Jimmy Walker finally seems to be making some headway in what has been a trying season.
The 38-year-old Walker, who has been battling lyme disease and mononucleosis, shot 5-under-par 65 to take a two-stroke lead over Thomas Pieters of Belgium midway through the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational on the South Course at Firestone Country Club in Akron, Ohio.
“It was a great day of golf and I really played solid,” said the 38-year-old Walker, whose six PGA Tour victories have come in the last three seasons, before he missed several tournaments earlier this year because of illness. “I felt like I was playing better recently, but things really came together today. I hope it’s shades of things to come.
“(The illness) is still there and I deal with it every day in different ways. It’s better than it was in the beginning, but I still have to keep plugging away.”
Walker, who will defend his title in the PGA Championship next week at Erin Hills, made four birdies on he front nine and a single bogey at No. 7 en route to a 36-hole total of 7-under 133.
Pieters, who held the first-round lead at 65, had two birdies and two bogeys in a 70, while
third-ranked Hideki Matsuyama of Japan totaled 67 and is three shots back in a tie for third with fourth-ranked Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland, who had a 69, and Zach Johnson, who finished at 67.
Second-ranked Jordan Spieth posted a 70 and is another stroke behind in a tie for sixth with seventh-ranked Jason Day of Australia, who managed a 66 despite back spasms, ninth-ranked Alex Noren of Sweden, who finished at 67, Charley Hoffman of Poway, who wound up at 69, Alex Hadwin of Canada, who also had a 69, and Russell Knox of Scotland, who came in at 71.
Brooks Koepka, the U.S. Open champion who is ranked 10th, is tied for 25th after a 69, eighth-ranked Henrik Stenson of Sweden shot 70 and is tied for 35th, while fifth-ranked Sergio Garcia, the Masters champion, wound up at 71 and is in a tie for 40th that includes top-ranked Dustin Johnson, the defending champion, who had a 75.
