Buick Invitational: Second-Round Notebook  PGA TOUR Media Official LA JOLLA, Calif. -- The cut came after two rounds of the Buick Invitational at 3-under-par 141, with 74 players making it to the weekend to compete for 25,000 FedExCup points. Rookie Brandt Snedeker maintained his position at the top of the leaderboard thanks to a 2-under 70 at the South Course on Friday. He has a three-stroke lead over Charles Howell III heading into the weekend.  Charles Howell III is making his 125th start since his lone PGA TOUR victory. (Steve Grayson/WireImage)
• Charles Howell III posted the low round of the day on with an 8-under 64 on the North Course at Torrey Pines and moves into second, three strokes back of Brandt Snedeker. Howell is playing in his 125th PGA TOUR event since his lone win at the 2002 Michelob Championship at Kingsmill. In that span, Howell has logged eight runner-up finishes, including finishing tied for second two weeks ago at the Sony Open in Hawaii. • Bill Haas (T3) jumped into contention with a 6-under-par 66 at the North Course on Friday. Haas finished T27 last week at the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic after missing the cut the week before at the Sony Open in Hawaii. Haas is making his third start at the Buick Invitational. He missed the cut in 2006 and finished T18 in 2005. His father Jay won the Buick Invitational in 1978. • Rich Beem shared (with Dudley Hart) the low round of the day on the South Course on Friday with a 4-under 68. Beem moved into a tie for third with Bill Haas and Charlie Wi. Beem, who is making his seventh start at Torrey Pines this week, has now made four cuts with his best finish being T30 in 2002. • Amateur Jamie Lovemark (140/T36) managed to make the cut. Lovemark, who is a freshman at the University of Southern California and attended high school at Torrey Pines High, is making his second start on the PGA TOUR, he finished T54 at the 2006 Cialis Western Open. The other amateur in the Buick Invitational field, Tim Hogarth, (142/MC) bogeyed his last hole (No. 9/North Course) to miss the cut by a stroke. • Along with Brandt Snedeker there are three other rookies hanging around the top 10 through 36 holes at Torrey Pines. They include Andrew Buckley, Patrick McLaughlin and Michael Putnam. The trio of players are all at 7-under 137 for the week and at tied for eighth heading into the weekend. • Coming into the week, Will Mackenzie (MC/142), John Rollins (MC/145) and John Senden (T26/139) were the only players who had played all 13 competitive rounds of the 2007 season. But out of the threesome, only Senden will be playing on the weekend. • Tiger Woods posted a even-par 72 and is tied for 12th through 36 holes. Woods has finished inside the top 5 in eight of his nine Buick Invitational starts, including four victories (1999, 2003, 2005, 2006). His one finish outside the top 5 was a T10 in 2004 when he opened with rounds of 71-68. The other finishes: 1998 (T3), 2000 (T2), 2001 (4) and 2002 (T5). • Dating back to his first full year on the PGA TOUR in 1997, Tiger Woods has never finished outside of the top 10 in his first start of the season, including four victories -- 1997 and 2000 Mercedes Championships and 2003 and 2006 Buick Invitational. His worst finish was a T10 at the 2001 Mercedes Championships. • How has Tiger fared in his first start of the year? Here's a look at his season-opening starts since 1997: He won the 1997 Mercedes Championships, tied for second in the 1998 Mercedes Championships, tied for fifth at the 1999 Mercedes Championships, won the 2000 Mercedes Championships, tied for eighth at the 2001 Mercedes Championships, tied for 10th at the 2002 Mercedes Championships, won the 2003 Buick Invitational, tied for fourth at the 2004 Mercedes Championships, tied for third at the 2005 Mercedes and ow the 2006 Buick Invitational. • With two rounds in the books, there are only three players who could post four rounds in the 60s this week at Torrey Pines: Bill Haas (69-66), Rich Beem (67-68) and Nick Watney (69-69). Since 1990, just 15 players have been able to record four rounds in the 60s at the Buick Invitational and none have done so since 2001, when four players accomplished the feat -- Frank Lickliter (T2), Mike Weir (T5), Jay Don Blake (T7) and Shigeki Maruyama (T13). It was the second time for Blake who also did in during his 1991 victory. • The only other player to record four rounds in the 60s twice since 1990 was Hal Sutton who did it in 1994 and 1995 and had a streak of 11 consecutive rounds in the 60s at Torrey Pines. Just three winners have posted four rounds in the 60s since 1990 -- Blake (1991), Craig Stadler (1994) and Peter Jacobsen (1995). • To get a perspective on the differences in the two courses: 32 of the low 34 scores came from the North Course on Friday; there were only four rounds in the 60s on the South Course on Friday; for the second day in a row, no player managed to record a bogey-free round on the South Course. • The players who were bogey-free on the North Course were Eric Axley, Rich Barcelo, Glen Day, Jarrod Lyle, Ryan Moore, Hunter Mahan, Phil Mickelson, Rod Pampling, Criag Barlow, Mark Wilson, Rory Sabbatini and Wes Short. • Shane Bertsche withdrew from the tournament through six holes of the second round with vertigo. Copyright 2007 PGATOUR.com. All rights reserved. |
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