Walker builds two-shot lead
Pieters slips to 2nd, with McIlroy, Spieth in striking distance.
The sun finally came out, and Jimmy Walker saw a glimpse of what he hopes are brighter days ahead.
In a year marked by coping with Lyme disease and bouts of fatigue, Walker endured rain delays of nearly five hours Friday and posted a 5-under 65 for a two-shot lead going into the weekend at the Bridgestone Invitational in Akron, Ohio.
The timing couldn’t be better for Walker, who goes to Quail Hollow next week to defend his title in the PGA Championship.
“It hadn’t been a lot of fun this year,” Walker said. “But it’s nice to see some putts go in and make some solid swings … just the stuff I haven’t been doing.”
He was at 7-under 133, two shots ahead of first-round leader Thomas Pieters of Belgium, who had a 70.
Walker didn’t have a lot going last year until he finished well in the Canadian Open, and then went wireto-wire at Baltusrol the next week to win the PGA Championship. So maybe there’s another spark he can find at Firestone Country Club.
“There’s still a lot of golf on a hard course, but I know it’s there,” he said.
He also has a slew of players not far behind him in this World Golf Championship. Rory McIlroy had a steady round of 69 and was three shots back, along with Zach Johnson and Hideki Matsuyama, who each shot 67.
The large group at 3-under 137 included Jordan Spieth, going after his third straight victory. Spieth missed a short par putt on the 15th and was slipping behind when he faced an awkward lie from the edge of a bunker. Stumbling out of the sand backward, he nearly holed the shot and made birdie, and then he stuffed his approach to 3 feet for birdie on the 18th hole to salvage a 70.
Jason Day, winless in nearly 15 months, also got back into the picture despite some mild back pain. He opened with three straight birdies and shot 30 on the front nine, though two bogeys on the back nine slowed him and he shot 66. He was at 137.
“The front side definitely felt like 2015, 2016,” Day said, alluding to his best stretch of golf when he rose to No. 1 in the world. “I was just pouring in everything. I know that it’s still in there.”
Women’s British Open: I.K. Kim emerged from the cold and wet with a 4-under 68 to build a two-shot lead at St. Andrews, Scotland.
A two-time winner on the LPGA Tour over the past two months, Kim dropped only one shot in some of the worst conditions at Kingsbarns Links and reached the halfway point at 11-under 133. She was two shots clear of Lexi Thompson and Georgia Hall of England.
Kim displayed a remarkable fortitude in weather that veered erratically toward the end of the day between bright sunshine and torrential downpours. The 29-yearold from South Korea atoned for her lone bogey with three birdies and an eagle on the 538-yard 11th hole.
Thompson’s round of 68 included five straight birdies, while first-round leader Michelle Wie had only one birdie in a 76 that left her seven off the pace.
Champions: Two-time tournament winner Kenny Perry shot a 7-under 65 at TPC Twin Cities in Blaine, Minn., for a share of the lead with Mike Goodes after the first round. Perry, who won in Minnesota in 2014 and 2015, opened his round with six consecutive birdies.
Scott Verplank, Marco Dawson, Gene Sauers and Jay Haas shot 6 under, while Steve Flesch, Colin Montgomerie and Brandt Jobe were among those at 67.