Storms interrupt chaotic 2nd round at TPC Sawgrass
Chad Ramey became the only player to reach double digits under par at The Players Championship. The TPC Sawgrass, as usual, had the final say.
Ramey put two tee shots in the water on the island-green 17th hole Friday for a quintuple-bogey that cost him a three-shot lead on a day of wild swings and, eventually, wild weather.
The second round was suspended with half the field unable to finish the round because of a storm system expected to dump a half-inch of rain on the Players Stadium Course.
Christiaan Bezuidenhout
of South Africa and Adam Svensson of
Canada shared the lead at 8-under par, both doing what it takes to stay in front on this course. They didn’t make a bogey Friday — Bezuidenhout through 14 holes, Svensson through 11 holes — and they have only one for the week.
Ben Griffin was the clubhouse leader. The former mortgage loan officer, who already had one close call in Bermuda late last year, was playing an exquisite round until taking double bogey on his final hole for a 1-under 71.
Griffin was at at 6-under 138. Two-time major champion Collin Morikawa was 6 under through 11 holes, while Min Woo Lee was at 6 under with three holes left in his round.
“Kind of glad this rain delay and thunder came in and let the putter rest a little bit and hopefully come out hot tomorrow,” Morikawa said.
Players were to return at 7 a.m. Saturday to finish the second round. The third round is schedule for threesomes off both tees and should be able to finish before sundown. That depends on the pace of play, and some of that depends on Sawgrass.
Jon Rahm missed all of this. The world’s No. 1 player had a bad stomach bug and withdrew about 30 minutes before his tee time. That puts his ranking in jeopardy, as Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy can overtake him.
The advantage goes to Scheffler, who looked shaky early and settled into his round. He birdied his last two holes of the day before the suspension — Nos. 9 and 10 — to get to 5 under. He has a 15-foot eagle putt on the 16th hole when play resumes.
McIlroy, meanwhile, took a double bogey on the sixth hole and was at 6 over for the tournament. He had eight holes to try to shave off four strokes that likely will be needed to make the cut..
USYK, FURY AGREE TO FIGHT
Oleksandr Usyk took to social media on Friday to accept Tyson Fury’s terms for a fight to become undisputed world heavyweight champion.
Time appeared to be running out to arrange a deal between the titleholders for a proposed April 29 fight in London, with Usyk’s promoter, Alex Krassyuk, saying their latest offer — a 60-40 split to the winner — was rejected by Fury and his camp.
That prompted Fury, the WBC champion, to publish a video on Instagram on Friday, saying he would fight only if there was a 7030 split of earnings from the bout in his favor.
“I see all this talk about boxing fights, that they want 50%, Tyson being greedy,” Fury said. “Where I’m standing: Usyk, you and your team are worth 30%.
“You either take it or leave it.” Usyk, a Ukrainian former cruiserweight champion who owns the WBA, IBF and WBO belts at heavyweight, responded with his own video on Twitter. He accepted that split and included a caveat about Fury making a donation of 1 million pounds ($1.2 million) to those affected by the war in Ukraine.
EX-CHIEF TAYLOR DIES
Otis Taylor, the longtime Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver who along with quarterback Len Dawson formed one of the NFL’s dynamic duos, died Thursday after more than a decade of health problems. He was 80.
Taylor’s family, who had been caring for him as he dealt with Parkinson’s disease and dementia, confirmed he had passed away a mere seven months after Dawson, his close friend and teammate.
Taylor spent all 10-plus years of his career in Kansas City, where he was a fourth-round pick out of Prairie View A&M in the 1965 AFL draft. He went on to have two 1,000-yard seasons during an era in which the passing game was still evolving, and he finished his career with 7,306 yards and 57 touchdown catches.