Jerry Smith each shot 7-under 64 on Friday to share the first-round lead in the PGA Tour Champions’ Pacific Links Bear Mountain Championship. Flesch is making his 12th senior start after turning 50 in May. The four-time PGA Tour winner had four birdies in a fivehole stretch on Bear Mountain’s Mountain Course and capped the bogey-free round with a birdie on the par-5 18th. Smith also closed with a birdie and had six birdies in a seven-hole span before bogeying the par-3 14th. He has one senior title. Charles Schwab Cup points leader Bernhard Langer was a stroke back along with John Daly (Dardanelle, Arkansas Razorbacks), David Toms and Jerry Kelly. Canadian Stephen Ames topped the group at 66. Glen Day (Little Rock) shot a 2-over 73.
Stalter prevails
Joel Stalter of France shot a 4-under 67 to take a one-stroke clubhouse lead at the KLM Open at Spijk, Netherlands, before bad light suspended play with nearly half the field still to complete their second rounds. Stalter followed up his opening-round 65 to move to 10 under par on Friday and stay in contention for a first victory in his first year on the European Tour. He has already rolled in 14 birdies at The Dutch this week. Kiradech Aphibarnrat of Thailand was alone in second place after a 65. Former No. 1 Lee Westwood also shot 65, containing six birdies and no dropped shots, and was three shots back. With Thursday’s afternoon session wiped out by bad weather, the tournament was playing catch-up. Seventy players in the remaining field of 148 didn’t finish their second rounds Friday. Defending champion Joost Luiten was 2 under after 12 holes of his second round. Pep Angles (Central Arkansas) was 4 under after a 70.
BASEBALL Red Sox fined
The Boston Red Sox have been fined by Major League Baseball for using electronic equipment to steal signs given by a Yankees catcher this season, and New York has been fined a lesser amount for improper use of a dugout telephone in an earlier year. The discipline was announced Friday by baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred. Manfred found insufficient evidence to support an allegation by Boston that the Yankees made inappropriate use of the YES Network against the Red Sox. The New York Times reported this month that during an August series video clips sent to the commissioner’s office by the Yankees showed Boston assistant athletic trainer Jon Jochim looking at an Apple Watch. Jochim then relayed information to outfielder Brock Holt and second baseman Dustin
Pedroia, who was seen passing information to Chris Young. Manfred said Boston’s owners and front office had no advance knowledge of what occurred.
TENNIS Serbia leads France
Dusan Lajovic made the most of Lucas Pouille’s inconsistent display to give Serbia a 1-0 lead over France in their Davis Cup semifinal at Lille, France, on Friday. The 80th-ranked Lajovic made a strong start and capitalized on Pouille’s mistakes to prevail 6-1, 3-6, 7-6 (7), 7-6 (5) on the red clay of Pierre Mauroy Stadium in the northern city of Lille. Pouille never found the right tempo, made wrong tactical choices, and hit a total of 70 unforced errors. France’s No. 1 player, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, is next up against Davis Cup debutant Laslo Djere in the second singles. Belgium is taking on Australia in the other semifinal in Brussels.
Pliskova dumps coach
Former world No. 1 Karolina
Pliskova said she has parted with coach David Kotyza. Pliskova hired Kotyza, the former coach of her fellow Czech Petra Kvitova, in December. With Kotyza, Pliskova won three WTA tournaments. She reached the semifinals at the French Open and lost in the quarterfinals of the U.S. Open to lose her No. 1 ranking. In a message to local media on Friday, the fourthranked Pliskova said she and the coach failed to agree on “the strategy of my further development.” It is not immediately clear who will replace Kotyza.
SOCCER U.S. game relocated
The United States’ final game in regional World Cup qualifying against Trinidad and Tobago will be played at 10,000-seat Ato Boldon Stadium in Couva rather than 27,000-capacity Hasely Crawford Stadium in the capital of Port-ofSpain. FIFA said Friday the Oct. 10 match will start at 7 p.m. Central and will kick off simultaneously with the other two games on the final day of the hexagonal: Mexico at Honduras and Costa Rica at Panama. The U.S. plays Panama on Oct. 6 at Orlando, Fla., before heading to Trinidad and could head into the final day uncertain of a berth for the first time since 1989.
Paul Caligiuri scored at National Stadium, as Hasely Crawford was then known, for a 1-0 victory that advanced the U.S. to the World Cup for the first time since 1950. Mexico has clinched one of the three berths from the North and Central American and Caribbean region, and Costa Rica is on the verge of clinching. Panama is third with 10 points, and the U.S. has nine, ahead of Honduras on goal difference. The fourth-place team meets Australia or Syria in a home-and-home playoff for a berth.
OLYMPICS IOC: Games should go on
The president of the International Olympic Committee said Friday he remains confident the Winter Games will go on as scheduled in South Korea despite growing tensions on the peninsula, including North Korea’s ballistic missile test this week. At the close of this week’s IOC meetings, Thomas Bach said the committee will continue to appeal for diplomatic solutions to the problems, and that it is monitoring deliberations in the U.N. Security Council, which on Friday condemned the North Korean test. “We see the deliberations of the U.N. Security Council, which are about diplomacy and diplomatic measures and sanctions to resolve this situation,” Bach said. “So, our position remains unchanged.” The Olympics are scheduled for Feb. 8-25 in Pyeongchang.