PGA Tour
The Deutsche Bank Championship began Friday with two players on opposite ends of the Official World Golf Ranking -- Luke Donald at No. 1, Troy Matteson at No. 207 -- having their lowest opening round of the year on the PGA TOUR that was important to both of them for different reasons.
Matteson, facing elimination from the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup, overcame a bogey on the first hole for a 6-under 65 and the outright lead after the first round. Donald, struggling of late to get off to a good start, had a 66 and was among those one shot behind.
Through it all, Mickelson brought attention to himself for two items that looked out of place.The day after he took batting practice at Fenway Park and wore a Red Sox jersey while throwing out the first pitch before the Yankees' 4-2 win, Mickelson wore pinstripes at the TPC Boston.
"Lost a wager with a friend and had to wear these today," Mickelson said. "What can you say? I've got to suck it up and bear it."
Stranger still was the sight of Mickelson sticking the grip of a long putter into his gut.
Mickelson became the latest to try a belly putter, and while he still missed his share of putts in a round of 70, he sounded as though he was willing to stick with it -- at least for the rest of the week.
Matteson is one shot clear of Donald, Masters champion Charl Schwartzel 66, former PGA champion Y.E. Yang 66 and Jerry Kelly 66. The group at 67 included Nick Watney, a two-time winner this year, while Dustin Johnson followed his playoff win at The Barclays with a 68. There are 13 guys on 68, including Keegan Bradley and Rickie Fowler.
For the complete leaderboard click http://www.pgatour.com/leaderboards/current/r505/
For Saturday tee times click http://www.pgatour.com/tournaments/r505/tee-times.html
The earlies start off at 7.10am and the lates at 11.40 and remember this is round 2 today with the event finishing on holiday Monday.
European TourAn astonishing 31 players were separated by only two strokes as the overnight leaders prepared to tee off again at the Omega European Masters in Switzerland.
There was a four-way tie for the lead at the halfway stage, but that became a seven-way tie early this morning when Dane Thomas Björn, winner at Gleneagles last Sunday, birdied the first two holes, Swede Fredrik Andersson Hed covered the first 12 holes in six under and home favourite Damian Ulrich eagled the first.
They joined Rory McIlroy, Simon Dyson, Gary Boyd and Jamie Donaldson on eight under par, while there were 12 players one behind and 11 more on six under.
The changes at the top continue minute by minute.
Former World Number One Martin Kaymer was first to nine under with an eagle on the first, but was then joined when McIlroy and Willett birdied the same hole and Paraguay's Fabrizio Zanotti started with two in a row.
When play started at 1am est there were only 6 shots separating the entire field as the cut fell at -2.
For an up to the minute scoreboard click http://www.europeantour.com/europeantour/season=2011/tournamentid=2011063/leaderboard/index.html?showLeaderboard=Y
Bryan Angus also on twitter@mummmbles
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