EDS Byron Nelson Championship: Second-Round Notebook  PGA TOUR Staff IRVING, Texas -- This marks the sixth time that Luke Donald has been a leader or co-leader after 36-holes of a PGA TOUR event. Donald's best finish coming out of that scenario is a T2 at the Sony Open earlier this year.  Brett Wetterich's 134 is the lowest 36-hole total by a Byron Nelson defending champ since 1996. (Stan Badz/PGA TOUR/WireImage)
• Donald's two-round total of 133 is the highest to lead the EDS Byron Nelson Championship since 1990, when eventual winner Payne Stewart was at 5-under-par 135 through two rounds. Stewart was declared the winner after the final round was washed out in what would be the first rain-shortened Nelson. • Proving that longer does not always mean lower, Donald has hit 78.57 percent of his fairways this week, placing him T2 in the field in Driving Accuracy behind D.J. Brigman, who has hit 82.14 percent of his. • Luke Donald played the first 31 holes of his tournament bogey-free before making a bogey at the par-4 14th hole on the TPC course on Friday. He was the last player to record his first bogey in the tournament. • The cut fell at 1-over-par 141 with 73 players making the cut. • Brett Wetterich's two-round total of 134 is the lowest 36-hole total by a defending champion at the EDS Byron Nelson Championship since 1996 champion Phil Mickelson managed to open with 66-67--133 in 1997. • Kent Jones' second-round 66 on the TPC course marks his lowest career round at the EDS Byron Nelson Championship. This week also marks the third time in seven starts at the Nelson that Jones has made the cut. • Scott Verplank, who was born in Dallas, opened with rounds of 67-68, marking his first back-to-back rounds in the 60s since rounds one and two earlier this year at the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic. Verplank has finished in the top five in three out of a total 20 EDS Byron Nelson Championships. • Jeff Gove is leading the field this week in total birdies made with 12 through two rounds. This is a welcome change for Gove, who is T175 on TOUR this year in Birdie Average. Gove also leads the field in Putting Average through two rounds with 1.522 putts, a departure from his 2007 average of 1.868 (T185). • Vijay Singh's second-round 67 at Cottonwood Valley puts him T7 through two rounds at 136. Singh is in good position to become the Nelson's all-time leading money winner. He currently sits $389,672 behind 1991 Champion Nick Price. • Fredrik Jacobson's back-to-back 67s are his lowest rounds on the PGA TOUR since a third-round 66 in the 2006 Cialis Western Open. Jacobson, who has been bothered by severe wrist problems, is playing in only his third PGA TOUR event since last year's Deutsche Bank Championship. • Colt Knost, a local star at Southern Methodist University, fired a 64 on Friday at the TPC course and will be the first amateur to make the cut at the EDS Byron Nelson Championship since Texas Longhorn Justin Leonard did the same in 1993 (T56). Knost's 64 is the low round of the tournament. The two-time Conference USA All-Conference selection shot 65 in the event's Monday qualifier at Timmaron Country Club and went on to beat PGA TOUR player Michael Boyd in a playoff for the last spot. • Knost's round of 64 is believed to be the lowest round by an amateur in the history of the EDS Byron Nelson Championship. The previous record was held by Frank Wharton, who shot 65 in the final round of the 1956 Dallas Centennial Open. • Luke Donald is riding a streak of 10 straight rounds in the 60s at the EDS Byron Nelson Championship. • The 426 yard par-4 12th on the TPC course has played as the most difficult hole through two rounds this week with a scoring average of 4.413. Should this figure remain, it would become the eighth most difficult par 4 on the 2007 PGA TOUR to date. • Rookie Anthony Kim, the TOUR's youngest player, sits at 136, three shots behind Donald. Kim will be looking to record his fourth career PGA TOUR top-5 finish and third in his past four events. • PGA TOUR rookie John Mallinger's scorecard was rather easy to add up on Friday as he carded 18 consecutive pars on the Cottonwood Valley course. Unfortunately, his two-day total of 143 was not enough to make it to the weekend in his first trip to the EDS Byron Nelson Championship. Mallinger joins Wetterich (Cottonwood Valley) as the only two players to record bogey-free rounds on Friday. • Rookie Stephen Marino's rounds of 69-67 have put him in position to finish in the top-25 for the fourth time in 11 starts this year. • Mark Hensby was disqualified when he failed to show up for his second-round tee time. ... George McNeill withdrew prior to the start of the second round. ... Wes Short Jr. withdrew during the second round. Copyright 2007 PGATOUR.com. All rights reserved. |
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