Niemann, Lewis atop a crowded leaderboard
All eyes will be on Atlanta’s Trae Young, middle, and his status tonight for Game 6 of the Eastern finals.
Joaquin Niemann and Tom Lewis topped the jam-packed leaderboard heading into the weekend in the Rocket Mortgage Classic in Detroit.
Niemann and Lewis each shot 3-under 69 on Friday to reach 10-under 134. Troy Merritt (68), Chris Kirk (68) and Max Homa (65) were a shot back.
First-round leader Davis Thompson was one of eight players two strokes back. Thompson, 22, had a 1-over 73, a day after matching a Detroit Golf Club record with a 63.
Two years ago, Niemann became the first player from Chile to win on the PGA Tour with a six-stroke victory at The Greenbrier. Lewis, who is from England, is shooting for his first PGA Tour victory.
“I’ve obviously won on most tours all around the world and this is obviously the hardest tour to play on and to win on, but I’m a long way away from that,” Lewis said. “If I can, then awesome. My time will come when I’m ready.”
Lewis pulled into tie with Neumann on his 13th hole Friday, making a 22-foot putt that went up and down a slope on an undulating green.
The wind picked up considerably during the second round with gusts to 25 mph that knocked hats off heads and made the relatively short and easy course more challenging.
DeChambeau voiced his frustrations with the unpredictable wind and his shaky game throughout his round.
“I hate golf,” DeChambeau said after yanking his drive into a greenside bunker at the 147-yard fifth hole.
The sixth-ranked player in the world ended up missing the cut at 1-under 143, following an openinground 72 with a 71.
DeChambeau, who has an endorsement deal with Rocket Mortgage, declined interview requests for the second straight day. His silence left unanswered questions about why he parted ways with caddie Tim Tucker on the eve of the tournament.
Masters champion Hideki Matsuyama was withdrawn from the event after testing positive for COVID-19.
LPGA
Matilda Castren shot a 5-under 66 after a six-hour storm delay to take the lead in the suspended second round of the Volunteers
of America Classic in The Colony, Texas.
With the start of play delayed by lightning and rain, the 26-yearold former Florida State star from Finland had five birdies in the bogey-free round to reach 10 under at Old American.
Castren won the LPGA MEDIHEAL Championship three weeks ago in California at foggy Lake Merced to become the first Finnish winner in LPGA Tour history
“There’s a lot of golf left to play and not everyone has even finished the second round,” Castren said. “So, I’m really happy where I’m at right now. I don’t think it’s going to hold for tomorrow for the third round, but I’m really happy where my game is going and how I’m playing right now.”
Jeongeun Lee6, the South Korean player who won the 2019 U.S. Women’s Open and lives in nearby Irving, was 8 under — following an opening 64 with a 70.
Jin Young Ko, the first-round leader after a 63, also was 8 under with 14 holes left. Only half of the players were able to finish the round before dark
PGA Champions
Bernhard Langer had a borrowed putter and a backup caddie in the Dick’s Sporting Goods Open. The 63-year-old German also had such a good start he thought about shooting his age.
“It was a strange day,” Langer said. “I had to borrow a putter from Scott McCarron because mine broke yesterday and I was very fortunate to even find one that I could putt with.”
Langer holed a 90-yard wedge shot for eagle on the par-5 eighth to get to 6 under, then had two birdies and three bogeys on the back nine for a 5-under 67, leaving him a stroke behind firstround leader Wes Short Jr. at EnJoie Golf Club in Endicott, N.Y.
PGA European
Overnight leader Lucas Herbert opened up a two-shot lead at the halfway stage of the Irish Open, carding 67 in the second round to go 13-under overall at the Mount Juliet Estate in Thomastown.
Having carded an 8-under-par 64 on Thursday to set the clubhouse target, the Australian was three behind in the second round when he found the water on the third hole for a double bogey.
But he sank eight birdies in all to lead England’s Andy Sullivan and Scotland’s Grant Forrest who were tied for second.