A black bear visits U.S. Senior Open
The Broadmoor's East Course was quite a bear Friday.
Difficult pin placements and faster, drier greens flustered the field and only five golfers managed to shoot below par, including Fred Funk, whose 1-under 69 gave him the lead at the halfway point of the U.S. Senior Open in Colorado Springs, Colo.
Funk's two-day score of 6-under 134 is 2 shots ahead of Eduardo Romero (69) and four ahead of Mark McNulty (70), Tom Kite (71) and John Cook (72).
Stealing the show, however, was a black bear that ambled out of the mountains in the morning and crossed the 13th fairway before checking out spectators outside the ropes.
Nobody was harmed, and neither was the bear.
"(Jack) Nicklaus isn't here, so I guess that's a substitute," cracked Funk.
Although tournament officials were prepared to tranquilize the animal and stop play were it to become aggressive or spooked, after several minutes the bear crawled through a drainage pipe on the ninth hole that leads to the West Course, then went through another drainage pipe and into the wilderness.
Bridgestone Invitational: Without the world's No. 1 player around, Vijay Singh and Phil Mickelson brought some star power to the final World Golf Championships event of the year.
Singh twice escaped from the trees on his closing holes at Firestone and renewed his affair with a belly putter on his way to a 4-under 66 at the Bridgestone Invitational in Akron, Ohio, putting his name atop the leaderboard for the first time in more than four months.
He was 1 shot ahead of Mickelson, who made another great escape at the end of the second round, this time holing a 20-foot par putt to finish off a 66 that put him in the final group with Singh.
Both have three majors - two Masters and a PGA for Mickelson, two PGAs and a Masters for Singh - along with some history. They got into a heated argument during a rain delay at Augusta National over the length of Mickelson's metal spikes. A year later when they played two rounds together in Phoenix, Singh asked that Mickelson's driver be tested to make sure it was legal.
Both have more pressing concerns this week, mainly getting their games back in order with the PGA Championship looming.
Women's British Open: Yuri Fudoh of Japan and Ji-Yai Shin of South Korea both shot 4-under 68s Friday to lead by 1 stroke and equal the halfway record at the Women's British Open in Sunningdale, England.
Fudoh and Shin were at 10-under 134 to tie the record set by Jeong Jang of South Korea, who won three years ago at Royal Birkdale.
American Juli Inkster (70) was 1 shot back, while South Korean Bo Bae Song (68) and American Cristie Kerr (65) were 2 strokes behind the leaders.
Defending champion Lorena Ochoa (68) was 3 shots off the lead, along with Natalie Gulbis (68) and Ai Miyazato (69). Annika Sorenstam's 72 was just enough to make the cut.
Reno-Tahoe Open: Michelle Wie failed in her eighth attempt to make the cut on the PGA Tour, shooting a second-round 80 at the Legends Reno-Tahoe Open. Parker McLachlin tied the course record with a 62 to take the lead at 14 under par.