Watson takes 1-shot lead at Barclays; 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 the 18th hole at Plainfield Country Club for a 2-under 68 and a one-shot lead going into the weekend at the opening FedEx Cup playoff event.
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. McIlroy is the 14th player since the ranking began in 1986 to get to No. 1 without playing that week.
DICK’S SPORTING GOODS OPEN
ENDICOTT, N.Y.—Paul Goydos and Gene Sauers shared the first-round lead at 6-under 66 in the Champions Tour’s Dick’s Sporting Goods Open.
Goydos had a bogey-free round at En-Joie. He won the Allianz Championship in February in Florida for his second victory on the 50-andover tour. Sauers had seven birdies and a bogey.
CZECH MASTERS
VYSOKY UJEZD, Czech Republic— England’s Matthew Fitzpatrick and Sweden’s Pelle Edberg each shot 5-under 67 to share the second-round lead in the European Tour’s Czech Masters.
Fitzpatrick and Edberg were at 11-under 133 on the Albatross course. The 20-year-old Fitzpatrick won the 2013 U.S. Amateur.