Day, Spieth head in opposite directions
Jason Day and Jordan Spieth ended at much different places on the leaderboard yesterday at the Australian Open in Sydney.
Day had four consecutive birdies on the back nine, including a 30-footer, for a 3-under 68 that left him a stroke out of the second-round lead. Australian Lucas Herbert, who shot 66, is in front with a 9-under 133 on The Australian course. First-round leader Cameron Davis, who shot 72, is another stroke behind in third.
Defending champion Spieth failed to take advantage of ideal morning scoring conditions and had a 71 to fall eight strokes behind Herbert. Spieth, who hasn’t played since the Presidents Cup in late September, has won the Australian Open two out of the last three years and finished second the other time.
Day, who had seven birdies and four bogeys, is aiming to win his first Australian Open title in his first competitive appearance on home soil since 2013.
Spieth remains optimistic of a comeback. He said the seven-week layoff was the longest he’s had since his college days and that he felt rusty and nervous at times during his first round which featured five bogeys in windy conditions . . . .
S.S.P. Chawrasia holds a 2-stroke lead at the Hong Kong Open after a 4-under 66 in the second round. Chawrasia is at 9-under 131. Thomas Aiken (64) is second. Justin Rose (69) had six birdies, but three bogeys and a double-bogey to finish at 3-under.
Olympics: Americans medals upgraded
Steven Holcomb remains a winner of three Olympic medals. But after another round of International Olympic Committee sanctions against Russian athletes who were found doping at the 2014 Sochi Games, bobsledder Aleksandr Zubkov was stripped of gold medals he won in two- and four-man events.
Holcomb, who died in May, will posthumously move up from bronze to silver in each of those races, once the medals are formally reallocated.
A half-dozen U.S. bobsled and skeleton athletes are going to benefit from the Russian medalist disqualifications. Skeleton racer Matt Antoine and bobsledders Holcomb, Chris Fogt, Steven Langton and Curt Tomasevicz all left Sochi with bronzes and will now get silvers. Skeleton racer Katie Uhlaender will receive her first medal, being upgraded from fourth place to bronze.
Combined, they’ll be collecting a total of $45,000 in additional bonus money from the U.S. Olympic Committee, which rewards medal performances.
Misc.: Messi fitted for Golden Shoe
Lionel Messi received his fourth Golden Shoe award for leading all of Europe’s leagues in scoring last season. It was the fourth time the Barcelona forward earned the honor, drawing him even with Real Madrid rival Cristiano Ronaldo as the record-holders for the award. Messi scored 37 goals in the Spanish league last season . . . .
American Olympic hopefuls Nathan Chen and Adam Rippon hold the top two spots at Skate America following the short program last night in Lake Placid, N.Y . . . .
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga swept past Steve Darcis 6-3, 6-2, 6-1 to put France even with Belgium after the opening day of the Davis Cup final in Lille, France.