Date: August 10, 2019
Author: Martin Blake

Kirk fires up at Scottish Open

Katherine Kirk has made a charge at the Women’s Scottish Open at North Berwick overnight, moving into the top 15.

Queenslander Kirk shot a second-round 69 to go with her opening 68 to move into the picture, but Su Oh, who started brilliantly, fell back.

On a weather-interrupted South Korea’s Mi Jung Hur reached 14-under to lead the tournament by two shots.

Kirk is tied-14th at five-under, and Oh tied-24th, while Hannah Green and Minjee Lee also look likely to make the cut once the second round is completed.

MEANWHILE Australia’s thin stocks in the US PGA Tour playoffs are threatening to be even slimmer after The Northern Trust tournament at Liberty National in New Jersey.

Marc Leishman and Jason Day both missed the cut, although they are guaranteed to be in the top 70 on the Fedex Cup points list to keep them in the BMW Championship next week. Adam Scott (27th through two rounds) also is projected to go through to the next round.

But Cameron Smith, who slid to 66th and Matt Jones (34th) are both projected to miss unless they can find something over the weekend, and Aaron Baddeley’s season is over because of a back injury.

Dustin Johnson leads The Northern Trust at 12-under from Jordan Spieth, while former world No. 1 Tiger Woods withdrew because of what he called a “mild oblique strain” in the abdomen area.