Matt Kuchar rallies; Martin Flores leads RBC Canadian Open

Matt Kuchar rallied to make the cut in the RBC Canadian Open on Friday, a day after fighting dizzy spells.

Coming off a second-place finish Sunday in the British Open, Kuchar shot a 4-under 68 to reach 5 under — leaving him seven strokes behind second-round leader Martin Flores at Glen Abbey.

On Thursday, Kuchar had a couple of dizzy spell and sought medical attention during the round.

"I'm still tired," the RBC endorser said. "The last two weeks I've played some good golf. Certainly last week, being in contention, is draining and another busy week this week."

After making a double bogey on the No. 10 to drop to 1 over for the tournament, Kuchar made a 20-foot eagle putt on the par-5 13th and closed with three straight birdies.

"I really needed some good golf coming in to make the cut," Kuchar said. "I was really pleased to come through."

Flores shot his second straight 6-under 66 on the rain-softened course.

"The course is perfect," said Flores, winless on the PGA Tour. "But it is a little soft right now, especially coming into the greens as compared to previous years. So the birdies are going to be out there for sure. Unless the wind picks up, but I think it's very gettable."

He eagled the par-5 second for the second day in a row.

"I hit a great drive," Flores said. "I had about 185 yards. Hit a nice 7-iron to 15, 20 feet and made the putt. That was a bonus."

Gary Woodland (63), Matt Every (68) and Brandon Hagy (68) were a stroke back at 11 under. Woodland was a stroke off the course record of 62 set by Leonard Thompson in 1981

"I just had everything clicking today," Woodland said. "I've been playing well for a long time and just haven't put all the aspects together. Today I drove it well. Obviously, the ball-striking was good and I saw some putts go in, and that adds up to a pretty good number."

Vijay Singh, at 54 the oldest player in the field, had a 68 to join Kevin Chappell (69), Ryan Ruffels (67), Charley Hoffman (66) and Harold Varner III (65) at 10 under.

"If I turn up at a golf tournament and know that I can't win, I might as well go home," Singh said. "I just have to work hard and bring it to the golf course. Otherwise, might as well not show up. So that's what I'm doing."

Singh won the 2004 tournament at Glen Abbey, beating Canadian Mike Weir in a playoff.

"I've come here a lot of times," Singh said. "I've played this golf course many a times. Pretty familiar with what the golf course gives you."

Defending champion Jhonattan Vegas was 9 under after a 69.

Top-ranked Dustin Johnson shot 69 to reach 8 under. Graham DeLaet (68) and Mackenzie Hughes (69) were the only two of the 17 Canadians to make the cut, also completing 36 holes at 8 under.

"I wish there were 17 Canadians 8 under or better," Hughes said. "It would have been really fun to get a bunch of guys in the mix, but yeah, it's nice to have Graham in there and not to be the Lone Ranger going out there on the weekend."

Bubba Watson matched playing partner Kuchar at 5 under, following an opening 66 with a 73.

Langer shares lead at rainy, windy Senior British Open

Bernhard Langer shot a 3-under 74 in rain and wind at Royal Porthcawl to hold onto a share of the Senior British Open lead.

The 59-year-old German star was tied at 1 over with Americans Tom Lehman (72), Steve Flesch (71) and Billy Mayfair (72) and Argentina’s Mauricio Molina (73). American Clark Dennis (72) was 2 over.

“The first few holes were extremely tough,” Langer said. “I hit driver, 3-wood on 1 and couldn’t even reach the green, and three-putted. I didn’t hit a bad shot the first four holes and I was 2-over par the first three holes. It was that hard. It was blowing 25 (mph) with rain. It was just miserable.”

Periods of steady rain and wind gusting over 35 mph sent the scores soaring, with the average score of 78.515 second only in tournament history to the 80.118 in 2005 in the first round at Royal Aberdeen. The 36-hole cut came at 13 over, second since the tournament became a PGA Tour Champions event to the 15 over in 2005.

“Really worn out,” Langer said. “I probably shouldn’t even be here to tell you the truth. I probably should be in bed, but I hate to miss a major. And come this far to Wales on a great golf course, I’m just going to grind it through. But I won’t be able to do a lot of practicing, just because I don’t feel good, but that doesn’t mean I can’t play good this weekend, and I’ll give it my best shot.”

Langer has nine senior major titles, winning the Regions Tradition and Senior PGA Championship in consecutive weeks in May. He won by 13 strokes the last time the tournament was held on the south Wales course, finishing at 18 under in 2014. Langer also won the 2010 event at Carnoustie.

Flesch closed with two bogeys after playing the first 16 holes in 2 under with 14 pars and two birdies. He’s making his sixth tour start since turning 50 in May.

“You’ve got to drive it well out here, and that’s kind of how I played the first couple days,” Flesch said. “I just kind of steered clear of the bunkers out there and kept it in play and really scrambled today.”

Lehman had two birdies and three bogeys.

“I was hitting it solid, that’s the big thing,” Lehman said. “I was hitting it in the middle of the clubface most of the time and able to control the ball as much as I could and put it in the spots where I could make pars. That’s all I tried it do was make a bunch of pars and I made a bunch of pars.”

Tom Watson was tied for 20th at 7 over after a 77. The 67-year-old American has won the event three times after winning the British Open five times.

Fred Couples shot his second straight 75, leaving him tied for 29th at 8 over.

“It was brutal.” Couples said. “The first hole was rather comical and the second hole was even more comical, and then the rest of the holes, even when it stopped raining, were very difficult.”

John Daly was tied for 45th at 10 over after an 80.

Cristie Kerr shoots 73 to take Ladies Scottish Open lead

Cristie Kerr birdied three of the last six holes in strong wind at Dundonald Links for a 1-over 73 and a one-stroke lead over Hall of Famer Karrie Webb in the Ladies Scottish Open.

Kerr played the first 11 holes in 4 over, with a double bogey on the par-5 third and bogeys on Nos. 6 and 11. The 39-year-old American had a 5-under 139 total.

“It was tough,” Kerr said. “I didn’t hit it that great today, but I still managed. My caddie and I managed the golf course well, and we made the recovery shots when we needed to. I’m just going to go hit a few balls and try to find the feel. It’s hard when you play back-to-back in heavy wind with the swing, but we’ll work on it.”

She won the LOTTE Championship in April in Hawaii for her 19th LPGA Tour title.

“You never know with the weather. I’m trying not to get ahead of myself in this weather,” Kerr said. “Just try to hit it pretty well and make some putts and get up-and-down sometimes, and we’ll see what happens.”

Webb, a stroke ahead of Kerr after a first-round 65, shot a 75 to drop behind. The 42-year-old Australian star had a double bogey, four bogeys and three pars.

“Well, disappointing, because I bogeyed the last two,” Webb said. “I fought really hard to be 1 over with two to go. Just a couple of bad swings and a couple of bad tee shots, really, that made it difficult to hit the greens. Disappointed with that but, obviously, if you’d have told me before I teed off yesterday, that I would be 4 under, probably would have taken it.”

South Koreans Sun Young Yoo (69) and Sei Young Kim (72) were tied for third at 3 under.

“I’m very pleased.” Yoo said. “It wasn’t easy out there. It was windy. Tried to make par every hole. Didn’t try too hard. I think that worked really good.”

Michelle Wie was tied for 11th at 1 over after a 73.

Lydia Ko missed the cut with rounds of 74 and 79. She has gone a full year without winning on the LPGA Tour.

“I missed like three 1-yard putts in a row,” Ko said. “I just couldn’t stroke the putt.”

She played her first 11 holes in 8 over. Starting play on No. 10, Ko bogeyed five of the first seven and made a double bogey on No. 1 and a bogey on No. 2. Her lone birdie came on No. 8.

“I think this is one of the windiest conditions I’ve played in,” Ko said. “Especially because it is so wide open from like 10 to 13, there’s no trees covering it, and normally when I played the British Opens, or even here a couple years ago, there was rain and that kind of softens up everything. It just makes it a touch easier than what it could be playing. But I think today was probably one of the most difficult rounds I’ve played in my career, and I think just physically, mentally.”

The Ricoh Women’s British Open is next week at Kingsbarns.