Grace opens with 63 to lead in Shanghai

On a day of low scoring, South African Branden Grace and American Patrick Reed were alongside Willett on seven under with four holes to play, with England’s Paul Casey and Denmark’s Thorbjorn Olesen on six under. The previous evening he had walked off the tee after dusk without hitting a shot after officials had deemed it too dark to play after two weather delays at Sheshan global Golf Club.

Grace went 5-0 in the Presidents Cup last month in South Korea and almost led the worldwide team to a rare victory.

World number two Spieth climbed to four under after a birdie at the last, but three straight bogeys starting at the 11th were costly on Friday. “But hopefully I’ll have a couple of good meals over the next couple of days and rehydrate and I’ll be feeling a lot better”, McIlroy said. “I hope that tomorrow I can do well and finish at the position of where I want to”.

“I want my attitude to stay the same as today, so even though I feel now involved I need to nearly approach the round like I’m just playing the golf course”. “Barely had a breath of wind out there and the golf course is playing probably as easy as it could be playing”. His wife spent all day filling out his forms, and they had to visit the Chinese consulate in Kuala Lumpur on Monday before getting it back. Yesterday’s conditions were tough and I lost a few shots because of it.

Kisner’s impressive round included six birdies, with four coming on the front nine before two on his final three holes.

Knox, who was initially seventh reserve for the event and only found out he would be making his WGC debut last Friday, believes he made the right decision not to play the 18th.

“I’m not as frustrated as I was in 2013, because I know my game is at the level it needs to be to win majors”, he said.

A PGA Tour record three-time playoff loser in 2015, Kisner made two birdies in the final four holes to maintain his small edge at 16-under 200.

“If anyone wants to see just how far golf in China has come over the last decade, then look at the leaderboard”, said Giles Morgan, global head of sponsorship and events at HSBC. “I don’t think he’s playing next week and if you can be within touching distance going into Dubai, Dubai could be pretty interesting”.

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) – Roberto Castro shot a 5-under 67 to take a four-stroke lead in the waterlogged Sanderson Farms Championship. “But I am pleased with the way that we did rebound, because it looked like I could have just bogeyed in”. “That’s why I thought that my target would be making the top 10”.

“I gave myself a lot of chances, but again, I didn’t really make anything on the greens”, said McIlroy. “I felt like I was very lazy in my routine and it bit me with three unforced errors in a row on the back nine there”. From the start I started hitting the ball nicely and missed a couple of short putts which were costly. “That 68 felt like a 73 or 74”.