Golf: Jason Day seizes control at Quail Hollow

Jason Day sputtered at the start and hit his stride on the back nine for a four-under 67 to build a two-shot lead going into the final round of the Wells Fargo Championship and a chance for his second victory this year.

Peter Uihlein, Phil Mickelson and Rory McIlroy all showed early Saturday that it was a softer, gentler Quail Hollow under an overcast sky. Uihlein had a 62, one off the course record. Mickelson had a 64, his lowest score this season.

Day did his part with five birdies on his last 10 holes and a daring shot on the 18th when he stood barefoot in the creek to play a shot onto the green. He was at 10-under 203. Nick Watney had a 66 and was two behind.

Park and Shin share Texas Classic lead

Sung Hyun Park and Jenny Shin finished the rain-delayed first round of the abbreviated LPGA Texas Classic on Saturday with six-under 65s to share a one-stroke lead.

After Thursday’s play was canceled and Friday’s began after an 8 {-hour rain delay, the tournament was reduced from 72 holes to 36. There will be no cut, but only the top 70 and ties in the 144-woman field will win prize money.

The second round began Saturday afternoon before the first round ended. Park and Shin were scheduled to start their final rounds Sunday afternoon.

Park, last year’s U.S. Women’s Open champion and the top-ranked player in the field at No. 5, had seven birdies and one bogey at the 6,475-yard Old American Golf Club, which is hosting the event for the first time. She was 6 under when play was halted on Friday and parred her remaining four holes on Saturday.

Shin, also from South Korea, was four-under through 14 on Friday. On Saturday, she birdied the par-three seventh and the par-four ninth. Shin’s only career LPGA Tour win was two years ago at this tournament’s previous home, Las Colinas Country Club in Irving.

Denmark’s Nicole Broch Larsen and Thailand’s Moriya Jutanugarn were among those playing their second rounds Saturday and making a run at the lead. Jutanugarn, who won at Los Angeles two weeks ago, shot a first-round 66, sandwiching eight birdies between an opening double bogey and a closing bogey.

After heavy rains and gusty wind Thursday and Friday, Saturday featured bright sunshine and high temperatures in the low 80s. This will be the LPGA Tour’s first 36-hole event since the Bahamas-LPGA Classic in May 2013, which was cut short because of flooding.

Langer hangs onto one-shot lead at Insperity Invitational

Bernhard Langer plodded his way to an even-par 72 on Saturday, good enough to maintain the lead at the Insperity Invitational as the leaderboard bunched up behind him.

Langer was at nine-under 135 and had a one-shot lead over three players after he followed up his course-record-tying opening-round 63 by making just two birdies and two bogeys at The Woodlands Country Club. The second bogey was especially painful, following his birdie on the par-five 15th with a missed two-footer on the par-three 16th.

The 60-year-old German, a three-time winner of the Houston-area event, is seeking his first victory of 2018 after seven wins last year.

Tom Pernice Jr. (68), Miguel Angel Jimenez (69), Mark Calcavecchia (69) and Scott Dunlap (70) were one stroke behind. Bart Bryant (67) and local favorite Jeff Maggert (71) trailed by two. Kenny Perry birdied four of the final five holes for a 65, the low round of the day, and was one of eight players sitting three shots back.