Leishman still leads at BMW Championship
LAKE FOREST, Ill. — Marc Leishman has a short memory when it comes to golf, which only helped him Friday at the BMW Championship.
He forgot all about that 62 in the opening round — and then was nearly as good with a 7-under-par 64 to open a threeshot lead over Jason Day and Rickie Fowler going into the weekend at Conway Farms Golf Club.
“I really took that as a challenge today, to not take it for granted that you’re just going to make birdies,” Leishman said. “You still have to earn every birdie. I think when you do get ahead of yourself, that’s when bad stuff can happen.”
There was plenty of good stuff from the guys chasing him in the third event of the FedEx Cup playoffs.
Day, who has gone 16 months since his last victory, chipped in from behind the 14th green for his second eagle of the week, then added a third eagle with one swing. On No. 17, he used a 7-iron to make a hole-in-one that turned into a payoff for multiple parties.
It carried Day to a 65, putting him in the last group with Leishman for today’s round. BMW awarded $100,000 to the Evans Scholars Foundation, and then Day decided to give the car he won to the foundation, which will yield a second four-year scholarship for another student.
Fowler also chipped in for eagle on the reachable par-4 15th hole on his way to a 64.
“The ultimate goal is to win this week,” Day said. “That’s the thing I’ve been trying to do this whole season — at least win once, and try to build on that.”
Leishman was at 16-under 126, two short of the 36-hole record Day set at Conway Farms two years ago on his way to a wireto-wire, six-shot victory. Leishman already has 18 birdies in 36 holes at Conway Farms, where the scoring average was a shade under 69 through two rounds.
It hasn’t been easy for everyone, particularly 2016 tournament champion Dustin Johnson. The world’s No. 1 player can’t seem to buy a putt, and even when he started to make a little progress, he finished bogey-bogey by taking two chips to get on the 17th green and hitting into the water on the 18th for a 72 that had him 1 over and tied for 61st.
Patrick Cantlay extended his remarkable run this season with a 65, leaving him alone in fourth place but six shots behind. Cantlay returned after three years away to cope with a severe back injury and the death of his close friend and caddie, Chris Roth, who was hit by a car as they were walking to dinner.
Cantlay is playing just his 11th tournament this year, yet he is No. 41 in the FedEx Cup standings and could get into next week’s season-ending Tour Championship at Atlanta’s East Lake Golf Club if he finishes in the top 30 after this weekend.
Jordan Spieth, No. 1 in the standings after successive runner-up finishes in the playoff events, only managed a 70 and was nine shots out of the lead.
Former Baylor School golfer Luke List (70) was tied for 35th at 4 under.
Duncan charges
BOISE, Idaho — Tyler Duncan shot a 7-under 64 to take the lead in the Albertsons Boise
Open, the second of four Web. com Tour Finals events.
Duncan was 6 under after seven holes at Hillcrest Country Club, making four birdies and closing the run with an eagle on the par-5 16th. He was at 12-under 130 total.
Alex Cejka (63) and Taylor Moore (65) were a stroke back.
Four entrants with Chattanooga-area ties were among those tied for 85th at par after 36 holes: former Dalton High School golfer Blake Adams (67), Athens, Tenn., native Eric Axley (73), former University of Tennessee at Chattanooga golfer Jonathan Hodge (73) and Baylor School alum Keith Mitchell (70).
Chattanooga’s Stephan Jaeger (74), who played at both Baylor and UTC, was tied for 125th at 4 over.
Park’s big swing
EVIAN-LES-BAINS, France — Sung Hyun Park took full advantage of a fresh start to the Evian Championship, firing an 8-under 63 and grabbing the lead in the rescheduled first round.
It was a 14-shot turnaround for the No. 3-ranked Park, who had been 6 over in the rain and wind Thursday morning. Play was abandoned and all scores wiped from the record, leaving the fifth and final women’s major as a 54-hole event.
Park regrouped and had seven birdies and an eagle to lead by two strokes, with Moriya Jutanugarn second. Katherine Kirk and Anna Nordqvist were tied for third at 66.
Champions tied
VICTORIA, British Columbia — Steve Flesch and Jerry Smith each shot a 7-under 64 to share the first-round lead in the PGA Tour Champions’ Pacific Links Bear Mountain Championship.
Charles Schwab Cup points leader Bernhard Langer was a stroke back, along with John Daly, Jerry Kelly and David Toms.
The 60-year-old Langer, who is coming off a two-week break, won three of the tour’s five majors this season and is tied with Scott McCarron for the lead in tour victories this season with four.
Stalter in lead
SPIJK, Netherlands — Joel Stalter shot a 4-under 67 to take a one-stroke clubhouse lead at the KLM Open before play was suspended because of darkness with the second round incomplete for nearly half the field.
Stalter followed up his opening-round 65 to move to 10 under and stay in contention for a first victory in his first year on the European Tour. He has already rolled in 14 birdies at The Dutch this week.
Kiradech Aphibarnrat was alone in second after completing a 65. Former No. 1-ranked golfer Lee Westwood also shot a 65, with six birdies and no dropped shots, and was three shots back.