Leishman opens with a62to lead BMW
LAKE FOREST, ILL. » Marc Leishman left his golf clubs in his garage during his week break from the FedEx Cup playoff and it didn’t change anything. He made 10 birdies in the opening round of the BMW Championship for a 9-under 62 to build a two-shot lead.
Jason Day made the biggest change of his career and had a 64, his best start in 16 months.
The race to the FedEx Cup finale got off to a blistering start Thursday at Conway Farms, and no one could top Leishman. The Australian finished third at the TPC Boston two weeks ago, did nothing last week except practice putting in the room above his garage, and then ran off seven birdies in a nine-hole stretch in the middle of his round and matched his best score on the PGA Tour.
“When you play golf and all you’re thinking about his making birdies, it’s a lot easier than trying to not make bogeys,” Leishman said.
Day made five birdies on the back nine to atone for a sluggish start in a tournament where his expectations were up in the air. He decided last week that Colin Swatton, the most meaningful figure in his golf career, would no longer caddie for at least the rest of the year. Day instead used an old roommate from his school days in Australia, Luke Reardon. If that wasn’t enough, he also changed putters.
That might not have been nearly as significant as the good vibes from a six-shot victory at Conway Farms two years ago. Whatever the case, he had no complaints about his lowest score since a 63 in the AT&T Byron Nelson in May, and his best opening round since a 63 at The Players Championship a year ago, which was the last tournament he won.
“A good step in the right direction, especially with having Luke on the bag,” Day said. “Obviously, not having Colin on the bag is something different and I just didn’t know how I was going to play. I think Luke did a fantastic job out there. We worked well together and hope we can keep that going.”
Charley Hoffman, picked for the Presidents Cup a week ago, birdied his last two holes for a 64. Jamie Lovemark also had a 64 with a little more style, drilling a fairway metal over the creek to 8 feet for eagle on the par-5 18th.
Jordan Spieth, a runner-up in the last two FedEx Cup playoff events to take over the No. 1 spot in the standings, turned a wild tee shot into a birdie on the opening hole, added a 30-foot birdie from off the green at No. 5 and settled down the rest of the way for a bogey-free 65.
“I felt like I really stole a few shots out of this golf course, which is rare to feel like you scored better than you played,” Spieth said.
Play scrapped at rain-hit women’s major,
EVIAN-LES-BAINS, FRANCE » Rain and strong winds have forced Thursday’s play to be scrapped at the final women’s golf major of the season, which will start afresh on Friday as a 54-hole event.
LPGA Tour Commissioner Michael Whan said what the little play was achieved Thursday morning at the Evian Championship is wiped from the record.
“Nobody even played half a round,” Whan said, adding that a 54-hole championship finishing Sunday offered the “cleanest, fairest, most competitive” option.
“We know that if we said 72 holes and we start again tomorrow (Friday), we’re probably looking at Monday and Tuesday, and that’s not great for anyone,” Whan said.
The forecast is for “pretty good” playing conditions for the next two days and some more rain Sunday, Whan said, noting that 45 mph gusts were experienced Thursday.
The leaderboard had been headed by top-ranked So Yeon Ryu of South Korea and Jessica Korda of the United States on 2 under. Ryu finished five holes while Korda had gone through eight.
A re-start was good news for Ai Miyazato, the former No. 1 from Japan playing her final event before retiring. The 2009 and 2011 Evian champion was 3 over through six holes.
Wiesberger, Finch lead in rain-hit first round of KLM
SPIJK, NETHERLANDS » Bernd Wiesberger and Richard Finch have shot 5-under-par 66s to share the clubhouse lead after a rain-shortened opening round at the KLM Open.
The leaders were among the early starters on Thursday and avoided the worst of the wind and driving rain that later flooded fairways and forced a suspension of play at the par-71 The Dutch course.