The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Leishman up by three heading into weekend
Marc Leishman followed his great start with another low score, a 7-under 64 that gave him a three-shot lead over Jason Day and Rickie Fowler going into the weekend at the BMW Championship.
Marc Leishman has a short memory when it comes to golf, which only helped him at the BMW Championship in Lake Forest, Illinois.
He forgot all about that 62 in the opening round.
He was nearly just as good Friday with a 7-under 64 to open a three-shot lead over Jason Day and Rickie Fowler going into the weekend at Conway Farms.
“I really took that as a challenge today, to not take it for granted that you’re just going to make birdies,” Leishman said. “You still have to earn every birdie. I think when you do get ahead of yourself, that’s when bad stuff can happen.”
There was plenty of good stuff from the guys chasing him in the third FedEx Cup playoff event.
Day, who has gone 16 months since his last victory, chipped in from behind the 14th green for his second eagle of the week, and then added a third eagle with one swing. He made a hole-in-one on the 17th hole with a 7-iron that turned into a payoff for multiple parties.
It carried day to a 65, putting him in the last group on the weekend with Leishman. BMW awarded $100,000 to the Evans Scholars Foundation, and then Day decided to give the car he won to the Evans Scholars, which will yield another full, four-year scholarship for another student.
Fowler also chipped in for eagle on the reachable par-4 15th hole on his way to a 64.
“The ultimate goal is to win this week,” Day said. “That’s the thing I’ve been trying to do this whole season at least win once, and try to build on that.”
Leishman was at 16-under 126, two short of the 36hole record Day set at Conway Farms two years ago on his way to a wire-to-wire, six-shot victory. Leishman has some experience with that, but it was long ago and the memory is vague, naturally. He recalls opening with a 70 at the Toyota Southern Classic on the Von Nida Tour in Australia and winning big.
He already has 18 birdies in 36 holes at Conway Farms, where the scoring average was a shade under 69 through two rounds.
It hasn’t been easy for everyone, particularly defending champion Dustin Johnson. The world’s No. 1 player can’ seem to buy a putt, and even when he started to make a little progress, he finished bogey-bogey by taking two chips to get on the 17th green and hitting into the water on the 18th.
Patrick Cantlay extended his remarkable run this season with a 65, leaving him alone in fourth place but six shots behind. Cantlay returned after three years away to cope with a severe back injury and the death of his close friend and caddie, Chris Roth, who was hit by a car as they were walking to dinner.
Park leads
Sung Hyun Park took full advantage of a fresh start to the Evian Championship in Evian-Les-Bains, France, firing an 8-under 63 to lead the rescheduled first round by three shots.
That meant a 14-shot turnaround for the No. 3-ranked Park, who had been 6 over through five holes in the rain and wind on Thursday morning. Play was abandoned and all scores wiped from the record, leaving the fifth and final women’s major as a 54hole event.