Koepka powers to share of the lead
Brooks Koepka showed some muscle and unleashed a monstrous finish yesterday to share the lead in The Northern Trust.
Koepka spent most of the second round trading birdies and bogeys, going nowhere. One swing changed everything on the 631-yard 13th hole at Ridgewood Country Club in Paramus, N.J. From just under 310 yards, he swung 3-wood as hard as he could and saw the tight draw that had been missing all day. It stopped 20 feet from the hole, Koepka made it for eagle and then closed with three straight birdies for a 6-under-par 65.
He’s tied at 10-under 132 with Jamie Lovemark, who shot a 66.
“I wasn’t happy the first 11 holes the way I hit it,” Koepka said. “When I hit that 3-wood, it all clicked. I felt like I was finally able to release the golf club. Just tried to hit as hard as I could, big draw. Aimed at the tree on the right and tried to draw it back to the flag. When I did that, everything started to click.”
The U.S. Open and PGA champ took it from there.
Lovemark, winless in 135 starts as a pro, made five birdies in a six-hole stretch around the turn, and before long, a list of contenders lined up behind them in an entertaining start to the FedEx Cup playoffs.
Adam Scott had a 64 for the low round of the tournament and was 1 shot behind. Another shot back was Dustin Johnson, the world No. 1, who had another 67 that for the second straight day featured a triple bogey on his card, taking 5 shots from a mangled lie in deep rough behind the first green.
“That was not a fun start,” Johnson said. “There was nothing to do but laugh at that point.”
Bryson DeChambeau had a 66 and joined Johnson at 134. The group at 7-under 135 included Sean O’Hair, who is No. 112 in the FedEx Cup and needs to get to No. 70 by the third playoff event at the BMW Championship being played this year at Aronimink, his home club outside Philadelphia.
Tiger Woods was not part of the action, even though he hit the ball beautifully. Woods had a birdie putt on every hole until the par3 15th, when his tee shot rolled just off the green against the collar. All he had to show for it was two birdies, giving him four birdies in 36 holes. He finished with a 3-putt bogey from just inside 30 feet, giving him another 71. He is 10 shots behind.
“The name of the game is you’ve got to make putts, and you’ve got to roll it,” Woods said. “No matter how good your drive, you’ve still got to roll them and got to make putts, and I didn’t putt very well today. I had a hard time seeing my lines, and consequently didn’t make anything.”
Koepka knows all about confidence with three major trophies.
“Sometimes it doesn’t always go as perfectly planned as you’d like,” he said, “and then you make one good golf swing, and all of a sudden you’ve got that feeling, you’ve got that rhythm and then you can build off that. That’s kind of what happened today.”
Three tie for lead
Kent Jones, Scott Parel and Tom Pernice Jr. shot 7-under 65 to share the firstround lead in the PGA Tour Champions’ Boeing Classic in Snoqualmie, Wash.
Scott McCarron, Steve Pate and Ken Tanigawa were a stroke back. Miguel Angel Jimenez was at 67 with Bob Estes, Billy Andrade and Mike Grob.
Yang scoots ahead
Any Yang shot a 7-under 65 to take the second-round lead in the CP Women’s Open, a stroke ahead of Canadian star Brooke Henderson and at Wascana Country Club in Regina, Saskatchewan.
Yang, the three-time LPGA Tour winner from South Korea, birdied four of the first five holes and finished with nine birdies and two bogeys. She had a 13-under 131 total.
Green Czechs into 1st
Gavin Green boosted his chances of becoming the first Malaysian to win on the European Tour after claiming a one-shot lead following the second round of the Czech Masters in Vysoky Ujezd . . . .
Robert Streb took a 1-stroke lead after the second round of the Web.com Tour Finals Nationwide Children’s Hospital Championship in Columbus, Ohio,, making an eagle and two birdies in a 3-under 68.