Rahm closes well, grabs lead at TPC Boston McCarron ahead by two
NORTON, Mass. — Jon Rahm has accomplished so much so quickly, he began to wonder what else was left for him to achieve in his first full year on the PGA Tour.
He now has 10 million reasons to play his best golf.
Already very much in the hunt for the FedEx Cup and its $10 million bonus, Rahm took another step Saturday when he made an eagle and five birdies over his last 10 holes for a 5-under-par 66 and a two-shot lead at the halfway point of the Dell Technologies Championship.
A day after he birdied four of his last five holes at TPC Boston, he made a 12-foot eagle putt on the par-5 18th and then shot 31 on the front nine to reach 9-under 133. No one could catch him in the afternoon, least of all Dustin Johnson.
The world’s No. 1 player held a one-shot lead going into the second round, but he had a pair of double bogeys after a quick start and needed a birdie on the 18th hole to keep from falling further behind. Johnson shot a 72 and was five shots back.
It’s already been an amazing year for Rahm. The 22-year-old Spaniard was No. 137 at the start of the year. Now he’s at No. 5.
But after a runner-up finish at Colonial, he has missed the cut twice and finished out of the top 25 in three other PGA Tour starts.
“It’s probably because I got to the point where I had accomplished so much more than I had set myself to in the beginning of the year that I felt like there was nothing else to do,” he said. “It made me complacent of what I had accomplished all year. I didn’t play with the same intensity. I really didn’t have a goal.
“It’s taken me two months to realize what I’ve done, and hopefully I can keep surprising myself.”
Paul Casey, who played in the final group last year until Rory McIlroy ran him down, had a 65 and was two shots off
the lead along with Adam Hadwin (65), Kevin Streelman (65) and Kyle Stanley (68). Despite missing a pair of birdies inside seven feet from the hole, Jordan Spieth still shot a 65 and was in the group four shots behind.
McIlroy, meanwhile, was headed home after missing the cut as the previous year’s champion at a tournament for only the second time in his career. McIlroy also missed the cut at the 2012 U.S. Open.
Baylor School alumnus Luke List (76) was tied for 57th at 2 over
and made the cut by a stroke.
Mitchell now second
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Former Ohio State University golfer Ryan Armour shot a 6-under 65 to take a one-stroke edge over Baylor School graduate Keith Mitchell after three rounds of the Nationwide Children’s Hospital Championship.
Armour was at 12-under 201 total on OSU’s Scarlet Course in the opening event of the Web. com Tour Finals. Mitchell, the
leader after each of the first two rounds, had a 70 after making two bogeys, including on No. 18.
Tom Lovelady (64) was two strokes out of the lead in third, while Chattanooga’s Stephan Jaeger (68) had a share of eighth place at 6 under and former University of Tennessee at Chattanooga golfer Jonathan Hodge (69) was tied for 13th at 4 under. CALGARY, Alberta — Scott McCarron eagled the par-5 18th at Canyon Meadows Golf & Country Club for a 6-under 64 and a two-stroke lead entering the final round of the PGA Tour Champions’ Shaw Charity Classic.
McCarron also eagled the closing hole Friday in the opening round.
First-round leader Kevin Sutherland (67) was tied for second with Miguel Angel Jimenez (65), while Scott Dunlap and Todd Hamilton were three strokes back after each shot a 66.
Lewis holds steady
PORTLAND, Ore. — Stacy Lewis held a three-stroke lead after three rounds at the Cambia Portland Classic, another step forward in her bid to make a big donation to Hurricane Harvey relief in her hometown and end a long winless streak.
Lewis has pledged to give her tournament earnings — first place is worth $195,000 — to help recovery work in the Houston area. The 11-time LPGA Tour tournament winner is trying to win for the first time since June 2014.
Tied for the second-round lead with Brooke Henderson and In Gee Chun, Lewis had eight birdies in a 7-under 65 to reach 17 under at Columbia Edgewater Country Club.
Moriya Jutanugarn (66) was second, Chun (69) was another stroke back and Henderson (74) dropped into a tie for 13th at 8 under.
Slattery in control
VYSOKY UJEZD, Czech Republic — Lee Slattery produced a flawless 5-under 67 at the Czech Masters for a twoshot lead over Haydn Porteous entering the final round of the European Tour event.
Slattery, who made five birdies in the third round, was at 12-under 204 overall.
Pontus Widegren (69) was third, four shots out of the lead, while second-round leader Chris Hanson (75) and Jonathan Thomson (68) were tied for fourth at 7 under.