AUSTRALIAN PGA

AUSTRALIAN PGA

Leishman trails leaders by two strokes

GOLD COAST, Australia

Marc Leishman’s quest for a first professional victory at home made a good start with a 4-under 68 to sit two strokes behind the Australian PGA first-round leaders on Thursday.

Leishman, starting on the 10th, had two bogeys and two birdies on his first nine before making birdie on four of his final seven holes at Royal Pines.

Leaders Jake McLeod and fellow Australian Matt Jager shot 66s, and led by one stroke over Jae-woong Eom and Dimitrios Papadatos.

HERO WORLD CHALLENGE

Reed, Cantlay share first-round lead

NASSAU, Bahamas

Tiger Woods’ return to tournament competition didn’t start nearly as well as his last one ended.

Woods had a chip roll back into the hazard for a triple bogey Thursday, leading to a 1-over 73 that left him eight shots behind world-traveling Patrick Reed and late-entry Patrick Cantlay in the Hero World Challenge.

Reed didn’t show any sign of fatigue in his travels from Dubai to Hong Kong to the Bahamas in successive weeks. He birdied three of his last five holes for a 7-under 65. Cantlay, added to the field when Webb Simpson withdrew, birdied five of his last six holes for a 65.

MAURITIUS OPEN

Victor Perez stays hot on European Tour

BEAU CHAMP, Mauritius

Victor Perez continued his fabulous start to life on the European Tour by sharing the first-round lead with an 8-under 64 at the Mauritius Open on Thursday.

Perez and Chikkarangappa S. are the co-leaders on the second weekend of the tour’s 2019 season.

Perez finished in a tie for third at the season-opening Hong Kong Open last weekend after graduating from the Challenge Tour.

Associated Press