Lee (65) takes lead on tough Firestone
Danny Lee made seven birdies for a five-under 65 for a one-shot lead Thursday in his first time at the Bridgestone Invitational in six years.
The New Zealander had a one-shot lead over Graeme McDowell and Jim Furyk at Firestone Country Club at Akron, Ohio.
The major championship pairing of Jordan Spieth (Masters and U.S. Open) and Zach Johnson (British Open) produced two rounds of even-par 70. Some of that was rust from being off the last two weeks. Most of that was Firestone.
The South Course was firm on the fairways and greens, lush in the rough. Only 21 players in the 77-man field broke par. Phil Mickelson was not among them. He made only one birdie and shot 76. Troy Merritt, who won the Quicken Loans tournament last week to get into this event, shot an 82.
Rickie Fowler and Justin Rose were at 67, while the group at 68 included Henrik Stenson, Ian Poulter and Lee Westwood.
McDowell has been in such a rut that he has fallen out of the top 50 for the first time in five years and hasn’t finished in the top 10 in America since playing this event a year ago.
The slump is mainly due to change at home. His first child was born last September, and McDowell has found it harder to leave home. His motivation waned, followed by his game and inevitably some confidence.
“I like this version of me today,” McDowell said. “It’s been a rough year, no doubt about it.”
Spieth, playing for the first time since the British Open, made a bogey on the par-five second hole, the easiest at Firestone. His shot from the rough on No. 3 clipped some branches, and Spieth thought it might go in the water and lead to double bogey. It barely made the green and he got par.
“I’m staring at three over through three, trying to bounce back on a course that could host a major championship,” Spieth said.
He birdied the next hole, and finished with a birdie for the round of 70.
Rory McIlroy, who is not playing at Firestone because he injured his ankle while playing soccer in July, is in the field for the PGA Championship next week at Whistling Straits, and he will be listed in the tee times released Friday. That’s common practice for the majors, and McIlroy does not have to decide whether he plays until his tee time at the start of the championship.
PGA Tour at Reno
Zack Sucher took the first-round lead in the Barracuda Championship, scoring 18 points in the PGA Tour’s only modified Stableford event.
Sucher had nine birdies in his bogey-free round at Montreux Golf and Country Club for a three-point lead over Patrick Rodgers. Under the modified Stableford format, players receive eight points for double eagle, five for eagle, two for birdie, 0 for par, minus-one for bogey and minus-three for double bogey or worse.
Sucher has made only four cuts in 16 starts in his first season on the PGA Tour. The 28-year-old former Alabama Birmingham player won the Web.com Tour’s Midwest Classic last year.
Rodgers, a 23-year-old from Stanford, had eight birdies and a bogey.
Defending champion Geoff Ogilvy closed with a double bogey for a minusone total. Last year, he finished with a tournamentrecord 49 points for a fivepoint victory.