Finau turns bad break into lead
Tony Finau has enjoyed such a good year that he wasn’t about to let one bad break get him down Friday in the World Golf Championships-HSBC Champions in Shanghai.
Finau had just built a three-shot lead as Patrick Reed began to stumble when Finau hit an approach from the rough on the 11th hole toward the green at Sheshan International. The ball landed on a sprinkler, shot high in the air and rolled over the back and into the hazard. It led to a double bogey and cut his lead to one shot.
But Finau didn’t flinch.
He had two birdies on the par 5s, laid up on the reachable par-4 16th and made birdie, and wound up with a 5-under 67. That put him at 11-under 133, three shots clear of Reed (72), Tommy Fleetwood (68) and defending champion Justin Rose (67).
“That was about as bad a break as I’ve ever had, to kick all the way over the green into the hazard,” Finau said. “One thing I’ve learned in this game, you take the good with the bad and keep moving forward. I knew I was playing well still and still at the top of the leader board. Just keep plugging along and try to get that back and I was able to do that.”
Byrum on top
Tom Byrum birdied five of the final seven holes for a 6-under 66 and the firstround lead in the PGA Tour Champions’ Invesco QQQ Championship in Thousand Oaks, Calif. The top 54 in the Charles Schwab Cup standings qualified for the second of three playoff events, with 50 players making the trip to Sherwood Country Club. The top 36 at the end of the tournament will advance to the Charles Schwab Cup Championship Nov. 8-11 in Phoenix.
Byrum, 58, entered the week 46th in the standings. He’s winless on the 50-and-over tour after winning once on the PGA Tour.
Scott Parel was a stroke back. He won the Boeing Classic in August for his first Champions title.
Teen shares lead
Norman Xiong shot a 5-under 67 on Friday on another damp, chilly day at the Country Club of Jackson for a share of the second-round lead with Cameron Champ at the Sanderson Farms Championship in Jackson, Miss. Xiong, 19, — who made his first cut in seven career starts — is trying to become the secondyoungest winner on tour since 1932. He matched Champ at 9 under for the tournament.
Home-field advantage
Wei-Ling Hsu was feeling the love from her home crowd at the LPGA Taiwan Championship in Taoyuan and it inspired her to a 5-under 67 and a onestroke lead after two rounds. Hsu had a total of 9-under 135 on the Ta Shee Golf and Country Club, one ahead of firstround leader Jodi Ewart Shadoff (71). Former No. 1 Lydia Ko was the big mover with a round-of-the-day 66 to move into third place.