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SPORTSSaturday 30 January 2016
Spieth falls 5 shots behind at stormy Singapore Open
SINGAPORE (AP) — Jordan talized on his early start to
Spieth slipped five shots off beat the arrival of the foul
the lead at the Singapore weather and post an 8-un-
Open on Friday when an der 63 to go to the club-
electrical storm forced house leading at 9 under.
second-round play to be Spieth, teeing off after
abandoned. lunchtime, completed just
Spieth was lurking just one seven holes of his second
shot off the pace after his round but failed to make
opening round at Sentosa up any ground on the new
Country Club, but suddenly front-runner, remaining at 4
found himself five strokes under after struggling with
behind and tied for sixth his putter, just as he did in
place after Song Young- Abu Dhabi last week.
han of South Korea capi- He briefly got to 5 under
Liang Wen-chong of China hits the ball out of the bunker on the 16th hole during the SMBC
Singapore Open golf tournament in Singapore.
(AP Photo/Wong Maye-E)
when he drained a long of the green and, when I in the co-sanctioned Asian
putt to birdie the par-3 sec- went to play my putt, that’s and Japan Tour event,
ond hole, but gave the shot when the rain came in hard Song made the most of the
back with his first bogey of almost horizontally. My putt perfect early conditions to
the tournament, on the fifth came up seven feet short.” charge to the top of the
hole. His flat stick also let Spieth arrived in Southeast leaderboard with seven
him down on the two par- Asia already complaining birdies and an eagle.
5s on the front nine, which of exhaustion after playing Shintaro Kobayashi of Ja-
he comfortably birdied in his last five events in five dif- pan, one of three first-
the first round but could ferent countries. His hopes round co-leaders, added
only par on Friday. of a making a quick get- a 2-under 69 to his open-
“Didn’t get off to a great away back home to the ing 66 to reach the halfway
start but made a good United States, were at risk stage at 7 under, alongside
birdie on No. 2,” Spieth of being ruined by Singa- former U.S. Amateur cham-
said. “Had a couple of bad pore’s fickle weather, with pion An Byeong-hun, who
putts. Missed a short one on tournament officials rac- had 11 holes still to play.
No. 4. On 7 I got a bit un- ing against time to finish on South Africa’s Keith Horne
lucky. I had a perfect dis- Sunday. The second round and Japan’s Hideto Tani-
tance to the hole, the par- was still to be completed hara were both still on the
5, and just when I hit my by 75 players. course and a shot ahead
second the wind changed. While Spieth struggled to of Spieth when the thun-
My ball came up just short get any momentum going derstorm came.q
Lawrie taking 2-shot lead into Qatar final round
DOHA, Qatar (AP) — Paul but to go around there “The wind was blowing
Lawrie earned a two-shot and not have a bogey ...,” and the greens were tricky.
lead at a windy Doha Golf Lawrie said. “It is a little bit I pretty much got the most
Club on Friday to close in frustrating for me. I hit a lot out of my round today. So
on an unprecedented third of good putts that didn’t 4 under was a great score.”
Qatar Masters title. go in.” Olesen, winner of the Al-
The overnight leader start- The 47-year-old Lawrie fred Dunhill Links Champi-
ed the third round with 13 hasn’t won on the Euro- onship last year, showed
straight pars before making pean Tour since 2012, the good touch in a 69 that
his first birdie on the 14th same year he won in Doha featured one bogey on the
hole, then picked up an- for the second time. fifth hole.
other shot on the par-5 18th At 11 under overall with “To be honest, I played
to finish at 2-under-par 70. South Africa’s Branden great down the last nine
He was on top of the lea- Grace (68) was Denmark’s holes. Gave myself so many
derboard at 13 under, two Thorbjorn Olesen (69). chances,” Olesen said.
ahead of Branden Grace, Grace finished his bogey- Sergio Garcia made a 50-
who had his chance to free round with three suc- foot putt for an eagle on
make history: The first play- cessive birdies. the 18th hole to console
er to successfully defend “Patience was the name of himself after a poor round
the title. the game. It was a brutal of 2-over 74. He was seven
“Conditions were tough, day out there,” Grace said. shots off the pace.q
