Day 1 shot off Houston Open lead
HOUSTON – Jason Day, eyeing his first PGA Tour victory in more than two years, was a stroke out of the lead in the Houston Open on Saturday, shooting a 3-under 67 two weeks after withdrawing during the final round at the CJ Cup because of neck discomfort.
Sam Burns shot a 68 to hold onto the lead at 9-under 201 at difficult Memorial Park.
Mexico’s Carlos Ortiz was tied with Day after a 67.
Sepp Straka (66) was 7 under. Dustin Johnson, needing to finish solo 15th or better to remain No. 1 in the world, was 6 under after 66 in his return from the coronavirus.
Johnson nearly put himself out of the tournament after opening with a 72 on the public Memorial Park course near downtown that’s hosting a Tour event for the first time since 1963.
First-round leader Brandt Snedeker’s third-round 76 dropped him far out of contention.
Day has12 Tour titles – the 2015 PGA Championship among them – but none since 2018 after winning eight times over a sparkling two-year stretch in 2015-16 to climb to No. 1. This summer, flummoxed by his long slump caused in part by ongoing back and neck issues, he decided to split with Colin Swatton, his coach and mentor since he was 12.
Day put himself in the mix at the CJ Cup in Las Vegas with a third-round 66 but took a triple bogey on the opening hole of the final round. Then he pulled his approach from the right rough into the water. He called it a day after hitting two shots on the second hole, the first of which he also pulled badly.
Having intended to play every fall tournament to prepare for next week’s delayed Masters, Day returned last week for the ZoZo Championship and finished in a tie for 60th-place.
Austria’s Shepp Straka, also chasing a breakthrough Tour victory, was alone in fourth place at 203, a shot ahead of the fifth-place Johnson after his 66. Straka had held a share of the lead before bogeying the 17th hole.
Dawie van der Walt, a South African who lives in the Houston area, briefly got to the lead at 8 under but lost three strokes to par on the back nine, falling into a sixth-place tie with Aaron Wise.
European Tour
PAPHOS, Cyprus – Nineteen players advanced to the Sunday shootout in the Cyprus Showdown, with Johannes Veerman of the United States and Matthew Jordan of England entering the final day full of confidence after shooting the lowest score in the third round.
In a first-of-its-kind format on the European Tour, the scores were reset after the first two days’ play and will be again after Saturday’s round.
Veerman and Jordan both shot 7under 64 and will tee off as part of the first group in Sunday’s final.
Bernd Ritthammer of Germany and Jamie Donaldson of Wales had 65s.
All players who shot 69 or more missed the tournament’s second cut.