Aussie Adam Scott made birdie on the first four holes en route to posting a three-under 67 in the second round of the Byron Nelson Championship on Friday.
“It was a fast start, but after that [it] was a bit of a battle, a fair bit of scrambling going on,” Scott said after posting a five-under 135 total, one shot better than fellow Australians Mark Hensby (67) and Mathew Goggin (69) and Californian Scott McCarron (66).
“The conditions were tricky. It was hard to hit fairways and hard to hit greens. It would have been nice to get a couple more [birdies] after my start this morning, but I’m pretty happy. I’m still in good shape,” Scott said.
PHOTO: AP
World No. 10 Scott, the highest-ranked player in the field, won the European Tour’s Qatar Masters with a brilliant closing 61, but has not otherwise made many headlines.
He was a never a factor at the Masters, playing the first two holes in a cumulative four-over, but battled on to finish tied for 25th, certainly no disgrace but not quite what he had in mind.
“I’ve played pretty good all year,” he said. “I haven’t scored my best, but it’s been a matter of putting four days together. That’s why I came back. I felt I was still playing good and shouldn’t waste that [time] at home.”
PHOTO: AP
Scott’s 67 was one of the better scores in winds that whipped to more than 48kph, with Frank Lickliter’s 65 the day’s best round.
The fact that Hensby is in contention is surprising, considering his terrible start to the year. He made just two cuts in nine starts.
“It’s been getting a little better, but not much is happening,” said Hensby, who recently started working with swing coach Mike Bender, whose most prominent client is last year’s Masters champion, Zach Johnson.
McCarron has also endured lean times, not playing at all last year as he recovered from elbow surgery.
“It was about a year and one month until I was able to swing and hit balls without too much pain,” he said.
Only eight strokes separated the 76 players who made the cut on Friday.
Among those bowing out were Trevor Immelman and John Daly. Immelman was clearly tired after his Masters triumph.
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South Korea’s Kim Young rolled in six birdies to take a one-shot lead over Swede Annika Sorenstam after the second round of the US$2 million LPGA Stanford International on Friday.
Kim came out with plenty of spark on the back nine, with four birdies to reach seven-under 134 for the tournament.
She overcame bogeys on 10 and 14 and finished her round at four-under 67.
Sorenstam also shot 67 on Friday after posting birdies on her first three holes as well as 10 and 11, before bogeying the 12th. The Swedish star is at six-under 135 for the tournament.
“When you birdie the first hole, it kind of gets you going.” Sorenstam said. “And then the second and the third, I was bouncing down the fairway. I felt great. I was hitting some good shots and I was putting well. It’s not easy out there and to get off to a good start like that is important because you never know what’s out there. You know, gives you a little more confidence for the day.”
Paula Creamer, who shared the first-round lead with Kim and Japan’s Momoka Ueda, struggled right out of the gate on Friday.
Ueda is tied at one-under with South Koreans Kyeong Bae and Meena Lee for fifth place in the tournament, which is missing the tour’s hottest player.
Lorena Ochoa, the winner of the last four events, is taking a well-deserved break after her triumph at last week’s Ginn Open.
Sorenstam, Creamer and Louise Friberg are the only players other than Ochoa who have won on tour thus far this season.
Rookie Taiwanese player Yani Tseng, who finished second behind Ochoa at last week’s event, was six-over on Friday and is tied for 37th place at four-over overall.
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