A streak’s on the line
Matsuyama drives into BMW lead
Hideki Matsuyama has never missed the Tour Championship since his first full year on the PGA Tour. He played yesterday like he doesn’t want the streak to end.
Outside the top 30 in the FedEx Cup for the first time at the BMW Championship, Matsuyama made five birdie putts from 15 feet or longer and broke the course record at Medinah (Ill.) with a 9-under 63 for a 1-shot lead going into the weekend.
He started his second round with a 30-foot birdie putt. He ended the round with a 30-foot birdie putt.
The explanation for what went right wasn’t that long.
“I did make a lot of long putts today, and that was the difference,” Matsuyama said through his interpreter.
That was a big difference for Tiger Woods, too. He made only two putts longer than 6 feet, made a pair of bogeys from the bunkers late in the round and had to settle for another 71. Woods, who needs a top 10 to advance to the Tour Championship, was tied for 49th.
“I left quite a few shots out there,” Woods said.
Matsuyama was at 12-under 132, a shot ahead of Patrick Cantlay (67) and Tony Finau (66). Justin Thomas made six birdies to offset three bogeys in his round of 69, leaving him 2 shots behind.
Cantlay, Finau and Thomas are all assured of being among the top 30 who advance to the Tour Championship next week, where everyone in the field will have a shot at winning the FedEx Cup and the $15 million prize.
Matsuyama won four times on the Japan Golf Tour as a rookie after he graduated college, and then won the Memorial in 2014 and narrowly got into the FedEx Cup finale at East Lake. He was as high as No. 2 in the world just two years ago after the U.S. Open.
But he has gone two years without winning, and yesterday was the first time he has led after any round since his most recent victory at Firestone in the Bridgestone Invitational.
“It’s been a long time since I’ve been in contention,” Matsuyama said. “Hopefully, I can play well. I’ve been struggling for a while this year. Hopefully, that can turn around and I’ll have a good weekend.”
Lucas Glover (69) and Rory Sabbatini (68) were among the group at 9-under 135, both suddenly in range of the top 30.
Woods won the Tour Championship last year, capping a remarkable return from four back surgeries with his first victory in five years. It was an extraordinary afternoon considering where he had been, a moment topped in Georgia some six months later when he won the Masters.
But after he pulled out at Liberty National last week citing a mild oblique strain, he slipped 10 spots to No. 38. And while it was a mild surprise when he showed up at Medinah, he’s going the wrong direction in the FedEx Cup.
He isn’t ruling out a return to the Tour Championship to defend his title, but he’s running out of time and not making enough birdies.
“I’m going to have to have a great weekend and make a lot of birdies and post some rounds in the mid-60s to give myself a chance at it,” Woods said. “Putt well and I’ll shoot good scores. I haven’t done that.”
Jordan Spieth also is on the verge of ending a second straight season without a victory, and without a trip to East Lake. He made progress at Liberty National with a tie for sixth, and he needs another finish like that to crack the top 30.
“I’m far enough out that I’m going to sleep at night not expecting to be there,” Spieth said about East Lake. “It’s not where I want to live, but it’s where I am.”
Jimenez for birds
Miguel Angel Jimenez birdied three of the final six holes for a 7-under 65 and a share of the first-round lead with Monday qualifier Doug Barron in the PGA Tour Champions’ Dick’s Sporting Goods Open in Endicott, N.Y.
Jimenez had eight birdies and a bogey at En Joie Golf Club. The 55-year-old Spaniard won the Chubb Classic in February in Florida for his seventh senior title.
The 50-year-old Barron had seven birdies in a bogeyfree round. He’s coming off a fifth-place tie in the Senior British Open in his Champions debut.
Marco Dawson and Scott Parel were a stroke back at 66 ....
Edoardo Molinari shot his second straight 6-under 66 and earned a 2-shot lead after two rounds of the Czech Masters.
Tied for fourth and 2 strokes off the lead overnight, the Italian surged with six birdies for his second bogey-free round and a 12under 132 total at the Albatross Golf Resort near Prague.