Rain doesn’t go away at World Cup of Golf
MELBOURNE, Australia — Thomas Detry thought the rainy, windy, generally awful conditions were so bad at Metropolitan Golf Club on Friday that they wouldn’t be able to finish the round.
When they did, he and Belgium teammate Thomas Pieters were tied for the lead with South Korea at the World Cup of Golf.
Detry and Pieters shot a 1-under 71, and South Korea’s Byeong Hun An and Si Woo Kim had a 72 for two-round totals of 10-under 134. Teams from England, India, Malaysia and Italy were tied for third, two strokes behind.
Matt Kuchar and Kyle Stanley, representing the United States, were among the weather casualties, shooting a 79 that included bogeys on their last five holes. That was a 13-shot turnaround from their opening 66, moving them into a tie for 21st in the 28-country field, a drop of eight places.
“It was really tough out there,” Pieters said. “To be honest, I didn’t think we would finish today. Waking up this morning and getting here, it was just like horizontal rain.”
There were only four rounds under par, but five in the 80s. Rain showers fell all day at Metropolitan, but because it wasn’t accompanied by thunder or lightning, officials never considered stopping play. Still, it tested the players’ patience levels in the alternate-shot format.
Anirban Lahiri, who combined with Gaganjeet Bhullar to keep India near the top of the leaderboard with a 72, called it “one of the toughest rounds of golf I’ve played in my career. I think we both did really well out there, and it wasn’t easy.”
The format reverts to fourballs (best ball) in the third round before a return to foursomes for the final round.
Mexico’s team of Abraham Ancer and Roberto Diaz had the low round of the day, a 70 in which their lone bogey came on the final hole. They finished about an hour before the later groups, when the rain became heavier.
Fleetwood in good shape in Hong Kong
HONG KONG — Aaron Rai shot a course-record 9-under 61 to take a fourstroke lead through two rounds at the Hong Kong Open, and fellow Englishman Tommy Fleetwood moved into contention in the first European Tour event of the 2018-19 season.
Starting at No. 10, Rai birdied five of his first six holes and picked up four more shots. He has yet to drop a shot at the tournament and was at 14-under 126 going into the weekend.
On a day of low scoring at Hong Kong Golf Club, Hyo-won Park shot a 62 to move into second, while Matthew Fitzpatrick posted the same score and was alone in third, six strokes off the lead and one ahead of fourth-place Micah Lauren Shin (67)
Fleetwood, who missed out on a second straight Race to Dubai title at last weekend’s season-ending World Tour Championship, followed up an opening round of 69 with a 65 and was tied with five others for fifth place at 6-under. Also in the logjam were Adilson da Silva (64), Scott Hend (66), Jake Higginbottom (65), Alvaro Quiros (66) and Jason Scrivener (69).
For the 27-year-old Fleetwood, a win would add to another impressive calendar year. He starred for Europe in its Ryder Cup victory in September and has climbed to No. 9 in the World Golf Ranking, but he’d also be happy to see Rai in the winner’s circle for the first time on the European Tour.
“If he carries on, or if he makes any headway at the weekend, then I’m quite happy for him to win, really,” Fleetwood said of the 23-year-old Rai. “He deserves it.”