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Former Florida player Brett Stegmaier leads PGA event in Las Vegas

 
Brett Stegmaier, watching his approach on the third hole, was 6-under after 15 holes when the second round was suspended.
Brett Stegmaier, watching his approach on the third hole, was 6-under after 15 holes when the second round was suspended.
Published Oct. 24, 2015

LAS VEGAS — Brett Stegmaier topped the leaderboard Friday in the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open in only his fifth career start on the PGA Tour.

The 32-year-old former University of Florida player was 6 under for the round and 11 under overall with three holes left when second-round play was suspended because of darkness. He will resume play this morning with a 14-foot birdie putt on the par-4 seventh.

"It was kind of downhill and the greens were bumpy," Stegmaier said. "They'll be better in the morning. It was a no-brainer."

Stegmaier eagled the par-5 16th on his opening nine and had four birdies on the 15 holes he was able to finish at TPC Summerlin. He earned a tour card in the Web.com Tour Finals series.

"A month ago I wasn't even guaranteed Web.com status for next year," Stegmaier said. "Just kind of turned it on at the end of the year, figured a couple things out."

Former UNLV player Chad Campbell was a stroke back along with Morgan Hoffmann and Tyler Aldridge. Campbell, 41, had 4-under 67. Hoffmann shot 66 and Aldridge 68.

Rickie Fowler followed his opening 72 with 65 to reach 5 under. He eagled the par-5 13th in shooting 30 on the back nine.

Defending champion Ben Martin was 4 under after a 68.

LPGA: Ji Eun-hee took a one-stroke lead over Lydia Ko in the Taiwan Championship, overcoming back pain and a double bogey in wind and rain at Taipei.

The 29-year-old South Korean finished at 3-under 69 to reach 9-under 135 at Miramar. She shot 7 on the par-5 sixth after hooking her drive out of bounds but rallied with birdies on Nos. 9-11 and closed with seven straight pars.

"I hurt my middle back this morning," Ji said. "Just bothering me on my swing and especially with my driver."

Seminole's Brittany Lincicome shot 74 for 143 total and was tied for 16th, seven strokes out of the lead.

The second-ranked Ko birdied the par-5 18th for 67.

"It's always good to finish on a birdie," Ko said. "I've just got to keep my head high. Especially with the weather conditions, anything can happen."

The 18-year-old New Zealander is trying to regain the No. 1 rankings spot from South Korea's Inbee Park, the winner last year at Miramar. Park is skipping her title defense to play in a Korea LPGA event, where she dropped into a tie for seventh Friday.