Watson takes lead as Spieth misses cut
EDISON, N.J. — Jordan Spieth lost out on a chance to play the weekend at The Barclays.
He also lost his No. 1 ranking .
Bubba Watson, momentarily distracted by a rare warning for taking too long to play a shot, recovered with a birdie on the18th hole at Plainfield Country Club for a 2-under 68 and a oneshot lead going into the weekend at the opening FedEx Cup playoff event.
On an otherwise sleepy afternoon at a course where no one could get some separation, two peculiar moments stood out — a bad time for Watson, bad golf from Spieth.
Trying to rally to make the cut, Spieth hit into a hazard on the 12th hole, and a bogey later became a double bogey when he was penalized one shot for stepping on his ball during the search. He had a 73, the first time since the Tour Championship last year that he had consecutive rounds over par.
He missed the cut by five shots. That means Rory McIlroy, who isn’t playing this week, returns to No. 1.
“I’ve reached that peak already and I know it’s going to be close enough to where if I just get the job done next week, I’ll be back in that ranking,” Spieth said. “But again, that ranking, it’s great once you reach it but it’s not something that I’m going to live or die on each week.”
McIlroy becomes the 14th player since the world ranking began in 1986 to get to No. 1 without playing that week.
Watson is in good shape through 36 holes to claim his own No. 1 ranking — a victory would move him to the top of the FedEx Cup. Much like the world ranking right now, that figures to change by the week.
Ultimately, what matters to Watson, Spieth and others is winning the Tour Championship to capture the $10 million bonus.
Halfway through this event, no telling what else will happen over the next two days.
PGA Tour rookie Justin Thomas had a few late bogeys for a 69 and shrugged when asked if he was happy with his score. He was seven shots back.
“This is a course where if you make the cut, you have a chance to win,” Thomas said.
Watson 133.
British Open champion Zach Johnson made five birdies to go with four parsaving putts from outside 8 feet for a 65. He was one shot out of the lead, along with Henrik Stenson (66), Tony Finau (69) and Jason Dufner (68).
Watson typically struggles on courses with blind shots. But he’s picking out targets, smashing his driver close to the green on the shorter holes and getting by
was
at
7-under just fine.
The bad time came on No. 16 with a difficult pin position, made even tougher by the fact Watson watched Spieth’s shot roll back some 100 feet off the green. Watson took longer than 40 seconds — 1 minutes, 2 seconds to be exact — and was given the bad time.
Tseng leads LPGA tourney
PRATTVILLE, Ala. — Yani Tseng closed with an eagle and a birdie for an 8-under 64 and a one-stroke lead Friday in the Yokohama Tire LPGA Classic.
Tseng hit a 6-iron to 4 feet to set up the eagle on the par-5 eighth hole just before play was delayed for about 90 minutes because of lightning and rain, then took the outright lead on the par-4 ninth with her sixth birdie of the day.
Tseng reached 10-under 134 on the links-style Senator Course with her lowest round since a 63 in the 2013 LPGA Thailand.
Austin Ernst was second after a 65. Coral Springs’ Lexi Thompson was third with a 67.