Quick Hitters
Spieth avoids Colonial cut scare, has shot to defend title
FORT WORTH, Texas — 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, 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).
Phil Mickelson didn’t have a birdie while shooting a 75 that left him at 2 over, three shots clear of the cut in his first Colonial since the two-time champ missed the cut in 2010.
Celtics star Isaiah Thomas unsure if he’ll need hip surgery
Boston Celtics point guard Isaiah Thomas wanted to keep playing in the Eastern Conference finals, but team doctors and officials convinced him he needed to shut down his season for his long-term health.
“They had multiple people come in and talk to me about what’s more important,” Thomas said Friday, a day after the Celtics were eliminated by the Cleveland Cavaliers. “But I definitely wasn’t trying to hear that at that point in time.”
Thomas injured the hip in March and aggravated it in the second-round series against Washington. He played three halves against the Cavaliers before limping off the court in the middle of Game 2.
The Celtics lost that game by 44 points to fall behind 0-2 in the best-of-seven series, then announced the next day that Thomas was done for the season. Still, they beat the Cavaliers in Cleveland the next game before falling easily in Games 4 and 5.
“Eastern Conference finals, that’s the biggest stage I’ve ever been on,” Thomas said at the team’s practice facility in Waltham, Massachusetts. “To not be able to go back out there in that second half and continue that series was painful. Like it hurt me.”