Merritt does one better than Spieth

Troy Merritt one-upped Masters champion Jordan Spieth at the RBC Heritage.

Merritt, a Spring Lake Park High School graduate, shot a 10-under-par 61 on Friday in Hilton Head Island, S.C., to tie the course record at Harbour Town Golf Links only a few hours after Spieth wowed the gallery with a 62 to match his lowest PGA Tour round.

Merritt tied David Frost's tournament mark set in 1994 and topped the leaderboard at 12-under 130, a stroke off the 36-hole event record.

Merritt, who opened with a 69, saw Spieth's score in the morning and knew the opportunity was there to go low.

"Anytime that you match shot for shot with the Masters champ, with the way he's playing, it's a pretty good feeling," said Merritt, whose career best in four seasons on the PGA Tour is a tie for second last year at the St. Jude Classic.

Merritt had a four-shot lead and was six ahead of Spieth after a day of low, low scoring.

Spieth had the lowest round since Peter Lonard opened the 2005 event with a 62. It was a distinction that lasted just a few hours. Still, Spieth showed the energy and skill missing when he shot 74 Thursday.

• Ian Woosnam was tied for the lead at 4 under with five holes left when first-round play in the Champions Tour's Greater Gwinnett (Ga.) Championship was suspended due to rain.

Matt Kenseth will try for his first NASCAR Sprint Cup victory since 2013 when he starts from the pole at Bristol Motor Speedway. He led a strong showing from Joe Gibbs Racing when he turned a lap at 128.632 miles per hour Friday.

Kenseth is winless in 51 races. It was the Wisconsin native's first pole of the season and 13th of his career.

Brad Keselowski qualified second at 128.442. He was followed by Carl Edwards as Gibbs drivers took three of the top five when Denny Hamlin qualified behind Kevin Harvick.

• Richard Childress Racing appealed NASCAR's penalties against Ryan Newman's team to the highest level, and crew chief Luke Lambert was eligible to return to work at Bristol. Newman's team allegedly manipulated tires at a race last month at California.

College basketball: Kansas State men's coach Bruce Weber dismissed forward Malek Harris, the third player to be kicked off the team this offseason.

Swimming: Michael Phelps failed to qualify for the 400-meter freestyle final in Arizona, finishing 17th overall in the 18-time Olympic gold medalist's first meet since serving a six-month suspension.

Running: Organizers of the St. Louis marathon stripped the winner of her title this week, saying 26-year-old Kendall Schler had crept onto the course late in the race for the second consecutive year to make it appear she had run all 26.2 miles.