LOS ANGELES — Australia’s Rod Pampling followed up his scintillating first-round 60 with a three-under par 68 Friday to maintain a one-shot lead in the US PGA Tour tournament in Las Vegas.
Second-round play at TPC Summerlin was suspended because of darkness with 19 players still on the course.
Pampling’s 14-under par total of 128 put him one stroke in front of American Brooks Koepka, who carded a 67 for 129.
Aaron Wise was 12-under for the tournament with four holes remaining when play was halted, and Chris Kirk was in the clubhouse on 11-under 131 after a 65.
Pampling appeared to feel some letdown after challenging for a 59 Thursday, opening with two bogeys in his first five holes.
He recovered by playing his last 13 holes in five-under with six birdies.
“Just two silly mistakes that I made,” Pampling said of his slow start. “I knew things were still good. I didn’t panic. I made a good one on I think it was our sixth hole for birdie and then made a great up-and-down on 16. That just kind of righted the ship, and then after that I was fine, and we played nice after that.”
Koepka, ranked 22nd in the world, grabbed a share of the lead after an eagle at the par-five 16th, but dropped a shot with a closing bogey.
Kirk, whose 36-hole total of 131 was his lowest since a 130 at the 2013 Sony Open in Hawaii, briefly held the clubhouse lead.
Feng shoots 64
Shanshan Feng shot an 8-under 64 Saturday to take the TOTO Japan Classic lead, putting the Chinese player in position to close the Asian swing with consecutive victories.
Feng birdied the final two holes for a one-stroke advantage over Ariya Jutanugarn, the 20-year-old Thai star who leads the LPGA Tour with five victories. Jutanugarn had a 68 on another chilly day at Taiheiyo Club in the tour’s first tournament in the Tokyo area since 1991.
Feng won last week in steamy conditions in Malaysia for her fifth LPGA Tour victory. She has finished no worse than a tie for fourth in her last six events. She started the run with the Olympic bronze medal, tied for fourth at Evian in France, opened the Asia trip at home in China with a fourth-place tie, was second in Taiwan and tied for third in South Korea before winning.
Jutanugarn has a 13-point lead over Lydia Ko in the player of the year standings. Ko was tied for 52nd at 1-over after a 71.
Suzann Pettersen (66) and Kang Soo-yun (69) were 9-under on the pine tree-lined Minori Course.
Willett slumps as Olesen rises
Masters champion Danny Willett slumped as Denmark’s Thorbjorn Olesen hit a new course record 62 to open up a six-shot lead on day two of the Turkish Airlines Open Friday.
Willett had hit an opening-round 69 but dropped back to a tie for 56th place after failing to record a single birdie in a three-over-par 74.
Olesen, 26, capped his round with an eagle along with eight birdies and just one bogey in a nine-under-par effort to move to a 15-under 127 total in ideal scoring conditions on the Regnun Carya resort course.
Two players — Spain’s Adrian Otaegui and Thailand’s Thongchai Jaidee — share a distant second on nine-under par.
Italy’s Matteo Manassero, 23, showed a return to form with a 68 to move into a share of third alongside Swede Joakim Lagergren, England’s David Horsey and China’s Li Haotong.
First-round leader George Coetzee of South Africa slumped to a share of 13th place at five under par after putting two balls into the water in taking a quadruple bogey at his 10th hole in an eventual round of a two-over-par 73. — Agencies
