Koepka ends strongly; Woods can’t make putts
Brooks Koepka showed muscle and unleashed a monstrous finish Friday to share the lead in the Northern Trust.
Tiger Woods missed yet another putt and was relieved to still be playing.
Koepka spent most of the second round trading birdies and bogeys, going nowhere. One swing changed everything on the 631-yard 13th hole at Ridgewood Country Club in Paramus, N.J. From just under 310 yards, he swung 3-wood as hard as he could and saw the tight draw that had been missing all day. His ball stopped 20 feet from the hole, Koepka made his putt for eagle and then closed with three straight birdies for a 6-under-par 65.
He tied Jamie Lovemark, who shot a 66.
“I wasn’t happy the first 11 holes the way I hit it,” Koepka said. “When I hit that 3-wood, it all clicked.”
The U.S. Open and PGA champion took it from there.
Adam Scott had a 64 for the tournament low round and was one shot behind. Another shot back was Dustin Johnson.
Woods was not part of the action, even though he hit the ball beautifully. Woods had a birdie putt on every hole until the par-3 15th, when his tee shot rolled just off the green against the collar. All he had to show for it was two birdies.
He finished with a three-putt bogey from just inside 30 feet for another 71. He made the cut on the number, 10 shots back.
“The name of the game is you’ve got to make putts, and you’ve got to roll it,” Woods said. “No matter how good your drive, you’ve still got to roll them and still got to make putts, and I didn’t putt very well today.”
LPGA: Amy Yang shot a 7under 65 to take the secondround lead in the CP Women’s Open, a stroke ahead of Canada’s Brooke Henderson and Angel Yin at Wascana Country Club in Regina, Saskatchewan.
Yang, the three-time LPGA Tour winner from South Korea, birdied four of the first five holes and finished with nine birdies and two bogeys. She had a 13-under 131 total.
The 20-year-old Henderson, from Smiths Falls, Ontario, had her second straight 66.
PGA Tour Champions: Kent Jones, Scott Parel and Tom Pernice Jr. each shot a 7-under 65 to share the first-round lead in the Boeing Classic in Snoqualmie, Wash.
Jones, 51, birdied four of his last five holes, playing in the last group of the day off the first tee. Parel, 53, closed with a bogey on the par-5 18th after birdieing the previous four holes. Pernice, 58, finished on the front nine, making birdies on Nos. 7 and 8.
European Tour: Gavin Green shot a 4-under 68 to improve to 12-under 132 for a one-shot lead following the second round of the Czech Masters in Vysoky Ujezd, while John Daly followed his opening 64 with a 3-over 75.
Former British Open and U.S. PGA Championship winner Daly slipped to a tie for 36th place at 5-under 139.