Fred Couples up 2 after another 65

Fred Couples took the second-round lead Friday in the Charles Schwab Cup Championship, shooting his second straight 6-under 65 in the Champions Tour's season-ending event.

Winless this season with four runner-up finishes, Couples had a bogey-free round at TPC Harding Park.

"This is a big event," Couples said. "These are the best players on the tour and I want to win. I'm certainly not playing any better because I want to win. I want to win at Birmingham, Seattle, Chicago, Newport and everywhere else I finished second."
First-round leader Peter Senior bogeyed the 18th for a 69 to fall two strokes back.

"I didn't do much wrong," Senior said. "I didn't get away with anything but I think I'm in a good position. I had a heap of chances early in the round that I didn't convert."
Bart Bryant was third at 8 under after a 66. Bernhard Langer was another stroke back after a 68.
Charles Schwab Cup points leader Kenny Perry had a 71 to remain 3 under. Langer is the only player with a chance to overtake Perry. Even Langer wins the tournament, Perry would take the season title and $1 million annuity if he finishes fifth or better.

Fred Funk aced the par-3 eighth hole with a 4-iron, but bogeyed four of his next seven holes and finished with his second straight 70.Couples took the lead when he parred the eighth hole and Senior had a bogey. Couples birdied Nos. 9 and 10 and led by three strokes.
"I had another good round and hit the ball well," Couples said. "When I hit pretty good irons I made the birdies. When you're near the lead, playing fast is a bonus."
Couples, who last won at the Senior British Open in July 2012, continues to deal with neck and back pain and said he'll consult a doctor Monday to find the cause.
"There's something going on," Couples said. "It's just not comfortable. It's doable. Sometimes when I turn I snag it. It's more at night when I'm lying down. My back hurts and I don't sleep much. I wouldn't be playing if it hurt to swing."
Couples learned how to play golf at a public course in Seattle, which is why he feels comfortable at Harding Park.

"This is one of my all-time favorite courses," Couples said. "That helps me. As far as length, if I hit every fairway, I'll have an advantage all right, over my normal game."

Senior, who spent most of his career on the PGA Tour of Australasia, has yet to win on American soil.

"If you play well enough, you're going to do it," Senior said. "Inside me I know I'm good enough to win tournaments and I'll go out there with that on the weekend."

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Rory McIlroy loses ground to Dustin Johnson in HSBC Champions in China

Two-time major winner on seven under and five shots behind American Dustin Johnson after second-round back-nine collapse in Shanghai

Shanghai surprise: Dustin Johnson equalled te course record to move past Rory McIlroy (above) at the HSBC Champions in China Photo

Dustin Johnson was once witheringly described by US satirist Rick Reilly as "so dense, light bends around him". It is a reputation derived both from his somnolent South Carolina drawl and a penchant for spectacular miscalculations on the course - his wild flail out of bounds while contending at the 2011 Open being a prime case in point. Here at the season's final World Golf Championship in China, the 29-year-old was living up to his billing as an immovable object by building a five-shot lead over Rory McIlroy, thanks to yesterday's consummate second round of 63.

The 7,200 yards of Sheshan International represent a bomber's paradise and Johnson, a loping 6ft 5in athlete capable of dunking a basketball, plundered without mercy to erase McIlroy's overnight advantage and eclipse his rivals with no fewer than 10 birdies. "This course seems to fit my eye pretty well," he reflected. Would that we could have said the same of McIlroy, whose resurgence in Shanghai veered off track as he followed his opening 65 with an error-strewn 72, a detour to the lake at the 18th leaving the sourest taste.

While Johnson, five clear at 12 under par, ought to be installed as an early favourite to seize his maiden WGC title, nothing with this prodigiously talented yet maddeningly mercurial player ever quite proceeds to plan. He led into the final round of the 2010 US Open only to shoot 82, derailed his Open chances at Royal St George's by driving into the hay with five to play, and sabotaged his tilt at the 2011 USPGA by grounding his club in a bunker to incur a two-stroke penalty. The mental game is not exactly his forte.

Johnson is one of 22 Americans who have decamped across the Pacific to Shanghai, less for a love of all things Chinese than the fact that this is the first year the tournament counts towards the PGA Tour's £7.5 million FedEx Cup bonus. The extent of cultural appreciation was best expressed by Boo Weekley, who famously expressed his distaste for the 2007 Open at Carnoustie by saying: "Ain't no sweet tea, and ain't no fried chicken". Weekley appears not to have embraced the joys of travel in the six years since, to judge by his responses to local journalists after he moved alongside McIlroy and fellow Floridian Bubba Watson in joint second at seven under.

How did he like being in China, they asked. "It doesn't matter. We're here." Had he learned more about local life and people since a visit to the World Cup in Shenzhen? "Can't understand them." What authentic delights had he sampled during his week in Shanghai? "Hotel, golf course." When you come to a different part of the world, should you not try to see something? "I don't need to see nothin'."

With that eloquent contribution to Sino-American relations, Weekley beat his retreat. The only priority for a man who enjoys hunting hogs back home in the southern states was to chase down leader Johnson, who on previous evidence would struggle to keep the lead in his school play. McIlroy, likewise, was optimistic that he could bridge the gap quickly. "I'm in a decent position," he said, as he aims to win his first title of the year. "I still have a great chance of winning this."

So, too, does defending champion Ian Poulter, who surged into contention yesterday with a fine round of 67 to move to six under. There is a restlessness about the Englishman as he seeks to make sure that he doesn't end 2013 without a victory to his name. "You beat yourself up about it, that's for sure," he said. "But I'm playing well enough and making enough birdies to believe that I'm going to be close here."

Graeme McDowell was also ominously poised last night after a 69 to draw level with Poulter. The 2010 US Open champion has endured a fluctuating season, with two tour triumphs interspersed with dismal performances in the majors. "It has been a puzzling year, and one that I'll probably learn the most from," he said. His form has recovered of late, although he confessed yesterday that he found it "pretty demoralising" to be outdriven by 50 yards on every hole by playing partner Johnson. "He was putting it past me by the distance of a four-bedroom house," the Northern Irishman lamented. "With a nice garden."

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Scott wins Barclays, ailing Tiger finishes T2

Adam Scott shot a bogey-free 66 on Sunday to win the Barclays over Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Justin Rose and Bubba Watson.

JERSEY CITY, N.J. -- Masters champion Adam Scott won The Barclays on Sunday after everyone around him did their best to lose it.

Scott played bogey-free at Liberty National, making only two birdies on the back nine for a 5-under 66 that put him in the mix of a crowded leaderboard at the top. Turns out he was the only one who stayed there.


"I can't believe it, to be honest," Scott said after winning the FedEx Cup playoffs opener. "I just played a good round today and I came in and really didn't think it had a chance. But obviously, things went my way a lot out there."

Justin Rose had a 25-foot birdie putt for the lead, ran it 5 feet by the cup and three-putted for a bogey for a 68. Kevin Chappell had a two-shot lead through 10 holes, only to play the next seven holes in 7-over par to close with a 76.

Tiger Woods suffered a back spasm on the par-5 13th hole and hooked a fairway metal so far left that it landed in a swamp on the other side of the 15th fairway, leading to bogey. He dropped another shot on the 15th, and then gamely birdied the 16th and 17th holes to pull within one shot of Scott. Woods' putt from the back of the 18th green was one turn short of falling to force a playoff.


The last challenge came from Gary Woodland, who fell out of the lead when he hit driver on the 13th that ran into the water, leading to bogey. Woodland had birdie chances from inside 10 feet on the final three holes, and missed them all. He closed with a 73.

"I found a way to hang in there and grind it out and gave myself a chance on the back nine on Sunday, which is everything you can ask for," Woodland said.

Scott finished at 11-under 273 and moved to a career-best No. 2 in the world.

It was the second time Woods has missed a playoff by one shot at Liberty National.

Woods, Woodland and Rose shared second place with Graham DeLaet of Canada, whose 65 matched the low score of the final round. DeLaet will move up to No. 9 in the Presidents Cup standings, and with one week before qualifying ends, is in good shape to make the International team.

Woods had all four rounds in the 60s for the first time in a year on the PGA Tour, though it wasn't enough. He battled stiffness in his lower back all week, which he attributed to a soft bed in his hotel room -- the second straight year he has had back issues from a mattress at this event.

In a brief interview with CBS Sports, he said it was "hypothetical" when asked if he would compete in the Deutsche Bank Championship, the next playoff event that starts Friday on the TPC Boston. The tournament gives its charity money to Woods' foundation. Woods already missed the AT&T National this year, which also benefits his foundation.

"I just got off and I'm not feeling my best right now," he said.

Rose was feeling that great, either. He was in position to win the tournament with a birdie putt, and the U.S. Open champion did not want to leave it short. Instead, he knocked it by farther than he imagined, the ball stayed on the high side of the cup the whole way.

"I got too aggressive," Rose said. "I thought it was a putt to win the tournament. It's tough to take."

Scott won for the second time this year, and at least put himself into the conversation for PGA Tour player of the year if he were to go on to win the FedEx Cup. He is No. 2 in the standings behind Woods, though the $10 million prize does not come into view until the Tour Championship.

The first playoff event was packed with plenty of energy on a spectacular day across from the Statue of Liberty and the Manhattan skyline. Five players had at least a share of the lead at some point in the final round. Woods put up a great fight despite his back injury. Scott played the final 24 holes without a bogey.

Sunday also had some of the emotions found at Q-school for players whose season came to an abrupt end. And it was just as wild at the bottom.

Only the top 100 players in the FedEx Cup advance to the second playoff event next week outside Boston. Geoff Ogilvy could have joined them except for missing a 2½-foot par putt on the final hole that ultimately knocked him out of the top 100.

Camilo Villegas, at No. 110, thought he needed a 6-foot par putt on the last hole to advance. He missed it and was visibly angry. More than an hour later, Aaron Baddeley appeared to be a lock to advance to Boston despite being at No. 119. Baddeley, however, bogeyed his last three holes, missing a 5-foot par putt on the 18th. That knocked him out and put Villegas back in at No. 100.

Scott didn't miss anything. He made three straight birdies on the front nine, got into the mix with a 10-foot birdie on the 14th, and then chose to lay up with an iron on the 16th hole, which played about 290 yards. He holed a 15-foot birdie putt to tie for the lead, never realizing he would be there by himself when it was over.

He was on the practice range, looking at a video board of Woodland's last birdie attempt, when he saw the miss.

"It was a good charge, but obviously I got a lot of luck, the guys struggled coming in," Scott said. "I've been in their position, too. It's hard getting it done and I was playing from a position of nothing to lose today."

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