Fort Worth, Texas-- Harris English told his caddy that no one beat him on the par-3 eighth hole at Colonial after his first-round birdie and hole-in-one on Friday in Fort Worth, Texas. There is only one player ahead of him in the overall standings.
PGA Tour rookie Harry Hall of England maintained his personal lead with a 12-under 128 through 36 holes, making stunning saves in the sand on the same par-3 hole to take the lead. England 3 shots. After opening with an 8-under 62, Hall had four straight birdies in a second-round 66.
Hall's birdie streak ended with a bogey at the par-4 third, his 12th hole of the day, when he missed the fairway and then two-putted from 9 feet. He can hit the green.
In the final set of the day, Hall's tee shot on No. 8 hit the side of a deep bunker in front of the green.
"I could only see two depressions," he said.
After kicking the ball on the first attempt but failing to get it out of the sand, Hall saved par by putting the ball away on the next attempt. The ball landed on the edge of the green and rolled into the hole.
"When it went back into the bunker, it wasn't bad, it was a tough shot," Hall said. "I just hit the ball like a normal shot and try to hit it high and spin as fast as I can and that's what I do."
English's ace on the 170-yard eighth hole was part of a bogey-free 66.
"Tough hole 9 ... put the ball about 4 or 5 yards from where I was aiming, but it's good that the hole is in the way," English said. "It's just one of those shots where I hit it right on the flag."
His third hole-in-one on the PGA Tour since Jim Furyk in 2011 was his first at Colonial 8.
English was one shot ahead of Emiliano Grillo, who shot a round-best 65 at 8 under. Adam Schnek (67), Byeong Hun An (66) and Robby Shelton (67) tied for fourth place.
Scottie Scheffler, the No. 1 player in the world and runner-up in the Colonial playoffs last year, shot a second consecutive round of 67 for a 6-under 134 to tie for seventh. Justin Rose, whose 11 PGA Tour wins include a 5-under at the Colonial five years ago, shot a blistering 66 to tie for ninth.
Jordan Spieth, still dealing with pain in his left wrist, shot 72 both days and missed the cut. The 11-man player had three bogeys and one birdie on the last four holes.
Michael Bullock, a 46-year-old club pro from California, became a sensation among average golfers by carding a 155-over par 15 in a field of 120 players on Sunday 15th at the PGA Championship at Oak Hills. in the area. He opened with an 81 and took the lead with a seven-under 74 that included back-to-back birdies in the middle of the round.
It was a tough one for Bullock, who hit just 11 of 28 fairways through two rounds, but still held the lead hours after his final shot before his flight home. Connect with fans - sign autographs and take photos.
Hole-in-one aside, it was just a solid game for four-time PGA Tour winner English, who finished third at the Wells Fargo Championship earlier this month. He hit 11 of 14 fairways and 14 of 18 greens.
"When I have problems off the tee or around the green, I get up and down. I had a really good par on the 9th hole," English said. “I had a lot of balls that looked like 15 or 20 feet and didn't make a lot of money ... But as long as I keep hitting the ball and giving myself opportunities, some good things are going to happen this weekend.
After the hole-in-one, English drove into the rough right of No. 9, then into the green bunker and to 6 feet for a pair of putts. His only birdie on the back nine came on the 12th hole when he made a 17-foot putt just off the green.
Grillo, a 30-year-old from Argentina, hit a green bunker shot on the 389-yard 10th hole and spun before reaching the round. It was the first of five back birdies, including two long putts on par 3s -- from 19 feet on No. 13 to nearly 38 feet at no. 16 -- before coming close to no. 7 feet.
"There's a lot of different clubs off the tee. I have to keep the ball on the fairway, I have to keep the ball on the green. I think that's my strength in the game," Grillo said. "I was lucky enough to make some good shots on the back nine. It was nice to make a good shot on the 18th and make a good putt."
Koepka is fighting in his fifth major
Brooks Koepka bounced back from the high to his fifth major with a mediocre 72, even par, after his first round at LIV Golf DC at Trump National Park in Sterling, Virginia, on Friday. , which put him eight strokes behind Harold Varner III.
Koepka still has reason to be thankful. On his first hole with a driver, the club face cracked.
"Thank God, he's broken now, he's not where he was last week," Koepka said.
His drive came in handy when he hit one of his best drives on the par-4 14th to the edge of Oak Hill, hit a bunker on the 15th and holed out to 4 feet from the rough for another PGA Championship title.
He returned to LIV Golf just five days after his big win.
Varner bogeyed the par-3 fourth hole, which was his only error. He had a pair of eagles and five birdies for a 64, which put him two shots ahead of former US Amateur champion James Piot.
Andy Ogletree, starting again as backup to Paul Casey and his injured foot, had a 68 in the same group as British Open champion Cameron Smith.
Phil Mickelson had a 74 with six bogeys.
Zinc titeldebi
The Senior PGA Championship was not the first choice for Stewart Cink's first tournament after turning 50.
The potential rewards are more than consolation.
Cink shot his second-round 4-under 68 after the second round of the Senior PGA at the PGA of America's New Texas headquarters in Frisco, Texas, on Friday, according to Pardo. Reg Harrington four.
Harrington opened with a 64 and shot a bogey-free 68 for 12-under 132. Japan's Katsumasa Miyamoto had a 69 and was three behind Harrington.
Stricker won his first senior major of the season at the Regional Traditional two weeks ago with a 7-under 67.
Making his PGA Tour Championship debut four days after his 50th birthday, Cink was delayed about 55 miles north of Dallas.
An eight-time winner on the PGA Tour, including the 2009 British Open, Cink wanted to make sure he wasn't on the course at Colonial Fort Worth, about 60 miles from PGA Frisco's Fields Ranch East.
He didn't expect to compete in the Charles Schwab Challenge and is more than happy to compete against players he has seen regularly on the regular tour.
"I wasn't too upset when I didn't make it to Colonial," Sink said. "I'm looking forward to playing here as a reserve. It was a fun week. At least it met my expectations, maybe even more."
Cink still wants to play on the regular tour, especially trying to stay on top of the lucrative events that are the answer to LIV golf.
"I'll have to go through the summer to get into them, but I'll try to get into them and give myself a chance," said Cink, whose second round was less eventful with five birdies and one. in his debut in the championship, Orao followed up with five birdies and three bogeys.
"I think if I had switched to this tour straight away and played the rest of the summer straight away and not given myself a chance to play in the big tournaments, then I think I would look back and say, 'Why didn't I do it?' at least I'll try?" Sink said.
Stricker, who has two wins in all eight championships this year, jumped into the top 10 with an eagle on the par-5 14th hole from 88 yards. The 56-year-old set a championship record with 47 consecutive rounds of par or better.
"I want to play well. I don't know where it's going to take me, where it's going to take me," said Stricker, who also came up short on the par-5 18th. "But I'm hoping to step up and play well and I'm confident in my game and what I've been doing lately."
Zink and his wife, Lisa, are cancer survivors and caregivers for her husband, who recently turned 50. They celebrated her milestone in Las Vegas and Zion National Park, Utah, before heading to the Bahamas for more fun.
"We celebrated and we had fun and we just fought a little bit," Cink said. "Kind of a commemorative style. We keep thinking about how it feels (fingers crossed) to have just started the PGA Tour and now we're starting another tour at 50."
Darren Clark, winner of the 2011 British Open, and Korea's Y.E. Yang, a Dallas resident who won the 2009 PGA Championship, opened both with back-to-back 69s. They were tied at 6 under with Alex Cejka (70) and Adilson da Silva.
"I didn't play very well yesterday, but I came out really strong at the end," Clark said. "I played really well all day today. I kept giving myself chances on the back nine. Then one bad swing led to 16. I totally misjudged 17. So you make two late bogeys like that and it hurts the sour taste in your mouth."
The Brazilian, who grew up in South Africa, played in the United States for the first time. Da Silva shot 8 under par and followed up with back-to-back bogeys for a 71.
Defending champion Steven Alker was 5-under again after a 69.
The LPGA plays matches
Anna Nordqvist scored all three long matches and only a key wedge prevented her from hitting more on Friday as the 2018-19 campaign ended. ended up in North Las Vegas, Nevada. She was one of 16 players to advance from the group stage to the Bank of Hope LPGA Match Play.
If Nordqvist loses to Andrea Lee, she faces a triple playoff. That appeared to happen when the Swede hit the creek in front of the 18th green at Shadow Creek and Lee was on the green about 50 feet from the hole.
No. 1 seed Nordquist hit a wedge that hit the back slope and landed 3 feet, and Lee bogeyed the putt, halving the game for Nordquist (2-0-1 in the group stage) entering the weekend.
"I hit a good shot to tie," Nordquist said. "I'm excited to move forward."
Cheyenne Knight is like a clutch, without water. She leads her group 2-0 and only needs a half against Sei Young Kim to advance. Otherwise, Knight faces a three-way playoff race.
The king led with one and was on the green for a long time. Knight hit the wedge from 85 yards, caught the slope and stopped 2 inches from the hole for eagle. Kim missed his chip, fumbled the break and Knight advanced to the knockout stage.
The weekend at Shadow Creek has a European flavor in the Solheim Cup year, with eight of the 16 players remaining.
Five of these players won all three games in the group stage. Among them was Albane Valenzuela from Switzerland, who knocked out Lilia Wu in the first round and did not give her another chance. Vu, the top seed from a field of 64, made his first major at the Chevron Championship.
"It feels great," Valenzuela said. "I also know what a match is like. You can get three points. It doesn't matter tomorrow. It's just a big reset."
The second seed, Canadian Brooke Henderson, lost her first match and never recovered. Sophia Schubert won the race for first place in the group.
The current top seed is France's Céline Boutier (3), who won 3-0 in the group stage.
Only one group advanced to the sudden death playoffs. Thailand's Pajaree Anannarukarn lost to Karis Davidson and returned to the playoff in 18th place.
The Thai hit the ball square and looked perfect off the tee, and when the ball came to rest in the deep arc, he jumped up the first approach point. Anannarukarn pushed the ball from there onto the green and she ended up winning with a 3-foot par when Davidson missed the green.
"I thought, 'Of all places I'm on the turf.' But you've got to do what you've got to do," Anannarukarn said. "I try the green. And it's… perfect."
Alison Lee, who now lives in Las Vegas and plays sporadically at Shadow Creek, split two games before facing fellow Las Vegas resident Danielle Kang in a group that at one point looked like she had a chance. Quadruple playoff.
Lee later took control and Kang's last hope was to hit a left-hander when her ball was just outside the bunker. When Muni He lost to Mario Fassi, he took the green and Lee advanced.
Only the first seven seeds from the 16 groups advanced. The other Japanese are Ayaka Furue (5); Irishwoman Leona Maguire (7); Swedish women Linn Grant (8) and Maja Stark (11); and the Spanish Carlota Ciganda (12)