Late birdie run lifts Day to lead
Quail Hollow was softer and shorter, producing one low score after another before the final groups even started Saturday in the Wells Fargo Championship.
Jason Day wasn’t paying attention, which probably helped.
When he sputtered at the start, there was no reason to panic that he wasn’t taking advantage of a great day for scoring. And when Day finally picked up his first birdie by blasting a 9-iron out of the rough with the wind at his back from 195 yards to 18 inches on the ninth hole, he was on his way.
Day made five birdies over his last 10 holes for a 4-under 67, giving him a two-shot lead in Charlotte, North Carolina, as he goes for his second PGA Tour victory this year.
“I was just staying in my own world, staying in my lane and not really thinking about it too much,” Day said. “I knew that if I could just get myself in position ... don’t do anything too silly out there and find a way to get back into the swing of things, that I could come out of this on the better half.”
Day finished with a daring play on the 18th. With his bare feet in the stream and the ball on the bank well above his feet, he hit a full wedge to the back of the green for a two-putt par. He was at 10-under 203. Nick Watney overcame a double bogey on the par-5 10th hole with four birdies over his last six holes for a 66.
LPGA
Sung Hyun Park and Jenny Shin finished the rain-delayed first round of the abbreviated LPGA Texas Classic at The Colony with 6-under 65s to share a one-stroke lead.
After Thursday’s play was canceled and Friday’s began after an eight-hour rain delay, the tournament was reduced from 72 holes to 36. There will be no cut, but only the top 70 and ties in the 144-woman field will win prize money.
The second round began Saturday afternoon before the first round ended. Park and Shin were scheduled to start their final rounds this afternoon.
Park, last year’s U.S. Women’s Open champion and the top-ranked player in the field at No. 5, had seven birdies and one bogey at the 6,475-yard Old American Golf Club, which is hosting the event for the first time.