Mcilroy shoots 62, leads Koepka by stroke
Nobody likes missing the cut by a stroke, and doing it in a major championship at home hurts even more.
Rory Mcilroy is showing he can bounce back quickly. Mcilroy shot an 8-under 62 on Saturday in the Fedex St. Jude Invitational to take a one-stroke lead over Brooks Koepka at the World Golf Championships event.
Mcilroy, who missed the cut by a stroke last week in the British Open on his home turf in Northern Ireland, had a nine-birdie, onebogey round to move from a tie for 17th to the top of the leader board at TPC Southwind in Memphis, Tennessee. He finished the round Saturday with three straight birdies.
Two groups behind Mcilroy, Koepka (64) had his chances. The world’s topranked player finished with three straight pars. Now Koepka and Mcilroy, who played the first two rounds together, will play together today for the first time in a final round.
Second-round leader Matthew Fitzpatrick (69) was third, two strokes back. Marc Leishman (63), Alex Noren (66) and Jon Rahm (68) were three shots behind.
BROADHURST LEADS IN SENIOR OPEN, WHILE WATSON SAYS GOODBYE >> Englishman Paul Broadhurst birdied two of the last three holes to take a one-shot lead into the final round of the Senior British Open, which will be Tom Watson’s final appearance at the tournament. Broadhurst had four birdies and a bogey in his third-round 3-under 67 in wet conditions at Royal Lytham & St. Annes for a 5-under 205 total.
American Woody Austin (68) is second, one shot off the lead.
Three-time champion Watson shot 2-over 72 and is tied for 55th at 6 over. After the round, the 69-yearold American announced he wouldn’t be playing at the event again. In his 18 appearances, he has never missed the cut.
MERRITT EAGLES 18TH TO TAKE BARRACUDA CHAMPIONSHIP LEAD >> Troy Merritt scored five points with a 53-foot eagle putt on the par-5 18th to take a twopoint lead in the Barracuda Championship, the PGA Tour’s only modified Stableford scoring event.
Merritt had an 18-point round for a 37-point total at Reno’s Montreaux Golf and Country Club. Robert Streb was two points back, and Cal’s Collin Morikawa was third at 33 after a 13-point round.
SOUTH KOREANS CROWD LEADER BOARD IN FRANCE >> Hyo-joo Kim forged to a one-shot lead over Sunghyun Park as South Korean players took a stranglehold on the Evian Championship in the third round in France. Kim took over in front with a 6-under-par 65 at Evian Resort Golf Club in Evian-les-bains, while Park was on her heels after a 66.
Kim, who will start today’s final round at 15-under 198 as she seeks her second victory in the event, and Park have a nice cushion over the pack.
Fellow South Koreans Inbee Park (69) and Jin-young Ko (66) are four shots back.
Track and field
FELIX MISSES OUT ON WORLDS, HAS TO WAIT FOR RELAYS >> Allyson Felix finished sixth in the 400-meter final at the U.S. championships in Des Moines, Iowa, and missed out on qualifying in an individual event for worlds for the first time as a professional. Felix fell behind early and couldn’t make up ground Saturday as she returned to competition eight months after having a baby. Shakima Wimbley won in 50.21 seconds.
The 33-year-old Felix can still make the U.S. relay team for the world championships in Doha this fall.
Swimming
BIG NIGHT FOR DRESSEL >> Caeleb Dressel won three gold medals in a span of about two hours at the world championships in Gwangju, South Korea. Dressel has six golds and seven medals overall with one night remaining in the meet. He tied Michael Phelps’ record of seven medals — all gold — at a single worlds in 2017.
He capped his momentous night by leading off the victorious mixed 4x100meter freestyle relay. Dressel joined Zach Apple, Mallory Comerford and Simone Manuel in setting a world record of 3 minutes, 19.40 seconds.
Dressel opened the evening with a win in the 50 free and came back just 34 minutes later to win the 100 fly a night after breaking Michael Phelps’ world record in the semifinals.
Katie Ledecky won her first gold medal, rallying on the last lap to claim the 800 free.
Motor sports
MILLICAN, HIGHT, LAUGHLIN, SMITH CLINCH NO. 1 QUALIFIERS IN SONOMA >> Clay Millican (top fuel), Robert Hight (funny car) Alex Laughlin (pro stock) and Matt Smith (pro stock motorcycle) qualified No. 1 in their respective categories for today’s NHRA Sonoma Nationals at Sonoma Raceway.
Top fuel’s Millican scored his second straight No. 1 position in Sonoma as his season-best pass of 3.698 seconds at 330.96 mph from Friday held up. In funny car, points leader and defending event winner Hight secured his spot thanks to his run of 3.858 at 334.65 on Friday.
Smith roared to the No. 1 position thanks to the 6.779 seconds at a track record speed of 200.83 on Friday.