Bradley ties Burns for Innisbrook lead
PALM HARBOR, Fla. – Sam Burns kept piling up birdies Friday, turning a solid start into a great round of 8-under 63 for a share of the lead in the Valspar Championship.
Keegan Bradley got there with one shot.
Bradley ended his round by holing out for eagle from 100 yards in the ninth fairway, over a deep bunker to the elevated green. The shot left him guessing until he saw the fans jump out of their seats. That gave him a 66 and the best uphill walk at Innisbrook.
“I turned a good day into a great day,” Bradley said. “Man, it was a fun day. And what a way to finish. It was a blast.”
Bradley and Burns were at 12-under 130, and their play in the steamy afternoon on the Copperhead course gave them a little separation starting out the weekend.
Lucas Glover (65), Charley Hoffman (66) and Max Homa (68) were four shots back. Only 10 players were within five shots of the lead through 36 holes.
Bradley, whose longest par putt was 4 feet in his bogey-free opening round, opened with two quick birdies before coming up short of the green on the 12th hole and making his first bogey. Birdies were hard to come by the rest of the way, but he made up for it with one swing.
With the steep hill, he played the 100yard shot as if it were 119, and then he added 6 yards to account for a little wind. It was a gap wedge. “A perfect shot,” he said.
“You can’t see the green from down there, so you have to wait for the crowd’s reaction,” he said. “And when everyone puts their arms up, normally that means it goes in. So another bonus of having fans out here. It makes it a lot more exciting for everybody.”
Burns had a few key par saves early in his round, and he took off after making the turn. He holed an 18-foot birdie putt on No. 10, reached the par-5 11th in two for a birdie and then holed a bunker shot on the 12th.
“Birdied the first three on the back and then just kind of we’re off,” he said.
Among those at 7-under 135 were Sungjae Im, one of the best iron players on tour at a course renowned for rewarding good ball-strikers, and past Innisbrook winner Charl Schwartzel.
Due to the great finishes of Burns and Bradley, the top two players have their work cut out for them. Dustin Johnson (68) was nine shots back, while Justin Thomas (71) was 10 behind.
LPGA Tour
SINGAPORE – Hee Young Park birdied her final hole Friday to move into a tie for the lead with Inbee Park at the HSBC Women’s World Championship at Sentosa Golf Club.
Hee Young Park (68) and No. 2ranked Inbee Park (69) had two-round totals of 11-under 133 at the LPGA event.
Inbee Park said she felt relieved after a birdie on the seventh hole.
“It was a little betrayal of my putter today,” Inbee Park said. “Misread a few putts, but I still feel like I fought pretty well, especially the front nine.”
Hee Young Park said she and Inbee have been friends since their early school days.
“We actually graduated in the same middle school back in Korea, so I’ve known her really long time, probably almost 20 years now,” Hee Young Park said.
“A lot of personal talk a little bit out there. It makes little fun to play golf.”
Another South Korean player, Hyo Joo Kim, was two strokes behind in a tie for third with Lin Xiyu of China. Lin birdied her last hole to also finish with a 68.
Former Women’s PGA champion Hannah Green shot 66 – tied for the low round of the day – and now has 14 consecutive rounds under par. The Australian, who shot 71 on Thursday, was one of only three players who shot in the 60s all four rounds in Los Angeles last week.
European Tour
TENERIFE, Spain – Nicolai von Dellingshausen of Germany took a threeshot lead of the Tenerife Open after matching a career-best 62 through the second round on Friday.
Von Dellingshausen carded a 9-under round at the Golf Costa Adeje course on the Canary Islands. He made seven birdies to go with one bogey before eagling the par-5 18th hole by making a 20foot putt from the fringe.
Spaniard Pep Angles is his nearest chaser in the European Tour event. Scott Jamieson, who shot a course record 61, is four shots back along with Scott Hend, Eduard Rousaud, and Kalle Samooja.