Spieth shoots 69 to maintain lead
Jordan Spieth played well enough in the second round of the Travelers Championship in Connecticut to stay in the lead. Rory McIlroy played just well enough to stay in the tournament.
Spieth shot a 1-under 69 on Friday morning, then watched as a windy afternoon kept anyone from overtaking him.
The conditions also kept fourth-ranked Jason Day from making the cut for a second straight week. He bogeyed the 18th for a 70 to finish at 2 over. No. 3 McIlroy shot a 73, also closing with a bogey, but managed to just sneak into the weekend at even par.
Spieth, who began the day one shot ahead after a first-round 63, started on the back nine. The 23year-old Texan had to recover from a double bogey on the par-5 13th hole after hitting his tee shot left and out-of-bounds. He also had four birdies and a bogey to reach 8 under.
“We’ve been kind of far behind in a lot of the events in making comeback runs,” said Spieth. “But being able to be toward the front of the pack on a Saturday afternoon is a beautiful position to be in and one that we’ll certainly embrace. I’m going to try to have a lot of fun this weekend.” Patrick Reed (66) and Troy Merritt (68) were tied for second.
Sung Hyun Park nearly matched the course record with an 8-under 63 on Friday to take the first-round lead in the NW Arkansas Championship. The South Korean finished with nine birdies and needed only 24 putts to take a two-shot lead over Mel Reid, Ally McDonald and So Yeon Ryu.
Paul Broadhurst shot a 9-under 63 to take a twostroke lead in the PGA Tour Champions’ American Family Insurance Open in Madison, Wisconsin.
Basketball
Blake Griffin has decided to test free agency, telling the Los Angeles Clippers that he is opting out of the final year of his contract. A person with direct knowledge of Griffin’s plans confirmed the decision. The move was expected, and gives Griffin the chance to either pursue a deal elsewhere or re-sign with the Clippers.
College baseball
Santa Clara named Rusty Filter as its new head coach. Filter spent the past eight seasons at Stanford as the associate head coach and pitching coach.
Motor sports
Doug Kalitta took the Top Fuel qualifying lead in the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals with track-record time in Norwalk, Ohio. Kalitta had a 3.709-second pass at 327.43 mph during the second session of the day. Matt Hagan topped the Funny Car field, Greg Anderson took the Pro Stock lead, and Matt Smith was the fastest in Pro Stock Motorcycle. .
John Hunter Nemechek raced to his second straight NASCAR Camping World Truck victory, taking the lead with his six laps left at Iowa Speedway. Nemechek took four new tires during the final caution. The gamble paid off, as he passed leader Johnny Sauter soon after a restart. Brandon Jones was third.