Wind no deterrent to leader Luke List
JEJU, South Korea — Former Baylor School golfer Luke List fired a 5-under-par 67 Friday to take a one-stroke lead after the second round of the CJ Cup at Nine Bridges.
List, 32, is looking for his first victory on the PGA Tour. He made five birdies, including one on his final hole, the par-5 ninth, to move to 9 under after 36 holes.
Three-time tour winner Lucas Glover compensated for a pair of bogeys with seven birdies on his way to a 67 and was tied for second with Scott Brown (70).
“Some positive vibes there,” List said. “Anytime you get a bogey-free (round), you are really happy about it. The wind was tricky, but I was able to save par a lot and play solid in the back nine.”
List is in the third season of his second stint with full status, and this is his 96th PGA Tour event, according to the tour’s website. He has 18 finishes in the top 25 and five in the top 10, including third place at the Shell Houston Open and runner-up at the Sanderson Farms Championship last season.
He won once on the Web. com Tour, at the South Georgia Classic in April 2012.
Conditions at Nine Bridges were windy the first two days, and List said he expects that to be a factor this weekend.
“If the wind does not blow out here, there will be a lot of birdies,” List said. “If the wind does blow, you can kind of be a little bit more strategic and try to make some pars out there.”
A day after firing a 63 for the first-round lead, Justin Thomas — the tour’s player of the year last season and the highest-ranked golfer in the field at No. 4 in the world — shot a 74 to slip into a share of fourth with Cameron Smith (68) at 7 under.
Thomas took a three-shot lead into the second round, but a 3-over-par 39 on the front nine Friday brought him back to the pack. The second-round total was Thomas’s worst score since an 80 in the second round of the British Open this past summer.
Ninth-ranked Jason Day also struggled en route to a 74 to fall back to 24th at 2 under.
Whee Kim (70) had the best position of the 16 South Korean players in the field at 6 under overall, tied for sixth with Marc Leishman (72), Chez Reavie (72) and Patrick Reed (72).
Seung Yul Noh made five birdies and closed with an eagle for a bogey-free 65, the day’s low round.
Four share lead in Richmond
RICHMOND, Va. — Bernhard Langer birdied the par-5 18th for a 5-under 67 and a share of the first-round lead at the Dominion Energy Charity Classic, the first event in the PGA Tour Champions’ Charles Schwab Cup Playoffs.
Seeking an unprecedented fifth Schwab Cup and fourth in a row, the 60-year-old Langer leads the 50-and-older tour’s standings and has a tour-high five victories this season.
Joe Durant, Rocco Mediate and David Toms matched Langer atop the leaderboard at The Country Club of Virginia’s James River Course. Jay Don Blake, Olin Browne and Glen Day were a stroke back.
The event is the first of three in the playoffs. The field will be cut to 54 for the PowerShares QQQ Championship next week in Thousand Oaks, Calif., and the top 36 will advance to the season-ending Charles Schwab Cup Championship in Phoenix.
Luiten moves up to take lead
SOTOGRANDE, Spain — With the help of an albatross from 227 yards out, Joost Luiten shot a 1-under 70 to take a one-stroke lead over tournament host Sergio Garcia and two others at the Andalucia Valderrama Masters.
Luiten holed out with a 4-iron from the fairway on the par-5 11th at Real Club Valderrama, making it after the ball hit the front of the green and gently rolled into the cup for his second career albatross on the European Tour.
Luiten also had two birdies and four bogeys to get to 6-under for the tournament, ahead of Garcia (71), Scott Jamieson (68) and Robert Rock (70).
Shin, Ji on top in Swinging Skirts
TAIPEI, Taiwan — Jenny Shin shot a 5-under-par 67 for a share of the lead with Eun-Hee Ji after the second round of the LPGA Tour’s Swinging Skirts Classic.
Shin offset a pair of bogeys with seven birdies at Miramar Resort and Country Club, including a birdie-birdie finish. Ji, who led after the first round, made a pair of bogeys and two birdies early, but she birdied the par-5 18th for a 71.
The leaders were at 7-under 137, one ahead of Brittany Altomare (68), who missed only one fairway and hit 14 of 18 greens.
Su Oh was in fourth after she eagled the 18th for a 66 that included two bogeys and six birdies. It was the day’s low round.