Singh on course to take top spot
Forget college football: The best battle for No. 1 might be taking place on a golf course in Newton, Mass.
Vijay Singh — the No. 2 golfer in the world — shot 63 on Saturday to move to 11 under and take the second-round lead in the Deutsche Bank Championship. With an eagle on the first hole sparking the best round of the tournament, he took the lead from top-ranked Tiger Woods with back-to-back-birdies on Nos. 12-13 and moved into position to take Woods’ No. 1 ranking, too.
“It’s not going to affect me one way or another if I overtake him,” said Singh, who has already won five times this year, including the PGA Championship. “Yeah, if I win this tournament, I’ll be No. 1. Fine. But what would that change for me? I’m going to go out there next week and do it all over again.”
Billy Haas and John Rollins were tied with Woods at 9 under, two strokes back, with Ryan Palmer and Shigeki Maruyama at 8 under on the par-71, 7,415-yard TPC of Boston course.
Woods has held the No. 1 ranking for a record 264 consecutive weeks. Singh would take it over if he finishes higher than Woods or, if Woods finishes lower than a tie for seventh, Singh would come out of the weekend No. 1 no matter what.
“The No. 1 ranking takes care of itself just by winning tournaments,” Woods said. “If you win consistently, you don’t have to worry about that.”
That’s something Woods hasn’t been able to do this year. His only win this year was at the match play championships. His last victory in stroke play was more than a year ago at the Western Open.
On the 15th, he chipped in from the left of the green to drop to 8 under. But he fell back a stroke on the par-3 16th when he hit a 6 iron from the tee about 15 feet off the green into the first cut; he used his putter to avoid a catastrophe, but needed three tries to get it into the hole.
Woods followed that with a pair of birdies, sinking a 58-foot putt on the 17th before finishing up with a 12-footer on the 18th.
Stadler leads after two rounds
Craig Stadler moved into position to win his second straight victory, shooting a 9-under 63 to take a one-stroke lead over Jay Haas after the second round of the inaugural First Tee Open in Pebble Beach, Calif.
Stadler, who won the Tradition last week in Oregon for his third Champions Tour victory of the season and sixth in 30 starts in two seasons on the 50-and-over circuit, had two eagles, six birdies and a bogey. He had a 9-under 135 total after opening with a 72 on Friday on the Bayonet course.
The 50-year-old Haas, added to the U.S. Ryder Cup team as a captain’s pick, shot a 66, also at Pebble Beach. Hale Irwin (66), Tom Kite (66), Gary McCord (68) and D.A. Weibring (71) were four strokes back at 5 under, and Ed Dougherty (69) and David Eger (73) were 4 under.
Kerr increases State Farm lead
Cristie Kerr shot her second straight 9-under 63 to take a four-stroke lead into the final round of the State Farm Classic.
Kerr, seeking her third victory of the year and fourth in eight full seasons on the LPGA Tour, had a 21-under 195 total on the Rail Golf Course in Springfield, Ill., — the best 54-hole score on the tour this season. She also moved into position to threaten the 72-hole mark of 27 under set by Annika Sorenstam in the 2001 Standard Register PING.
She made a long eagle putt on the par-5 fifth hole and also had eight birdies and a bogey Saturday, playing her first seven holes in 6 under.
Christina Kim, who took a four-stroke lead into the round, shot a 71 to finish four strokes back at 17 under. Jennifer Rosales (68) was 15 under, and Canadian Nancy Harvey had a career-best 64 to join Mi Hyun Kim (66), Hee-Won Han (68) and Suzann Pettersen (69) at 13 under.
Jimenez on top at Euro Masters
Miguel Angel Jimenez shot a 5-under 66 in Crans-Sur-Sierre, Switzerland, to regain the lead at the European Masters, with Ryder Cup teammates Luke Donald and Sergio Garcia a stroke behind after three rounds.
Jimenez, going for his fifth title of the year and coming off a victory last week in Germany, was at 15-under 198. Donald shot a 65, and Garcia, the leader after two rounds, had a 68. Jimenez opened with a 65 for the first-round lead.
The Spaniard birdied the 15th and 16th holes to draw even with Donald and went in front by a stroke when the Englishman bogeyed No. 18.
Four players are four strokes off the lead: Eduardo Romero (67), Ernie Els (66), Graeme McDowell (66) and Craig Spence (66).