SHANGHAI – Two par saves in the middle of his round and two birdies at the end put Kevin Kisner in a place he has never been.

And that has nothing to do with his first trip to China.

Kisner put together another bogey-free performance Friday in the HSBC Champions for a 6-under 66 and a two-shot lead over Russell Knox going into the weekend of the World Golf Championship. He was at 14-under 130, the lowest 36-hole score of his career, and he was the 36-hole leader for the first time in his career.

It was more than Kisner expected at Sheshan International, mainly because he didn’t have any expectations.

A sore back kept the 31-year-old American from seeing the golf course until he teed it up in the opening round on Thursday. He was so lost that walking off the eighth green, he wasn’t sure how to get to the next hole. None of that seemed to matter.

“It’s just golf, man,” Kisner said. “Doesn’t matter if it was here or wherever. Still get the ball in the hole as fast as you can.”

That proved far more difficult Friday than in the opening round, mainly because the still, soft conditions gave way to a strong wind that never relented. Kisner twice saved par, with a 20-foot putt on the par-3 fourth and a 15-foot putt on the par-4 15th hole.

Only 16 players shot in the 60s on Friday, compared with 41 in the opening round.

Knox started his round with a 40-foot birdie putt that set the tone for the day. He wound up with the low round of the day at 7-under 65, leaving him two shots behind Kisner and with his own tale about being a little unprepared for his first World Golf Championship.

Knox only found out last week in Malaysia that he was in the HSBC Champions when J.B. Holmes withdrew. That was the good news. The problem was getting a visa for China, so wife Andrea came to rescue – twice. First, she filled out all his forms while he played the CIMB Classic and arranged for the meeting with the Chinese consulate in Kuala Lumpur on Monday. Then, she filled in as a caddie for his practice round at Sheshan because Knox’s caddie took an extra day to arrange for his visa.

“My wife was a superstar,” Knox said.

One job apparently was easier than the other.

“We got a stand bag from the pro here and played the quickest practice round ever, and she complained heavily for the last nine holes,” he said with a laugh. “But it was nice to run around quickly, so I did get to see the course. My caddie did not, so I told him what we were going to do.”

The top two players on the leaderboard going into the weekend have never won on the PGA Tour, and both know so much can change over the next two days. Even so, Kisner’s solid play has created a little bit of separation.

Branden Grace of South Africa, who opened with a 63, added three birdies through 10 holes until he forced the issue trying to get further ahead and wound up playing the final eight holes in 2 over. He had to settle for a 71 and was four shots behind.

The buzz came from Li Haotong of China, who spent the afternoon chasing the lead and thrilling the hometown gallery. A bogey on the final hole gave him a 69, and he joined Patrick Reed (70) at 9-under 135.

Li played the PGA Tour China series last year and had a chance midway through the Web.com Tour season to earn a PGA Tour card until fading. Playing at home in a World Golf Championship, he enjoyed the moment – especially seeing his name on the leaderboard.

“Almost every hole,” Li said with a big smile. “Very cool. Very fun.”

It wasn’t a lot of fun for some of the biggest names.

Jordan Spieth missed a few good opportunities at the turn, and then ran off three straight bogeys and wondered if he would make another par. He salvaged his day with birdies on the final two par 5s for a 72, though he was 10 shots behind.

“When I get into the breeze, I hit some shots that I was very shocked with today,” he said. “But I lost a lot of focus there, too. I felt like I was very lazy in my routine, very lazy in picking targets. And it bit me with three unforced errors in a row on the back nine there. But I am pleased with the way that we did rebound, because it looked like I could have just bogeyed in.”

Rory McIlroy winced on the range as he felt cramps in his stomach from food poisoning earlier in the week. He wasted a decent start by playing the last six holes in 2 over for a 72 and joined Spieth at 4-under 140. Dustin Johnson looked like he would throw away his round with three straight bogeys around the turn, only to steady himself and finish with three straight birdies for a 71. He was six behind.

Kisner is coming off a breakthrough season on the PGA Tour without winning, though he sure had his chances. Jim Furyk beat him with a birdie on the second extra hole at the RBC Heritage. Kisner went blow-for-blow with Rickie Fowler in The Players Championship until Fowler beat him a birdie on the fourth playoff hole. Kisner also got into a four-man playoff at The Greenbrier Classic that Danny Lee ended up winning.

“See if I can get it done in regulation this time,” he said.

Canada’s Richard T. Lee is tied for 27th at 4 under.

SHIMA, Japan – Americans Angela Stanford and Ryann O’Toole shared the lead at 7-under 65 on Friday in the LPGA Tour’s Toto Japan Classic.

The 37-year-old Stanford had eight birdies and a bogey at Kintetsu Kashikojima in the event also sanctioned by the Japan LPGA. She has five LPGA Tour victories and played a key role in the United States’ Solheim Cup comeback with a victory over Suzann Pettersen.

The 28-year-old O’Toole closed with a bogey on the par-4 ninth after playing the previous seven holes in 6 under with an eagle on the par-4 fourth and four birdies. She’s winless in her five-year career.

Japan’s Ai Suzuki was a stroke back along with South Koreans Ha-Neul Kim, Ilhee Lee, Jenny Shin and Mi-Jeong Jeon. Canadian Alena Sharp, Stacy Lewis and Lexi Thompson topped the group at 67.

JACKSON, Miss. – Roberto Castro used to believe it was best to be conservative during the first few holes of a tournament, getting a feel for the course before getting too aggressive.

That’s not the case anymore. Especially not in ideal conditions at the Sanderson Farms Championship.

Castro shot a 10-under 62, his lowest score on the PGA Tour, to take a two-shot lead Thursday at the Country Club of Jackson. It took him just a few shots to realize a low score was there for the taking.

“It’s just so soft out there,” Castro said. “It’s a great golf course, but when the conditions are soft, the scores are going to be low.”

The 30-year-old Castro was consistent and avoided trouble all afternoon with a bogey-free round. He made 10 birdies _ five on each nine.

Adam Hadwin of Abbotsford, B.C., was the low Canadian at 7-under 65, tied for fourth. Graham DeLaet, from Weyburn, Sask., was tied for sixth at 6 under, while reigning champion Nick Taylor was 3 under, tied for 42nd.

“I played really well,” said DeLaet. “I screwed up the first hole pretty bad. I had 250 front edge and ended up making double on the par-5. But other than that I was super happy with how I played, made some good putts, hit a lot of good iron shots and gave myself lots of chances.”

Conditions were forgiving thanks to a course softened by rain and very little wind, and players were allowed to use preferred lies because of the wet conditions. More rain is expected, starting Friday.

But there were plenty of birdies for the taking during the first round and several players took advantage _ 103 of the 122 players who finished the first round shot par or better. Nine players were still on the course when the round was halted due to darkness.

Aaron Baddeley and Bryce Molder were tied for second at 64. Adam Hadwin and Brian Davis shot 65.

Castro began his round on the back nine and, after making five birdies on the first eight holes – including four straight from No. 12 to 15 – realized it “could be a special day.”

Though the 62 was his best on the tour, he’s gone low before, shooting a 9-under 63 at The Players Championship in 2013. He’s winless on the tour in more than 100 career starts.

Castro said the greens at the Country Club of Jackson are almost always good, but the previous rain made them even more forgiving than usual.

“You’re never really worried about getting more than three or four feet past the hole, so it’s a very comfortable speed to make a lot of putts,” Castro said.

Baddeley has won three times on the tour, most recently in 2011, but has limited tour status after struggling last season. He started his round on the back nine and was 5-under through just seven holes, boosted by an eagle on No. 15 when he chipped in with a lob wedge from about 35 yards.

“I wasn’t trying to push the issue,” Baddeley said. “I was just cruising along, trying to just stay in the moment, hit the shot and stay patient. Because the last thing you want to do is force an issue and then you make a bogey or you just hit a bad shot when you didn’t need to.”

Moulder was 7-under through just 10 holes, but cooled off down the stretch to settle for a 64. He missed the cut in his first two events this season and took last week off to “just kind of reset.”

It worked for at least one day.

“I knew that I wasn’t that far off, even though sometimes it feels a mile off, but it’s not,” Molder said. “I just kind of was like, all right, how can we get our mindset right so that we can actually play some good golf.”

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – Bernhard Langer left Colin Montgomerie and Jeff Maggert and everyone else behind Thursday in the Champions Tour’s season-ending Charles Schwab Cup Championship.

Langer shot a 7-under 63 on Desert Mountain’s Cochise Course to take a two-stroke lead.

“I felt tremendous peace today, I really did,” the 58-year-old German star said. “That’s when I play my best, when I’m not bothered by anything, I’m just walking along enjoying the scenery and having a blast playing golf and doing it well.”

Langer began the week third in the Charles Schwab Cup race, 66 points behind Montgomerie and 27 behind Maggert. With players receiving a point for every $500 earned in the $2.5 million tournament, Langer was $33,000 behind Montgomerie and $13,500 behind Maggert.

Montgomerie had a 70, leaving him tied for 17th in the 30-man field. Maggert three-putted the par-5 18th for a bogey and a 72 that dropped him into a tie for 24th.

Langer is trying to win the season title for the second straight year and record third time overall. The champion will receive a $1 million annuity, the runner-up a $500,000 annuity, and the third-place finisher a $300,000 annuity.

“I’m going to keep an eye on it, but the key is I’ve got to play my own golf,” Langer said. “I’ve got to play my game and that was my mindset going into the tournament. I’ve got to play the best I can and if I do really well, then I might end up in front of them, and if somebody else is better than me, so be it. It’s not life and death.”

Scottsdale resident Michael Allen and Billy Andrade were tied for second at 65. Andrade had a hole-in-one on the 190-yard second hole, using a 6-iron.

“It was a great way to start,” Andrade said. “Haven’t started a tournament like that with a hole-in-one before, so, of course, you automatically bogey the next hole.”

Fred Couples, the 2013 tournament winner at TPC Harding Park in San Francisco, was at 66 along with Kenny Perry and Olin Browne.

Langer played the front nine in 5-under 30, birdieing Nos. 2 and 5-8, and added birdies on Nos. 12 and 13. He hit 5-irons to a foot on the second and 6 inches on the fifth.

“Got off to a really nice start, hit most of my targets, hit fairways, hit greens and hit it pretty close,” Langer said. “Then started to putt nicely, too.”

The two-time Masters champion had only 24 putts. He made a 12-foot par save on the par-4 16th after hitting into the left greenside bunker, and got up-and-down from the right bunker on the par-3 17th.

The tournament is Langer’s last before the Jan. 1 ban on the anchored putting stroke that he has used with a long putter for 17 years.

“I’ve thought about it a little bit,” Langer said. “I’ve gathered a few putters, different styles, different lengths, different grips. My first thought is I’ll probably go back to what I did before I went to the long putter, which was what (Matt) Kuchar does, holding the putter against the left forearm that way, and Soren Kjeldsen in Europe does the same thing. I putted that way for seven years and I won a number of tournaments including the Masters, and if you can putt on the Masters greens and win with a grip like that, I would think I could do it in other tournaments, but we’ll see. There’s other options.”

Canada’s Stephen Ames has a share of 7th at 2 under.

PICKERING, Ont. – The PGA of Ontario released their list of nine award recipients for the 2015 season on Wednesday. It has been a busy week for the association, who also recently announced their headquarters are moving from a plaza in Pickering to the Angus Glen Golf Club in Markham.

Among this year’s nine award recipients was Team Canada’s Women’s Head Coach, Tristan Mullally.

“I am incredibly proud to receive this award from the PGA of Ontario,” said the Class “A” member. “In this game, you always work hard to do the best job you can and it’s really an honour to be recognized by your peers.”

Mullally, a CDC certified coach with the PGA of Canada, has been at the helm of Canada’s National Women’s program since 2011. Since joining Team Canada, Mullally’s role has expanded to include coaching athletes on both the Young Pro and Amateur Squad—which totalled seven athletes in 2015 (including LPGA Tour star Brooke Henderson).

The full list of PGA of Ontario award winners is below:

• Retailer of the Year is Rich Morel – Deer Ridge Golf Club
• Candidate for Membership of the Year is Cory Southon – Henry Brunton Golf
• Junior Leader of the Year is Bradlee Ryall – The Academy at BraeBen/Bradlee Ryall Golf
• Teacher of the YearPresented by FlightScope… is Gareth Raflewski – RiverBend Golf Community
• Golf Professional of the Year is Matthew Yustin – Lambton Golf & Country Club
• Coach of the Year is Tristan Mullally – Golf Canada
• Professional Development Award is Liam Mucklow – The Golf Lab
• Class “A” Professional of the Year is Daryl MacLean – Cherry Hill Golf Club
• Player of the Year is Brian McCann (Brampton Golf Club)

SHANGHAI – Rory McIlroy finally climbed out of bed 10 pounds lighter from a bout of food poisoning and made six birdies for a 68. Jordan Spieth returned from his longest break without touching his golf clubs. He also had six birdies in a round of 68. Both felt good about their start Thursday in the HSBC Champions.

It just wasn’t enough to be anywhere near the lead.

Branden Grace of South Africa, a month removed from his sterling performance in the Presidents Cup, made birdie on half of his holes at soft, vulnerable Sheshan International for a 9-under 63. It was the lowest opening round in the 11-year history of this World Golf Championship.

And all that got him was a one-shot lead.

“Today was phenomenal out there,” Grace said. “Barely had a breath of wind out there and the golf course is playing probably as easy as it could be playing. There’s some low scores out there. The guys are playing some great golf, and when you play on greens like this, it helps. You just have to get the ball on the right line and it goes in. It was fun.”

He made it sound simple, and the numbers backed him up.

The 78-man field produced 344 birdies and nine eagles, and it was a collective 189-under par.

Kevin Kisner made his debut in China by playing bogey-free for a 64. He was joined by Steven Bowditch of Australia and Thorbjorn Olesen of Denmark, who opened with five birdies in six holes and was 7 under through 10 holes. It was enough to make Olesen wonder how low he could go, though that ended when he made a sloppy bogey on the par-5 14th and he had to settle for a 64.

Dustin Johnson, who won the HSBC Champions the last time he was here two years ago, drilled a 3-wood over the water and onto the green at the par-5 second hole and made eagle that helped send him to a 65 along with Patrick Reed and Danny Willett, who is No. 2 in the Race to Dubai in his bid to track down McIlroy.

At least McIlroy is playing.

He spent most of the previous two days in bed trying to cope with food poisoning. His stomach was so sore and his body so stiff that he arrived earlier than usual to get loose on the range, and he wasn’t sure what to expect when he teed it up at Sheshan for the first time in two years.

“Probably a little better than I was expecting out there, to be honest,” McIlroy said. “I had not been out of bed for basically 48 hours, so I was really stiff. But whenever I got out there, I felt pretty good. Thankfully, it was a decent start, and now going to try to just get into the tournament.”

Spieth wasn’t sure what to expect, either.

He didn’t see his golf clubs for two weeks after returning home from South Korea at the Presidents Cup, the end of a season that brought a Masters and U.S. Open, the FedEx Cup and PGA Tour player of the year. Spieth showed some uncertainty with an extra waggle in his pre-shot routine as he tries to keep the club from getting shut.

For the most part, it worked out fine. The one big miss was his tee shot on the par-3 17th, so weak and to the right that it didn’t even clear the hazard. Spieth recovered by going to the drop zone, hitting over the gorge to 5 feet and escaping with bogey. He also hit driver to 20 feet for a two-putt birdie on the reachable 16th, and two late birdies in his round brought him to 68.

“I hit some shots that looked like we were just continuing the end of the season,” Spieth said. “And I hit some that looked like I took some time off. It was a bit of both. All in all, I was very pleased. Obviously, I thought 4 under would be further up the leaderboard than it is, but there’s a lot of guys playing solid golf right now.”

Spieth played with Watson, who hardly played at all since the Presidents Cup and said nothing felt comfortable. He celebrated his 37th birthday by opening with eight straight pars, picking up four birdies and keeping bogeys off his card.

Players were allowed to lift, clean and place their balls in the short grass, which added to the low scores. That led to a two-shot penalty for Adam Scott, however, who chipped to tap-in range on the par-3 sixth, only to look back and realize he might have been in the rough. That’s a two-shot penalty, except that Scott was given the wrong ruling by being told to replay the shot. After a 30-minute discussion, officials found a decision based on equity that kept his score to a double bogey. It didn’t help much. He shot 75.

At this rate, Johnson figures something around 20 under will win. Grace wasn’t willing to guess on a winning score. For all those birdies, he still was barely in front.

“Long way to go,” Grace said.

OAKVILLE, Ont. – Jack Nicklaus says he was “saddened” to learn of plans to redevelop Glen Abbey Golf Club, the first course the legendary golfer designed himself.

But he understands business is business.

In late October, course owner ClubLink Corporation filed preliminary paperwork to convert the Oakville, Ont., club into a residential community, featuring 3,000 homes, along with offices and retail space.

“We have been in communication with the leadership at ClubLink and they have fully explained the process to date and local economic conditions driving the potential redevelopment of the Glen Abbey site,” Nicklaus told The Canadian Press through a statement. “While it saddens me personally to think the site of my first solo golf course design might be repurposed, we understand and respect the business decisions being made.”

A development consulting firm submitted the request to city council on behalf of ClubLink Corporation, which in addition to Glen Abbey, owns more than 40 courses in Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal and Florida.

Arguably Canada’s most iconic golf course, Glen Abbey has hosted the Canadian Open 27 times, including earlier this year.

Golf Canada CEO Scott Simmons said the news isn’t of immediate concern to the business of the sport’s governing body or the Canadian Open.

“The estimates are that this will be a playable golf course for another five years, if not 10,” explained Simmons. “When we’re looking at our rotation for the Canadian Open, we’re not five years out, we’re not even three years out. It gives us a lot of time to work on our future planning.”

Located on more than 200 acres of prime real estate some 40 kilometres west of Toronto, Glen Abbey was built in 1976 at a cost of $2 million. The Royal Canadian Golf Association (now known as Golf Canada) purchased the course for $3 million in 1981 from Great Northern Capital. ClubLink became the owner in 1998, paying the RCGA $40 million, a fraction of what the property would be worth now.

York Downs, a private club in Markham, Ont., just north of Toronto, recently sold to developers for $412 million.

ClubLink’s chief executive officer Rai Sahi, who is also the CEO at the real estate company Morguard Corporation, said the first steps in the re-zoning process will take at least four years to complete.

Glen Abbey has only about 400 members, he said, and redeveloping the space would provide a much wider benefit to the community and feed more taxes to the city.

“Our intention would be to build a pretty high-end, luxury community, with commercial office space and dining and all kinds of things,” he said. “That would be a lot more attractive than a few hundred people playing golf.”

The initial proposal includes turning the half-dozen holes in the valley beside Sixteen Mile Creek into a public park.

“Right now it’s not accessible to the public, it’s only accessible to those who are playing golf,” he said. “The valley will become more popular than the golf course Glen Abbey.”

While Simmons has been a long-time advocate of moving Canada’s national open around the country, he knows the event must make economic sense.

“At the end of the day, one of the main driving purposes of the open is to create a revenue stream that can help develop the grassroots of the game,” he said. “The Canadian Open is not the U.S. Open, you have to look the circumstances in this country. One of those options is to look at a permanent site.”

Glen Abbey will still host the 2016 RBC Canadian Open, and Simmons confirmed the club is “definitely” one Golf Canada is looking at to host in 2017 as well. That decision, Simmons said, will be made “as soon as possible.”

SHANGHAI – Adam Scott hasn’t read caddie Steve Williams’ book about Tiger Woods and doesn’t expect it to be a distraction when Williams is working for him.

“I haven’t been lucky enough to get a copy. Must be in the mail still,” Scott said Thursday after his opening round at the HSBC Champions. “I don’t know exactly what’s in the book. As I said, I haven’t read it. I think everyone knows probably what to expect.”

Williams worked 13 years for Woods during the peak of his career. Their relationship became strained after Woods was embroiled in a sex scandal at the end of 2009, and it ended in the summer of 2011 shortly after Williams caddied for Adam Scott in the U.S. Open while Woods was recovering from leg injuries.

Williams had been talking about a book since then, though he was concerned about a non-disclosure agreement he had with the 14-time major champion. The book, “Out of the Rough,” was published in New Zealand.

A New Zealand newspaper published a chapter of the book in which Williams described his anger and frustration at being “hung out to dry” by Woods’ management as his multiple infidelities were being revealed. Williams complained about Woods’ behavior on the course and wrote, “It was like I was his slave.”

That line has led to heavy criticism, especially considering that Williams became rich working for Woods. One year, Williams was reported to be the highest-paid sports celebrity in New Zealand.

In an interview Thursday with Australian Associated Press, Williams said he was disappointed his publishers highlighted that excerpt in promoting his book. He said the “slave” reference was “one word, one sentence, out of a whole book.”

He said it was “one word that could have been changed” when writing his memoir.

Williams has been working with Scott the last four years. He said he was retiring after 2014, but he agreed to come back at the U.S. Open this year and plans to work 10 tournaments this season in a job share.

This isn’t the first time Scott has received more questions about his caddie than his own golf.

Immediately after Scott won the Bridgestone Invitational in 2011, Williams gave a TV interview on the 18th green in which he called it the “best win I’ve ever had,” even though he was on the bag for 13 majors with Woods, including his unprecedented sweep of the majors in 2000-01.

Later that year in Shanghai during the annual Caddies Awards roast at the HSBC Champions, Williams was given the “Celebration of the Year” award for that TV interview. When he came on stage to accept, Williams shocked the room by saying, “It was my aim to shove it right up that black a——.”

Scott was grilled each day about whether he should fire Williams. He noted the caddie apologized to Woods and said that was enough for him.

Asked if he expected Williams to write a sequel, Scott laughed and said, “I’m going to be on my best behavior so there isn’t one.”

RANCHO SANTA FE, Calif. – Five-time major champion Phil Mickelson has decided to leave swing coach Butch Harmon after eight years.

Mickelson said in a statement Wednesday to Golf.com that he has learned a great deal from Harmon since they began working together in 2007. Mickelson said at this time he needs to “hear new ideas from a different perspective.”

Shortly after he began working with Harmon, Mickelson won The Players Championship and then added the Deutsche Bank Championship while going head-to-head with Tiger Woods. Mickelson joked that Harmon taught him nuances of playing with Woods from Harmon’s decade of working with Woods.

Mickelson won 15 times with Harmon, including the Masters in 2010 and British Open in 2013.

He did not indicate who his next coach would be.

SHANGHAI (AP) — Bubba Watson is in China this week, Japan next week, and there’s one more stop in Thailand before the year is over.

Golf is more global than ever, and the two-time Masters champion wants to be part of it.

“I wanted to win outside the U.S.,” Watson said Wednesday on the eve of his title defense in the HSBC Champions. “And after getting a taste of victory outside the U.S. here last year, I want to do that again. I’m going to try to do it again.”

Watson was portrayed as an uncultured American four years ago when he went to France and didn’t have the best week, which included comments about historic sites without knowing what they were.

But he’s getting the hang of it.

“Getting better as a golfer, as a person, I want to try different cultures and learn different golf courses in different areas of the world,” Watson said. “And so for me, it’s just fun. And right now, I’m playing pretty good. So I have the ability to travel and play and do some things that I want to do for my own career and my own personal goals. So that’s why I’ve travelled and played more than some other guys.”

This is his second trip to China – Watson played the Shenzhen International a week after the Masters this year.

He will play on the Japan Golf Tour next week, and then return to the Thailand Open. A year ago, he donated his prize money to the foundation of Thongchai Jaidee.

Watson said his first taste of international travel came early when he played on a U.S. team that competed in South Africa. He also recalls a trip to Ireland with some friends to play golf.

“I’ve traveled different places, and just watching golf on TV, watching guys from all over the world winning and competing, it drives you to get better in the game,” he said. “To get better, you want to try to get to all areas in the world and play against different talent and different cultures and see different golf courses around the world.”

He will have played in five countries by the end of the year.

Watson could have played six, but he said he was going to skip the Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas a week after Thanksgiving because he needs a break.