Spieth manages to avoid Colonial cut scare

Jordan Spieth normally doesn’t concern himself with the cut line in the middle of a round.

Unless the Dallas native is in danger of staying home on consecutive weekends in what amount to his hometown events.

Spieth recovered from a bad start by going 5 under over his final 13 holes at the Colonial on Friday in Fort Worth, Texas, and his 2-under 68 put the defending champion at 2-under 138, four shots behind secondround leaders Webb Simpson, Kevin Kisner, Danny Lee and Scott Piercy.

“When your back’s against the wall and you feel the nerves kick up because you’ve got to do something, and you’re not going to be able to play both weekends in town,” said Spieth , coming off missed cuts in The Players Championship and AT&T Byron Nelson. “That would have been really, really tough for me to swallow if I missed the cut. And it was in my head.”

Lee birdied the last hole for a 64, the low round of the tournament on a hot and windy day. Kisner also had a birdie on his final hole, the ninth, for a second straight 67. Simpson, the 2012 U.S. Open champion, and Piercy each shot 66 to join the group at 6-under 134.

Masters champion Sergio Garcia (66) and fellow Spaniard Jon Rahm (69), who played in the same group, were at 5 under along with England’s Paul Casey (66) and Sean O’Hair (68).

Trio out front

Belgian Ryder Cup star Thomas Pieters, Italy’s Francesco Molinari, and Scotland’s Scott Jamieson shared the halfway lead in the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth in Virginia Water, England.

The trio sit on 7-under-par overall, one shot ahead of German golfer Max Kieffer.

Pieters, who tied for fourth at the Masters in his last tournament last month, recorded a round of 3-under 69 to set the target for the late starters.

Molinari dropped two shots on the opening nine but roared back into contention with three birdies in the closing six holes, including at 17 and 18, for a 70.

Singh takes lead

Vijay Singh shot a 4-under 68 amid wind so strong that play was temporarily halted at the Senior PGA Championship in Sterling, Virginia, taking a one-shot lead. Singh’s two-day total of 10-under 134 was one shot better than Billy Andrade, who also shot 68 at Trump National.

Park up by two

Sung Hyun Park shot a 7-under 65 to take a twostroke lead after the second round of the LPGA Volvik Championship in Ann Arbor, Michigan.