PGA champ leads at Firestone after 65
AKRON, Ohio — Jimmy Walker endured rain delays of nearly five hours and shot a 5-under 65 on Friday to build a two-shot lead at the Bridgestone Invitational.
Walker finally saw some good results in a year marked by coping with Lyme disease and bouts of fatigue. The timing couldn’t be better for Walker, who defends his PGA Championship title next week.
He made birdie from short range on both par 3s on the back nine at Firestone and finished two rounds at 7-under 133.
Thomas Pieters of Belgium missed a 6-foot birdie chance on the 18th hole and shot 70. He was two shots behind.
Rory McIlroy had a 69 and was among those three shots behind, while Jordan Spieth finished with two straight birdies and was four behind.
Women’s British Open
ST. ANDREWS, Scotland — I.K. Kim, the best player in women’s golf right now, emerged from the cold and wet with a 4-under 68 to build a twoshot lead in the Women’s British Open going into the weekend.
A two-time winner on the LPGA Tour over the last 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-year-old from South Korea atoned for her lone bogey with three birdies and an eagle on the
538-yard 11th hole.
Still, perhaps the most significant move came from Thompson, the No. 2 player in the world.
Two-over par and birdie-free after nine-holes, the big-hitting Floridian played the homeward nine in 30 with six birdies — five in succession.
PGA Tour Champions
BLAINE, Minn. — Two-time tournament winner Kenny Perry shot a 7-under 65 Friday to hold a share of the lead after the first round of the PGA Tour Champions event just outside of Minneapolis-St. Paul.
Perry, who won in Minnesota in 2014 and 2015, opened his round with six consecutive birdies. He finished with another one to join Mike Goodes atop the leaderboard at TPC Twin Cities.
Scott Verplank, Marco Dawson, Gene Sauers and Jay Haas finished at 6-under. Steve Flesch, Colin Montgomerie and Brandt Jobe were among the golfers to card 67s.
Jeff Sluman leads a host of golfers who shot opening-round
68s, three shots off the lead. Perry, who won the U.S. Senior Open earlier this season by two shots at the Salem Country Club in Massachusetts, finished his front nine on Friday at 7-under 29.
Perry cooled off after that, picking up his first bogey on his
17th hole before an easy birdie putt brought him even with Goodes.
Goodes entered play just
61st in the Charles Schwab Cup standings — and he hasn’t finished better than 15th in 2017. But Goodes got off to a strong start, playing bogey-free with seven birdies.
Goodes, 60, has just one senior circuit victory. That came in 2009.