Woods plays catch up
Tiger Woods shot a 9-under 63 Friday to trim a six-shot deficit to one after the second round of the Turkish Open at Belek, Turkey. Woods completed seven holes of his rain-delayed first round for a 70 on Friday morning. After an hour break, the 14-time major winner didn’t drop a shot and had nine birdies in the second round. It left Woods in fifth place at 11 under, just a shot behind the leading foursome of Sweden’s Henrik Stenson (68), England’s Ian Poulter (66), Frenchman Victor Dubuisson (65) and South African Justin Walters (66). Stenson, the European Tour money leader, had nine consecutive pars before picking up four birdies over his last nine.
Chris Kirk was at his best when the wind was at its worst Friday in the McGladrey Classic. Kirk rolled in a 40-foot birdie putt from off the green, chipped in from nearly 60 feet for birdie on another hole and wound up with another 4-under 66 at Sea Island at St. Simons Island, Ga., to take a one-shot lead going into the weekend. He followed with five birdies to get into the lead, and stayed there with a pair of saves — one for bogey on No. 4, another from a plugged lie in the bunker on No. 8. Kirk was at 8-under 132, one shot ahead of Kevin Chappell (68), Webb Simpson (68), John Senden (67) and Briny Baird (70). Eighteen players have to return this morning to finish the round, none closer than three short of Kirk.
Japan’s Shiho Oyama shot a 4-under 68 on Friday to take the firstround lead in the Mizuno Classic, the final tournament in the LPGA Tour’s five-event Asian swing. Oyama had six birdies and two bogeys at Kintetsu Kashikojima at Shima, Japan, in the event also sanctioned by the Japan LPGA Tour. Jiyai Shin, the tournament winner in 2008 and 2010, was a stroke back along with fellow South Korean players Chella Choi, Hee-Won Han, Na-Ri Lee, Eun-Bi Jang, American Brittany Lincicome, Japan’s Junko Omote and Kaori Nakamura, and Sweden’s Pernilla Lindberg. Defending champion Stacy Lewis (Arkansas Razorbacks) opened with a 1-under 71. She had two birdies and a bogey. Lewis, the top-ranked player in the field at No. 3, has three victories this year. “It was kind of up and down,” Lewis said. “I probably could have played a lot better but I think it could have been worse. I played really tough through a lot of cross winds and I just hung in there all day.” Lewis leads the LPGA Tour in top-10 finishes this season with 16. Her three victories include a major championship, and she still has a remote shot at winning the player of the year award with three events remaining.