The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Smoltz starts fast, fades to even-par 73 in senior event
Kenny Perry shot an 8-under 65 on Friday to take the Cologuard Classic lead, Mark O’Meara matched the PGA Tour Champions record with eight straight birdies in a 66, and Braves Hall of Famer John Smoltz failed to build on a strong start in his tour debut.
Smoltz birdied three of the first eight holes on Omni Tucson (Ariz.) National’s Catalina Course, then played the final 10 in 3 over for an even-par 73. After birdieing the par-5 eighth, the 51-year-old Hall of Fame pitcher dropped strokes on the par-4 ninth and 10th. Playing on a sponsor exemption, he had a double bogey on the par-5 15th, birdied the par-5 17th and bogeyed the par-4 18th.
“Put myself in situations to get defensive, and once you get defensive, it’s just not a fun game to play,” Smoltz said. “I learned again. I’m getting closer and closer to feeling comfortable and closer to trusting my swing. “
Perry made a 20-foot eagle putt from the fringe on the 17th — his eighth hole — in a bogeyfree round. The 58-year-old Kentucky player has 10 victo- ries on the 50-and-over tour after winning 14 times on the PGA Tour.
Defending champion Steve Stricker, Miguel Angel Jimenez, Jeff Maggert and Willie Wood matched O’Meara at 66, and Scott McCarron opened with a 67.
PGA Tour: Sungjae Im was in the first group to tee off on the first hole Friday at The Honda Classic. He’ll be in the final group today.
Im, the 20-year-old South Korean rookie who around this time last year was winning the first Web.com Tour start of his career, shot a 6-under 64 in the second round at PGA National in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. He shared the 36-hole lead at 6-under 134 with Keith Mitchell (66). It could be considered a surprise final pairing: Combined, Im and Mitchell have zero PGA Tour wins.
Mitchell had five birdies and a bogey Friday; Im had seven birdies and a bogey to match the low round of the week so far.
Lucas Glover (69) was third at 5 under. Adam Svensson and Brooks Koepka were among those in a group at 4 under, and 42 players were within five shots of the lead.
Defending champion Justin Thomas, playing with a sore right wrist after a wayward swing against a tree Thursday, had an eagle, a double-bogey and a triple-bogey on his way to an eventful 74. He got in right on the 36-hole cut line, 2 over.
LPGA Tour: Amy Olson’s eagle on the front nine and a late birdie on the 16th hole were enough for the American to emerge from a five-way tie from the first-round lead to shoot a 3-under 69 and take a two-stroke lead after two rounds at the HSBC Women’s World Championship in Singapore.
The 26-year-old American had a two-round total of 7-under 137. There was a fiveway tie for second — Inbee Park (69), Azahrara Munoz (68), Jodi Ewart Shadoff (70), No. 1-ranked Ariya Jutanugarn (71) and No. 3 Minjee Lee (71).