South Korea's Kang Sung-hoon fell one stroke shy of becoming only the seventh player to shoot a 59 on the PGA Tour as he surged into a tie for the lead after the second round of the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am Friday. Needing a birdie on his final hole at Monterey Peninsula Country Club to dip under 60, Kang hit his "worst shot of the day" off the tee and had to settle for a par three there and a career-best score of 11-under 60. That left the 28-year-old from Jeju City with an 11-under total of 132 after 36 holes, level with Japan's Hiroshi Iwata, who fired a six-under 66 at the Pebble Beach host course, one of three venues being used for this event. Four-time champion Phil Mickelson was a further stroke back in a three-way tie for third, having also raised hopes of a magical 59 after making an electric start before he lost momentum on his back nine to card a 65 at Monterey Peninsula. While Mickelson ran out of steam over his last seven holes, Kang seemed unstoppable as he needed just 24 putts in his round. After storming to the turn in six-under 31, the Korean picked up further shots at the second, third, sixth, seventh and eight but then missed the green off the tee at the par-three ninth and had to scramble to save par. World No. 1 Jordan Spieth, back on the PGA Tour after playing tournaments in Abu Dhabi and Singapore, again struggled with the pace of the greens as he carded a 69 at Monterey Peninsula for a three-under total. Ko ahead by 1 stroke Lydia Ko took a one-stroke lead into the final round of the New Zealand Women's Open after shooting a 5-under 67 Saturday. The South Korean-born New Zealander, who is defending her national title, started the day in a tie for fifth after an opening 69. On Saturday, she had six birdies and a bogey which moved her one shot ahead of Justine Dreher of France, who shot 70. The 18-year-old Ko had a 36-hole total of 8-under 136 at Clearwater Golf Club in the 54-hole tournament co-sanctioned by the Ladies European Tour and Australian Ladies PGA. Dreher is one shot ahead of Pamela Pretswell (70) of Scotland, while Denmark's Emily Kristine Pedersen (66) and Nanna Koerstz Madsen (68) are two strokes behind and tied for third. Ko, who holds the course record at Clearwater with a 61, played the front nine Saturday in 4-under 32, then had two birdies and a bogey on her back nine. Ahead by one stroke, she dropped a shot on the par-4 13th at the same time Dreher birdied the par-5 second to move to eight under and a tie for the lead. But Ko reclaimed the lead when she hit her tee shot to seven feet on the par-3 16th and made a birdie putt. Langer shoots 62 Bernhard Langer had a hard time choosing what kind of putter to use. Once the 58-year-old German star made that decision, he made the rest look easy Friday, shooting a 10-under 62 to take a four-stroke lead in the PGA Tour Champions' Chubb Classic. Langer used an anchored stroke with a long putter for 17 years, but new golf rules forced him to adjust after Jan. 1. Jay Haas was second. He had six birdies. Jeff Maggert was third at 67, and Fred Couples was at 68 along with Kenny Perry Kevin Sutherland, Steve Lowery, Scott Hoch and Michael Allen. — Agencies
