FORT WORTH, Texas — PGA Tour rookie Brice Garnett grew up in a small Missouri town where his home course is a nine-hole layout. ADVERTISING FORT WORTH, Texas — PGA Tour rookie Brice Garnett grew up in a small Missouri
FORT WORTH, Texas — PGA Tour rookie Brice Garnett grew up in a small Missouri town where his home course is a nine-hole layout.
Garnett has gone from Daviess County Country Club and then Missouri Western State to leading at Hogan’s Alley after two rounds at Colonial.
After starting with an eagle, Garnett shot a 4-under 66 on Friday and moved to 7-under 133. He had a one-stroke lead over long-putting Chris Stroud (64) and Robert Streb (68).
Adam Scott, playing as No. 1 in the world for the first time, had birdies on three of his last seven holes for a 68 to get to 1 under. He has made the cut in his last 34 PGA Tour events, the longest active streak.
Matt Kuchar, ranked No. 4 in the world, had a chance to move to the top with a victory. But he missed the cut by a stroke at 2-over 142 after a 70.
The 30-year-old Garnett is from Gallatin, Missouri, a town of about 1,800 people. He has only one top-10 finish in his 18 previous starts on the PGA Tour, and has never won on the Web.com Tour. This is the first time he has even been in the top 10 after the second or third round on the PGA Tour.
First-round leader Dustin Johnson (70) dropped into a seven-way tie for fourth at 5 under. That group also included Texas resident Jimmy Walker (68), a three-time winner this season and No. 1 in the FedEx Cup standings. Walker had a strange occurrence when his tee shot at the 17th hole appeared to nick a bird in flight — though the bird kept flying before Walker made another par.
SENIOR PGA
CHAMPIONSHIP
BENTON HARBOR, Mich. — Tom Watson shot a 3-under 68 for a share of the lead in the Senior PGA Championship with fellow Hall of Famer Bernhard Langer and Colin Montgomerie and three other players.
The 64-year-old Watson, playing alongside Langer and Montgomerie, had five birdies and a double bogey — on the par-4 12th — to reach 4-under 138 after two rounds at Harbor Shores. Trying to win for the first time since the 2011 Senior PGA, Watson is coming off a sixth-place tie last week in the Regions Tradition in Alabama.
Langer also had a 68, and Montgomerie shot 69 to join Watson, Bart Bryant, Steen Tinning and Kiyoshi Murota atop the leaderboard. Bryant shot 67, Tinning 66, and Murota 65.
Murota, from Japan, had the best round of the day, chipping in for eagles on the par-5 fifth and ninth.
Bryant bogeyed the 18th hole to drop into the tie for the lead.
AIRBUS LPGA CLASSIC
MOBILE, Ala. — Catriona Matthew remained atop the Airbus LPGA Classic leaderboard, birdieing four of the last seven holes to take a one-stroke advantage over Charley Hull into the weekend.
The 44-year-old Matthew had a 5-under 67 to reach 13-under 131 on the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail’s Crossings Course. The 18-year-old Hull also shot 67.
Matthew had six birdies and a bogey — on the par-4 ninth — in her afternoon round. The Scot won the last of her four LPGA Tour titles in 2011.
Hull also dropped a stroke on No. 9, her final hole of the day. The English player birdied Nos. 6-8 and had five birdies in a seven-hole stretch before closing with her lone bogey of the week.
Anna Nordqvist, Jessica Korda and Hee Young Park were 10 under. Nordqvist, the winner in Thailand and Carlsbad, had a 66. Korda, the Bahamas champion, shot 67, and Park had a 66. Park, playing alongside Matthew, eagled the par-5 16th for the second straight day.
BMW PGA
CHAMPIONSHIP
VIRGINIA WATER, England — Ireland’s Shane Lowry birdied his final two holes for a 2-under 70 and a share of lead with Denmark’s Thomas Bjorn after the second round of the BMW PGA Championship.
Bjorn followed his opened 62 with a 72 in intermittent rain to match Lowery at 10-under 134 on Wentworth’s West Course. England’s Luke Donald, the winner of the European Tour’s flagship event in 2011 and 2012, was fourth strokes back along with Spain’s Rafa Cabrera-Bello. Donald shot 67, and Cabrera-Bello had a 67.
Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy was another stroke back along with Swedes Henrik Stenson and Jonas Blixt. They all shot 71.
NCAA DIVISION I WOMEN
TULSA, Okla. — Duke rallied to beat Southern California by two strokes for its sixth NCAA women’s golf title, and the Trojans’ Doris Chen took the individual championship.
Duke, two strokes down on the back nine after taking a six-shot lead over Southern California into the final round, had a 6-under 274 total at Tulsa Country Club to finish at 10-over 1,130.
Duke coach Dan Brooks also led the Blue Devils to titles in 1999, 2002, 2005, 2006 and 2007. The hail-shortened 1999 event also was played at Tulsa Country Club.
Chen closed with a 3-under 67 for a two-stroke victory over Duke’s Celine Boutier. Chen finished at 6-under 274. Boutier, tied with Chen for the third-round lead, shot 69.
Laetitia Beck and Alejandro Cangrejo matched Boutier at 68, and Sandy Choi shot 69. Those four combined for 11 birdies on the back nine. Yu Liu’s 72 didn’t count in Duke’s total.
Sophia Popov led top-ranked Southern California with a 65.
