Watson shoots 65 to take Genesis lead
Back to his day job, Bubba Watson began with a tap-in eagle at Riviera and finished with a 6-under 65 yesterday to take a 1-shot lead over Patrick Cantlay in the Genesis Open in Los Angeles.
Watson, a two-time winner at Riviera, has gone two years since his last victory and has fallen out of the top 100 in the world.
He chipped in from short of the par-3 sixth green, made two more birdies to go out in 30, and then began the back nine with a birdie on No. 10, his least favorite hole at Riviera. The only blip was a bogey on the 15th.
Watson was at 10-under 203 and will be in the final group with Cantlay, the former No. 1 amateur in the world and polar opposite of Watson.
Cameron Smith (65), Kevin Na (67), Graeme McDowell (70) and Tony Finau (68) were 2 shots back . . . .
Joe Durant birdied five of the last eight holes for a 9-under 63 to match Steve Stricker’s finish and take the second-round lead in the PGA Tour Champions’ Chubb Classic in Naples, Fla.
Durant rebounded from a 3-putt bogey on the par-4 10th with birdies on the next two holes and also birdied Nos. 15-17. He had a 14-under 130 total on TwinEagles’ Talon course for a 1-stroke lead over Stricker.
Reddick narrowly wins Xfinity race
Tyler Reddick needed five overtimes, a brief red flag and the closest finish in NASCAR history to take
Dale Earnhardt Jr. to victory lane.
Reddick won the Xfinity Series’ season-opening race by beating JR Motorsports teammate Elliott Sadler in a photo finish at Daytona International Speedway. The margin of victory was 0.000 seconds, breaking the mark set by Butch Miller when he beat
Mike Skinner by 0.001 seconds to win the Truck Series race July 15, 1995 at Colorado National Speedway . . . .
George Groves retained the WBA super middleweight belt when he outsmarted Chris Eubank Jr. by unanimous decision in Manchester, England.
Eubank’s stamina was expected to be superior but he tired through the middle rounds and finished with a desperate flourish and careless abandon. He relinquished his minor IBO belt after the judges awarded the shrewd Groves the decision by 117-112, 116-112, and 115-113 . . . .
Top-seeded Kevin Anderson, the U.S. Open runner-up from South Africa, advanced to the final of the New York Open by beating fifth-seeded Kei Nishikori of Japan, 6-1, 3-6, 7-6 (4).
He will face second-seeded Sam Querrey today in Uniondale, N.Y. Querrey advanced by winning the last four games to beat No. 4 Adrian Mannarino 6-7 (5), 7-5, 6-3.
Messi pushes Barca to victory
Lionel Messi helped set up two goals for Barcelona to beat 10-man Eibar 2-0 as the Spanish leaders warmed up for their visit to Chelsea in the Champions League.
Barcelona broke its mini-skid of back-to-back draws to remain unbeaten through 24 rounds and extend its advantage over second-place Atletico Madrid to 10 points . . . .
Benfica routed Boavista 4-0 to move ahead of FC Porto at the top of the Portuguese league. Ruben Dias opened the scoring for Benfica in the 18th minute.