Woods takes the lead at Tour Championship
Published 12:18 am Saturday, September 26, 2009
ATLANTA — Tiger Woods had the lead and was ready to turn the Tour Championship into a runaway Friday.
First came a 5-wood up the hill on the par-5 15th that narrowly cleared the bunker, hopped onto the green and rolled toward the flag until it stopped just over 4 feet away. On the next hole, Woods started walking before his shot began its descent to inside 4 feet.
There were so many fans around the 16th green that it was hard to read the video board showing Woods’ PGA Tour ranking on putts between 4 and 5 feet. No one would have been surprised to see that Woods had missed just seven from that length all year.
This time, he missed them both.
Woods still wound up in the lead Friday at East Lake with a 2-under 68, one shot ahead of Padraig Harrington and Sean O’Hair. Woods is even closer to the FedEx Cup and its $10 million bonus.
CVS/pharmacy LPGA Challenge
DANVILLE, Calif. — Sophie Gustafson shot a 3-under 69 to take a one-stroke lead over Lorena Ochoa, Maria Hjorth and Shanshan Feng.
After opening with a 65 on Thursday, Gustafson missed three eagle putts and struggled with her touch on the greens Friday at Blackhawk Country Club.
Gustafson, the Swede who won the last of her four career LPGA Tour victories in 2003, had a 10-under 134 total. The top-ranked Ochoa shot a 67, Hjorth had a 66 and Feng a 67.
Vivendi Trophy
SAINT-NOM-LA-BRETECHE, France — Simon Dyson and Oliver Wilson beat Henrik Stenson and Alavaro Quiros 2 and 1 in fourball play to help Britain and Ireland take a 6-4 after two days in the Vivendi Trophy matches against Continental Europe. Ross Fisher and Nick Dougherty edged Soren Hansen and Peter Hanson 3 and 2, and Anthony Wall and Chris Wood beat Miguel Angel Jimenez and Soren Kjeldsen 3 and 2 in Britain and Ireland’s other victories.
SAS Championship
CARY, N.C. — Russ Cochran and Denis Watson shot 6-under 66s in windy and wet conditions to share the first-round lead in the SAS Championship. Joey Sindelar, Larry Mize, R.W. Eaks, Dan Forsman, Jim Thorpe and Tom Pernice Jr., making his Champions Tour debut, were a stroke back on the Prestonwood course. Leonard Thompson shot a 74 in his 1,000 career start on the PGA and Champions tours.
