Pendrith up by one shot in Rocket Mortgage
Taylor Pendrith shot a 7-under 65 on Friday to take a oneshot lead over Tony Finau into the weekend in the Rocket Mortgage Classic at Detroit Golf Club.
Pendrith and Finau shared the first-round lead at 8 under and will be in the final group today, pairing a 31-year-old PGA Tour rookie with a 32-year-old veteran coming off his third career victory.
Pendrith of Canada is playing in his third tournament after being unable to swing a club for 12 weeks due to a broken rib.
No one, though, has been better than Finau lately.
The Salt Lake City native with Tongan-Samoan heritage is 32 under over his last 107 holes, including rallying from a five-shot deficit last Sunday in Minnesota to win the 3M Open by three shots.
Pendrith tried to pull away in the second round in Detroit, opening with four straight birdies and six in his first 10 holes. He had two birdies and a bogey over the final five holes.
Finau, meanwhile, started slow with only one birdie on the front nine before carding five birdies on the back.
Rookie Lee Hodges (66) was three shots back. PGA Tour rookie of the year front-runner Cameron Young tied a Detroit Golf Club record with a 63 for a share of fourth — five shots back — with Russell Henley (65) and Stewart Cink (66).
Henrik Stenson had a happy return to golf after being removed as European Ryder Cup captain, making eight birdies in his LIV Golf Invitational debut at Bedminster, N.J. for a 7-under 64 to share the 18-hole lead with Patrick Reed, who also had a 64 in
Taylor Pendrith will take a oneshot lead into today’s third round of the Rocket Mortgage Classic.
his second LIV Golf event.
Reed’s round featured six birdies in a seven-hole stretch during the shotgun start.
Phachara Khongwatmai of Thailand had a 66, while Dustin Johnson and Carlos Ortiz each had a 67 and were three shots behind.
Lydia Ko shot a second straight 7-under 65 to lead by two strokes after two rounds of the LPGA Tour’s Scottish Open in Irvine, Scotland.
Ko, who finished strongly at the Evian Championship last week to tie for third, continued her good form at the Dundonald Links and remains bogey-free heading into the weekend.
To start her back nine, from the first hole, the No. 4-ranked New Zealander had three birdies in four holes before making eagle at No. 5. She then birdied her last hole to move to 14 under overall.
American golfer Lilia Vu shot 67 and was alone in second place. Eun-Hee Ji of South Korea was in third place at 11 under after a 64.
• American Sean Crocker retained his one-stroke lead at the Hero Open in St. Andrews, Scotland after shooting 6-under 66 in the second round of the DP World Tour event.
The star of Day 2 was Ewen Ferguson after the Scot made 11 birdies — including seven in eight holes on the back nine — in a bogey-free 61 at Fairmont St. Andrews.
Crocker backed up his openinground 63 and was 15 under for the tournament.
Scott Jamieson, playing in his native Scotland, was a stroke behind after shooting 64.
Commanders' Young to miss opener, maybe more
Chase Young will not be ready to play Week 1 for the Washington Commanders, coach Ron Rivera confirmed in ruling out the standout pass-rusher for at least the season opener.
Young could miss more than just Washington’s first game, Sept. 11 against Jacksonville, if he goes on injured reserve or remains on the physically unable to perform list. The 2020 Defensive Rookie of the Year is working back from surgery to repair a torn ACL in his right knee.
Rivera said Young, who injured the knee Nov. 14 against Tampa Bay, did not have a setback in his recovery and is on schedule.
• Derek Wolfe, a 32-year-old defensive tackle has retired, saying a hip injury that required a second operation last month made it too hard to spend an 11th year in the NFL.
Wolfe, who was released by Baltimore in June with an injury settlement, signed a one-day deal with the Broncos so he could retire in Denver, where he spent eight seasons and won a Super Bowl after being picked in the second round of the draft out of Cincinnati in 2012.
Rosenqvist wins pole for today's IndyCar race
Felix Rosenqvist continued to fight for his seat in the IndyCar Series with a pole-winning run on the road course at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
The Swede earned his second pole of the season with a run of 1 minute, 10.2265 seconds in qualifying. Rosenqvist is making the case for keeping his ride in IndyCar with Arrow McLaren SP.
The contract extension he recently signed with McLaren Racing gives boss Zak Brown the ability to shift Rosenqvist to Formula E next season — but Rosenqvist doesn’t want to leave IndyCar. Brown has four current IndyCar drivers signed — Rosenqvist, Pato O’Ward, Alexander Rossi and reigning champion Alex Palou — for three seats.
Rossi, who is in his final season driving for Andretti Autosport, qualified second for this afternoon’s race. He is moving to Arrow McLaren next year.
O’Ward, who won Sunday at Iowa Speedway, qualified third and rushed to hug teammate Rosenqvist after Rosenqvist edged him for the pole.
Will Power qualified fourth for Team Penske and was followed by teammate Josef Newgarden, who was medically cleared to compete earlier Friday. Newgarden collapsed and hit his head after crashing while leading Sunday at Iowa.
Christian Lundgaard qualified sixth for Rahal Letterman Lanigan.
Garcia snaps top-ranked Swiatek's clay win streak
Fifth-seeded Caroline Garcia advanced to the semifinals of the Poland Open in Warsaw after ending the clay-court winning streak of top-ranked Iga Swiatek at 18 matches.
Garcia won 6-1, 1-6, 6-4, breaking Swiatek in the 10th game of the deciding set.
Swiatek had not lost on clay since the French Open quarterfinals in 2021.
France’s Garcia set up a semifinal match against 10th-seeded Jasmine Paolini. The Italian rallied 1-6, 6-2, 6-2 to beat Viktorija Golubic of Switzerland.
Kateryna Baindl rebounded from a set down to upset eighthseeded Petra Martic 1-6, 6-3, 6-4. The Ukrainian next faces Ana Bogdan of Romania who beat Brazilian Laura Pigossi, 6-1, 6-1.
• Top-seeded Carlos Alcaraz raced past Facundo Bagnis 6-0, 6-4 at the Croatia Open to reach his seventh semifinal of the year.
The 19-year-old Spaniard is defending the first ATP title he won in the coastal town of Umag last year.
Fifth-ranked Alcaraz next plays Italian qualifier Giulio Zeppieri who beat Bernabe Zapata Miralles of Spain 7-5, 6-4.
Second-seeded Jannik Sinner reached his first semifinal this year after a 6-4, 7-6 (5) victory over Roberto Carballes Baena.