Cink leads at Travelers
Stewart Cink moved to the top of the Travelers Championship leaderboard Friday, making two long eagle putts in a 6-under-par 64 that left him a stroke ahead of defending champion Hunter Mahan and two others at Cromwell, Conn.
Cink, the 1997 winner at TPC River Highlands, is seeking his first victory of the season after six top-10 finishes.
“I hope it’s just a matter of time,” Cink said. “I hope it’s a matter of about two days.”
It didn’t look good early for Cink, who began the day at 4 under and promptly bogeyed the first two holes. He got one back with a birdie at the third before knocking in a 26-foot putt for eagle on the par-5 sixth. He bettered that shot by curling in a 49-foot right-to-left eagle putt on the 13th.
“I just kept staying down and staying focused on doing what I can do and that’s just stroking the putter through the ball, almost not looking up to watch it,” said Cink, who opened with a 66 on Thursday en route to a 10-under 130 total.
Mahan shot a 63, the best round of the day, to join Ken Duke and Lucas Glover at 9 under. Duke and Glover shot 66. Mahan has been under par in 10 of his last 11 rounds at the TPC River Highlands.
Mahan would be only the second back-to-back winner in the 55-year history of the tournament. Phil Mickelson won in 2001 and 2002.
Ninety-eight players finished the first two rounds under par, and 72 made the cut at 3 under, the lowest cut on tour this season.
LPGA
Morgan Pressel, intensifying her practice routines as she moves beyond her teens, shot a 7-under 65 to take a one-stroke lead over Suzann Pettersen midway through the Wegmans LPGA at Rochester, N.Y.
“You always have to be working … harder, because otherwise you are going to be passed pretty quickly out here,” Pressel, the youngest major winner in LPGA Tour history, said after a second bogey-free round broke open a leaderboard logjam and got her to 10-under 134.
Defending champion Lorena Ochoa shot 70 to drop into a tie for 17th at 2 under. Annika Sorenstam (72), who is stepping away from the tour at the end of the season, finished her second round at 1 over and narrowly avoided being cut out of weekend play for the first time in 40 events dating to May 2006.
Tracy Hanson of Rathdrum shot a 72 and was tied for 54th with a total of 145.
Champions Tour
Tom Kite matched the course record with a 9-under 63 to take the first-round lead in the Bank of America Championship at Concord, Mass.
Kite birdied the first three holes at Nashawtuc Country Club and played the front nine in 6-under 30.
Two strokes ahead of Mark McNulty and David Eger, Kite matched Allen Doyle’s tournament record set in 2003.
“It’s nice to have something to get excited about,” said Kite.
U.S. Women’s Publinx
UCLA star Tiffany Joh moved within a match of her second U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links Championship in three years, winning twice to advance to the 36-hole final against Southern California recruit Jennifer Song in Erin, Wis.