Second round: Flanagan catches Johnson with 63
MILWAUKEE (AP) -- Richard S. Johnson was disappointed his score wasn't lower while Nick Flanagan was just happy to be playing well on the PGA TOUR.
First-round leader Johnson shot 3-under par 67 and Flanagan had a 7-under 63 Friday to share the second-round lead at 10-under at the U.S. Bank Championship over the 6,579-yard Brown Deer Park Golf Course.
Kent Jones and Gavin Coles were tied for third a shot back of the leaders. Jones shot 65 and Coles, of Australia, had the low round of the tournament at 62, one shy of the course record.
Another stroke back at 132 were Troy Matteson and Ken Duke, who both shot 65.
Despite retaining a share of the lead, Johnson was upset he had two major lipouts on his final two holes to deny him outright possession of first. The hardest to bear was a putt of just under 10 feet on the par-4 ninth hole.
"It was a really nice putt," Johnson said. "It would have been nice to get to 11."
Because Johnson missed the putt, Flanagan caught him with a 12-foot birdie putt on the ninth, which was also his final hole.
Flanagan was delighted to be tied for the lead after struggling in his rookie season. He was promoted to the PGA TOUR after winning three times last year on the Nationwide Tour.
"It's really been a bit of a struggle," he said. "I have not been intimidated out here. It's just learning the golf courses. And my swing just hasn't been cooperating with me."
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| Friday's Best |
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The par-5, 557-yard finishing hole was the easiest with a Friday scoring average of 4.461.
The par-4, 485-yard 4th hole played the toughest on Friday with a 4.254 scoring average.
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Tony Finau, 18, missed the cut but he had the day's best shot. After finding the water with his first shot on the par-4 16th, Finau took a drop, played his shot from the rough and holed out for birdie. 
His fellow countryman Nick Flanagan fired a 7-under 63 to take the lead, but on a low scoring day there were several 63s. Australian Gavin Coles went one better, making eight birdies for a 62.| QUOTE OF THE DAY | ||
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A BIG CROWD
Australian Nick Flanagan has played in front of a larger-than-anticipated gallery in the first two rounds this week. But even though most of those fans were following his playing partner, Wisconsin native Jon Turcott, Flanagan obviously didn't mind the attention, shooting a second-round 63 to zoom to the top of the leaderboard.
"I enjoy playing in front of people, the more people the better," Flanagan said. "So I guess it was just a little bit better atmosphere when you've got people watching what you're doing."
Even though both players have spent time on the Nationwide Tour, Flanagan and Turcott had never met each other until this week. Flanagan burned up the Nationwide Tour last year with three wins and has made nine of 19 cuts on the PGA TOUR this year. Meanwhile, Turcott is still trying to make a impact; his only other TOUR start this year was at the U.S. Open, where he missed the cut after making the field as a local qualifier.
"It's kind of hard when you don't get many opportunities to play on the U.S. Tour," Flanagan said, "and when you kind of finally get that invite to play out here, there's a lot of pressure on you.
"I know what it feels like to be grinding to make cuts."
Flanagan's 63 in the second round of the U.S. Bank Championship was the lowest round of his PGA TOUR career:
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BRINGING BACK GOOD MEMORIES
Steve Flesch (T7) is among the leaders after 36 holes for the second straight year at the U.S. Bank Championship. Last year, Flesch posted a second-round 64 and was three off the lead heading into the weekend before ending up in a tie for fifth. Flesch is making his sixth career start at the U.S. Bank Championship and has now made four cuts.
How important is the PGA TOUR Regular Season? After two PGA TOUR Playoff events last year, Flesch stood No. 71 and was eliminated from the PGA TOUR Playoffs, as the top 70 players moved on to the third Playoff event, the BMW Championship.
At No. 71, Flesch finished just 128 points behind No. 70 Bo Van Pelt. A top-3 finish in Milwaukee last year may have very well bumped him into the BMW Championship, the third of the four PGA TOUR Playoff events.
| What the leaders said... | ||||||||||||||||
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WEIRD INJURIES PART I
If you describe Kent Jones' 2008 season thus far as an up-and-down year, he'll politely correct you.
"I don't know about up-and-down," he said Friday after shooting a second-round 65 that puts him near the top of the leaderboard going into the weekend. "Down, yes, but I don't know if there have been many ups."
Certainly there was one big down for Jones. That came at the AT&T Classic in Atlanta in May. After shooting a 1-over 73 in the first round that morning, Jones went to the driving range for a practice session. But when it began raining, he opted to continue his training session with a visit to the PGA TOUR's fitness center.
As he was jogging on the treadmill, he started talking to J.J. Henry. All of the sudden, Jones caught his foot on something, fell down and rolled his left ankle. (And before you ask -- no, it wasn't because of something Henry said.)
| 25 | How many consecutive years Jim Gallagher Jr., has played in the U.S. Bank Championship. |
| 19 | Number of consecutive cuts Kenny Perry has now made on the PGA TOUR. |
| 62 | Gavin Coles' score, which is one higher than the lowest score this season. |
"I don't know how it happened," Jones said. "(I was) just running along and started talking to J.J. Henry and caught -- whatever. ... I somehow did not fly off the back."
Not only did Jones pull out of the AT&T Classic, but he was sidelined for the next two tournaments. He then returned for the Stanford St. Jude Championship but was not fully healed, and pulled out after shooting an opening-round 81.
He got back in action two weeks later at the Travelers Championship, shooting bookend 66s to finish T45. Last week at the John Deere Classic, he posted a T34, his best finish of the year.
Now the New Mexico native is in position for his best finish of the season -- as long as he stays off the treadmill.
WEIRD INJURIES PART II
Brandt Jobe's 5-under 65 moved him from a tie for 40th into a tie for seventh on Friday.
He missed a good portion of 2007 due to a freak home accident suffered in November 2006. He severed the tip of his left index finger and the base of his left thumb after a broom handle broke while sweeping his garage. After playing in five events, Jobe underwent season-ending surgery on his left hand after the EDS Byron Nelson Championship.
Jobe was granted a Major Medical Extension for 2008 and had 23 events to earn $774,164 (combined with 2007 earnings of $11,016 would equal 2007's No. 125 earnings of $785,180) and receive Major Medical Extension status for the remainder of the 2008 campaign.
In 2008, Jobe has earned $177,114 in 11 events, meaning that he needs to pick up 597,050 in his remaining 12 events to remain exempt. These 12 events could also carry over into the 2009 campaign.
THINGS TO WATCH ON SATURDAY
1. Kevin Streelman. Remember him from the U.S. Open? Streelman shared the first-round lead at Torrey Pines then followed that with his first top 10. Now he's tied for 14th and looking to make a jump on Moving Day.
2. Mark Wilson. The Wisconsin native moved from a tie for 57th into a tie for 36th on Friday. Will he please the local fans over the weekend?
3. Jason Gore. He's had a tough second half of the season with eight missed cuts and three withdrawals. But Gore is tied for seventh after a 4-under 66 in the second round.
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