|
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- Phil Mickelson made it to the weekend in the Phoenix Open, a week after withdrawing at Torrey Pines because of back pain. The defending champion shot a 4-under 67 in his afternoon round Friday at cool and breezy TPC Scottsdale, leaving him eight strokes behind leaders Bubba Watson and Matt Jones. Watson and Jones were 12 under. Watson followed his opening 64 with a 66, and Jones had his second straight 65 -- both in calmer conditions in the morning. The 43-year-old Mickelson felt soreness in his back two weeks ago in Abu Dhabi, and pulled out of his hometown event at Torrey Pines after making the 36-hole cut. He flew to Georgia to see back specialist Tom Boers and was told his facet joints locked up. David Hearn of Brantford, Ont., is eight shots back, with a 1-under 70 leaving him at 4-under 138. Graham DeLaet of Weyburn, Sask., is another stroke back after turning in a 72. The rest of the Canadian contingent missed the cut, which was 1-under 141. Mike Weir of Brights Grove, Ont., finished at 145. Amateur Ki Taek Lee of Vancouver wound up at 147, while Calgarys Stephen Ames was another shot back. . Top-seeded Djokovic swept to a 6-1, 6-3 win over 51st-ranked Roberto Bautista Agut of Spain in just 57 minutes, but fourth-seeded Federer had to see off a serious challenge from 48th-ranked Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic before coming through 6-2, 6-7 (4), 6-3. .A. Happ capped a challenging season with one of his best efforts of the year. . Iwakuma pitched seven strong innings to stay unbeaten in road games since last July, leading the Seattle Mariners to a 5-2 win over the Cleveland Indians on Tuesday night. . "I just think what it does for everybody in life is real simple," said Babcock early on Friday afternoon. "You dont give in. You just keep on keeping on. Is it going to go your way every time? No. But you choose your attitude and how you perform and how hard you dig in." Nearly four years to the day of the 2010 gold medal match in Vancouver, his team dug in with its best effort of these Olympics, snuffing out the high-powered Americans for another opportunity at gold. . -- After a year spent travelling the world, Brooks Koepka suddenly is in a position to play a lot more golf at home.The mens 15-kilometre mass-start biathlon race at the Olympics has been postponed for another day because of fog and is now set for Tuesday. The race was rescheduled for Tuesday at 2:30 p.m. local time (9:30 a.m. ET) barring any more weather-related issues. Organizers say a decision on the womens 12.5K mass start, which is scheduled to start at 7 p.m. (10 a.m. ET), is expected at 44 p.ddddddddddddm. The mens race initially was delayed by one hour and then postponed Sunday because fog made for poor visibility on the shooting range. It was reset for Monday at 10 a.m. (1 a.m. ET). However, with fog still hanging over the course, organizers delayed the start for at least another 5 1/2 hours before calling it off as conditions failed to improve. ' ' '
|
