Aphibarnrat leads at European Tour event
VIRGINIA WATER, England – Kiradech Aphibarnrat of Thailand took the outright lead at the BMW PGA Championship as a slew of Ryder Cup hopefuls moved into contention after the second round of the flagship event on the European Tour on Friday.
Aphibarnrat, who started the day in a tie for the lead, shot 4-under 68 to be 12 under overall. That’s one stroke clear of Laurie Canter (66) and Francesco Laporta (65), and two ahead of Adam Scott (69).
Behind them, the Ryder Cup qualification picture is no closer to being cleared up.
Justin Rose needs a win this week at the tour’s headquarters at Wentworth to qualify automatically for the Ryder Cup and the Englishman shot 68 to follow up an opening 67, leaving him tied for fifth place and three shots off the lead along with Billy Horschel (65) and Jamie Donaldson (66).
Shane Lowry shot 66 and was in a six-man group a further stroke back, with the Irishman knowing a big week could move him into a qualifying position in the world points list – one of the two routes to an automatic place in Padraig Harrington’s European team. Lowry, the 2019 Open champion, has never played at the Ryder Cup.
Neither has Bernd Wiesberger, but the Austrian birdied five of his last eight holes for a 67 to move into a tie for 19th place on 6 under overall and, as it stands, above Rory McIlroy into an automatic place on the European points list. If Wiesberger stays there, McIlroy would get in via his world points.
It is one of the biggest weeks of Wiesberger’s career and he asked for the Ryder Cup not to be brought up before conducting his post-round interview on British broadcaster Sky Sports.
PGA Tour Champions
ST. LOUIS – Paul Goydos, Doug Barron and Marco Dawson each shot 5-under 66 to share the first-round lead in the PGA Tour Champions’ inaugural Ascension Charity Classic.
Jim Furyk, Vijay Singh, Wes Short Jr., Steve Flesch and Cliff Kresge were a stroke back on Norwood Hills’ West Course, the tree-lined layout where Ben Hogan won the 1948 PGA Championship for his second major title.
Goydos had six birdies and bogey in his morning round.
“I had a good day,” Goydos said. “I think also playing in the morning was a little softer and a little more inviting didn’t hurt either. But I hit a lot of fairways, I hit a lot of greens and I made a lot of putts and that’s usually a good formula. It’s amazing how that works.”