Citing late hours, Murray withdraws from Citi Open
After playing until 3 a.m., then sobbing into a towel, Andy Murray made it clear he was not pleased with the prospect of having to play again so soon. Sure enough, he did not, instead withdrawing from his Citi Open quarterfinal Friday.
Murray won a trio of three-setters, each lasting at least 2 1/2 hours, at the hard-court tuneup for the U.S. Open, part of his comeback from surgery on his right hip.
The three-time major champion cited fatigue when he pulled out of the Citi Open, hours before he was supposed to face 19-year-old Alex de Minaur for a semifinal berth. He also announced Friday that he was going to skip next week's Toronto Masters.
Murray's 6-7 (5), 6-3, 7-6 (4) thirdround victory over Marius Copil began at midnight and ended just past 3 a.m. on Friday, with about 100 or so spectators in the main stadium. Afterward, Murray told a small group of reporters that he "potentially" could withdraw from the tournament.
WOODS FIVE BACK AT BRIDGESTONE
Nobody has a better scoring average Saturday on the PGA Tour than Tiger Woods, and the Bridgestone Invitational would be a good time to keep that up. Woods might not have a choice. Neither will Rory McIlroy, Jason Day or anyone else wanting to keep pace.
Tommy Fleetwood took advantage of another soft day of good scoring at Firestone with a 7-under 63. So did PGA champion Justin Thomas, who was particularly sharp with his putter for a 64. They shared the lead with Ian Poulter, who had a head start with his career-low 62 and backed it up decently enough Friday with a 67.
They all played early and finished at 11-under 129.
No one could catch them, mainly because there was just enough breeze to cause just enough doubt.
Even so, 45 players from the 71-man field were under par, a rarity at Firestone. Woods, whose last victory was five years ago when he won this World Golf Championship for a record eighth time, got within four shots of the lead with a tee shot to 2 feet on the par-3 12th hole. He went 1 over the rest of the way for a 68, leaving him five shots behind.