Danny Lee was set to defend his title at The Greenbrier this week back in West Virginia.
Catastrophic flooding changed that.
Lee is at the Scottish Open, playing well enough to capture the 36-hole lead at Castle Stuart Golf Links but his thoughts are back in West Virginia.
“I feel bad that I am not defending my title but I feel most for the people who lost their homes,” Lee said of the historic floods that left many people homeless. “I’m thinking about them trying to do something to help,” said Lee, who is donating money for the birdies he makes during the Scottish Open. So far he’s up to nearly $6,000. “It isn’t much, but I want to help them,” he said after a round of 66 on Friday that got him to seven-under par at the halfway mark.
He was a shot in front of Branden Grace and Matteo Manassero, both of whom shot 67s to get to six-under par.
Lee’s opening 71 came in winds that reached as high as 40 miles per hour Thursday afternoon and had European Tour officials apologizing to the field for the course setup, that was too difficult for most considering the extreme wind.
Lee and the morning wave players were able to shoot some good scores.
Phil Mickelson, who opened with a 76 in the high winds, rallied with 69 Friday morning. He got back to one-over par and made the 36-hole cut.
Henrik Stenson did the same. He followed his 76 with 69 to stick around for the final 36.
Patrick Reed’s opening 75 left him on the wrong side of the cutline but he rallied with a 70 to make it to the weekend as well.
Thonchai Jaidee, last week’s winner of the 100th French Open, wasn’t as fortunate. His rounds of 77-71 sent him off to Royal Troon for some weekend practice before next week’s Open Championship.
2 Comments
beege
i still want to puke when i see Phil is still playing in events–i know he would still be able to play in a european tournament but pga tour events after his blatant violation of the handbook twice makes me understand why golf is treading water.
if an nba star did something wrong–stephen a smith would come down like a monster on him—not true about the pga tour media–milktoast as they are—amazing to me as a journalist all of my life to allow finchem to get away with no comment is horrendous!!
Tom Edrington
Sorry Bob, but Phil is Teflon…..