Stricker starts strong in another senior major
Padraig Harrington and Steve Stricker are going at it again on a big stage, and this time they have more say over the outcome at the U.S. Senior Open.
The two Ryder Cup captains from Whistling Straits last September went into the weekend in the final group at Saucon Valley in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, after Harrington birdied three of his last six holes for a 6-under 65 to take a one-shot lead.
Stricker, whose U.S. team of stars throttled Europe in the Ryder Cup, did some nifty work of his own to overcome a sloppy start. He birdied his last three holes for a 69.
Harrington was at 6-under 136 going into a weekend that did not include Bernhard Langer for the first time since the German great was still in his 40s. The 64-year-old Langer needed a birdie on his final hole to have any chance of making the cut. He made bogey for a 75 and missed by two shots. It was the first time in 65 senior majors that Langer failed to qualify for the weekend.
Stricker didn’t do much wrong except for the par-5 sixth hole, where he tried to take on too much out of the rough and it led to a double bogey. That stalled his round, and then he made up for it at the end.
“I was just trying to right the ship there. It can get going sideways in a U.S. Open pretty quickly. So just try to hit the fairways, good amount of greens,” Stricker said.
Stricker said he told his brother-inlaw who is his caddie for the week, Mario Tiziani, that he wanted to try to get a few shots back over the closing hole.
“I wasn’t thinking three. Maybe I should have,” Stricker said. “I just wanted to get back to even really for the day and ended up birdieing the last three. It was a good way to finish the day.”
PGA Tour
Xander Schauffele shot his second straight 7-under 63 Friday to take a fivestroke lead in the Travelers Championship in Cromwell, Connecticut
The Olympic champion shot a 31 on the front nine at TPC River Highlands with four birdies and then had a 32 on the back, making birdies on 11, 14 and 17.
Heading into the third round Saturday he had hit 33 of 36 greens in regulation and is the only player in the tournament without a bogey. His closest call came close at the par-3 16th, where he hit his tee shot found the rough behind a greenside bunker.
Kevin Kisner (64), Nick Hardy (64), defending champion Harris English (65), Cam Davis (66) and Patrick Cantlay (67) were tied for second at 9 under. First-round leaders Rory McIlroy and J.T. Poston followed opening 62s with 70s to drop six strokes back.
Women’s PGA
After another sparkling start, In Gee Chun finally hit a wayward tee shot – into the thick rough on the eighth hole at Congressional Country Club, in Bethesda, Maryland.
It was the closest she had come to a shaky stretch through the first two days of the Women’s PGA Championship.
Chun recovered from a couple bogeys on the front nine and shot a 3-under 69 on Friday to increase her lead to six strokes at the tournament’s halfway point. Chun led by five after the first round, equaling the biggest 18-hole advantage in the history of women’s major championships.