Woods keeps up strong play
He follows opening 64 with 65, shares Wyndhamlead
Tiger Woods signed up for his first Wyndham Championship knowing a win would definitively keep his season from ending. He’s halfway there. Woods shot a 5- under 65 on Friday to share the secondround lead with rookie Tom Hoge at Sedgefield Country Club in Greensboro, North Carolina.
“I’m only at the halfway point,” Woods said. “Only 36 holes. We’ve still got a long way to go.”
Woods and Hoge were at 11- under 129. Hoge shot a 67.
The sport’s biggest name put himself in prime position to contend for his first victory in more than two years, one that would send him into the FedEx Cup playoffs. Woods followed his best round since 2013 — a first- day 64 — with one almost as good.
He made his big move up the leader board on the back nine, with birdies on Nos. 12 and 13 and an eagle on the par- 5 15th that gave him a share of the lead.
Davis Love III and Chad Campbell were a stroke back. Campbell shot 65, and the 51- year- old Love had 66.
Brandt Snedeker matched the tournament record with a 61 that put him in a group of six players two strokes behind Woods and Hoge.
But for the second straight day, the big story was Woods.
He missed the cuts in the last three majors and hasn’t finished better than a tie for 17th at the Masters. At No. 187 on the FedEx Cup points list, he would definitely crack the top 125 with a win and qualify for the Barclays next week in New Jersey.
Depending on how the math works out, a solo secondplace finish also might be enough.
LPGA Tour: Candie Kung birdied four of her final six holes to match the course record with an 8- under 64 and take the second- round lead in the Canadian Pacific Women’s Open in Coquitlam, British Columbia. She’s at 11- under 133 at Vancouver Golf Club, two shots ahead of two- time championLydiaKo ( 68) and firstround leader Karine Icher ( 70).
U. S. Amateur: NCAA champion Bryson DeChambeau of SMU beat Ireland’s Paul Dunne 3 and 2 at Olympia Fields Country Club outside Chicago to advance to Saturday’s semifinals. Dunne, coming off his senior season at UAB, tied for 30th in the British Open last month after sharing the 54- hole lead. Japan’s Kenta Konishi, Virginia’s Derek Bard and USC’s Sean Crocker are the other semifinalists.
Champions
Tour:
Larry Mize birdied the par- 5 18th hole at TPC Snoqualmie Ridge for a 5- under 67 and a two- stroke lead over Fred Couples and four others after the first round of the Boeing Classic in Snoqualmie, Washington. Couples, trying to win his hometown event for the first time, was tied for second with Billy Andrade, Carlos Franco, Jeff Freeman and Chien Soon Lu.