List leads John Deere Classic
SILVIS, Ill. — Luke List has a happy and healthy home life with his newborn son, and he felt pretty good about his golf game Friday in the John Deere Classic.
List ran off seven birdies in an eighthole stretch in the middle of his round, his only par on a 12-foot birdie chance on the 15th hole, and posted an 8-under 63. That gave him a one-shot lead over Sebastian Munoz going into the weekend at the TPC Deere Run.
List was at 13-under 129.
Munoz played early and shot a 4-under 67, getting all his birdies on the back nine and then finishing with 10 pars.
Former tournament winner Ryan Moore had a chance to catch List until he ran into trouble off the 18th tee and made bogey, giving him a 66 and leaving him among seven players two shots off the lead. That group included Lucas Glover and Chase Seiffert, each with 63.
The scoring was so good, as it often is at the John Deere, that the cut was at 4under 138.
Among those making it to the weekend was Steve Stricker, the 54-year-old Ryder Cup captain and three-time John Deere Classic winner. Stricker wanted to be part of the 50th anniversary of the tournament, so he skipped his title defense at the U.S. Senior Open.
His play on Friday suggested that was a good move, with six birdies in his round of 66 that left him seven shots behind in the middle of the pack.
Also making the cut was Nick Watney, who was hovering close to the line with a bogey on the fifth hole (his 14th of the round) and responded with back-toback birdies. He shot 66, significant because it ended a nasty patch of 18 consecutive missed cuts.
U.S. Senior Open
OMAHA, Neb. — The combination of wind, heat and humidity made it difficult to go low at the U.S. Senior Open on Friday.
Jim Furyk and Greg Kraft found a way.
Furyk shot a 6-under 64, the best round in days at Omaha Country Club, to take a two-stroke lead over Stephen Ames. The 2003 U.S. Open champion and 17-time PGA Tour winner rebounded from an opening 72 to get to 4 under.
First-round co-leader Ames bogeyed four of the first six holes on his second nine and shot 73. Two-time U.S. Senior Open runner-up Miguel Angel Jimenez (71) was 1 under.
Kraft was in a logjam of 10 players at even par. Among them were first-round co-leader Billy Andrade (75), Fred Couples (71), David Toms, Thongchai Jaidee (71) and the oldest player in the field, 67year-old Jay Haas (71).
Alex Cejka (74), the winner of the first two majors of the year, was in a group of 12 at 1 over along with major winners Mike Weir (74), Mark O’Meara (71) and Retief Goosen (69).
LPGA Tour
SYLVANIA, Ohio — Nasa Hataoka needed another birdie streak to hang onto the lead Friday in the Marathon LPGA Classic.
A day after making six straight birdies in an opening 10-under 61, the 22year-old Japanese player had four in a row on Nos. 14-17 to salvage a 69.
Her lead was cut from four to two strokes, with American Mina Harigae second after her second straight bogeyfree 66.
European Tour
NORTH BERWICK, Scotland — Rory McIlroy was waiting to get his second round underway on the 10th hole at the Scottish Open when a spectator wandered on to the tee, had a dig into the four-time major winner’s golf bag, and started taking swings with his 6-iron.
It wasn’t long before the interloper, who smelled of alcohol according to McIlroy’s playing partner, Jon Rahm, was ejected from the tournament. McIlroy didn’t last much longer. After an even-par round of 71, McIlroy missed the cut at the European Tour event on Friday and will be making an earlier-than-planned journey to the south of England for next week’s British Open.
He was 1 under for the tournament, 10 shots off the lead held by the top-ranked Rahm and Belgium’s Thomas Detry — after their rounds of 6-under 65 — and first-round leader Jack Senior (67). They were all on 11-under 131 overall.