SCOTTSDALE -- Camilo Villegas (62-69 131) bogeyed the final hole to fall into a share of the lead with Mark Wilson (65-66 131) at 11 under after 36 holes of the 2010 Waste Management Phoenix Open. Anthony Kim (67-65 132), Ryan Moore (66-66 132) and Rickie Fowler (65-67 132) are tied for third at 10 under.
Play was suspended due to darkness at 6:30 p.m. local time with one player remaining on the course. Matt Every, currently at 8 under, will return at 7:30 a.m. Saturday to face a 4-foot, 4-inch putt for birdie on the 18th hole. The third round will begin at 8:50 a.m. in groups of three off two tees.
The 36-hole cut will more than likely come at 3-under 139 with 78 players advancing to the weekend, including Arizona State University amateur Braxton Marquez (75-65).
The average age of the top five players on the leaderboard is 27 (Wilson/35, Villegas/28, Moore/27, Kim/24, Fowler/21).
This represents the sixth time Villegas has held the 36-hole lead/co-lead on the PGA TOUR. In five previous 36-hole leads Villegas has failed to finish in the top-10 just once -- at the 2008 Waste Management Phoenix Open.
|
Villegas has competed in each Waste Management Phoenix Open since finishing T2 on a sponsor's invitation in 2006. He missed the cut at TPC Scottsdale last year.
Villegas is making his second start of the year this week. He finished third at last week's World Golf Championships -- Accenture Match Play Championship.
Villegas is just the third player since 1991 to follow his first TOUR victory with another win in his very next start. Villegas won the 2008 BMW Championship and followed with the 2008 THE TOUR Championship presented by Coca-Cola. The other two players are David Duval, who won three consecutive starts (1997 -- Michelob Championship at Kingsmill, Walt Disney World/Oldsmobile Classic, THE TOUR Championship) and Billy Andrade (1991 -- Kemper Open, Buick Classic).
Wilson began the second round with a 3-putt bogey but closed it with four consecutive birdies to finish tied for the 36-hole lead with Villegas. It is the third time Wilson has held the 36-hole lead/co-lead on TOUR.
|
Mark Wilson has made the cut in both previous starts at the Waste Management Phoenix Open (T48/2009, T9/2008) and now has seven of 10 rounds in the 60s at TPC Scottsdale.
Wilson has made six cuts in seven starts this year with a best finish of T20 at the Sony Open.
Wilson must like this time of year. His two wins on TOUR came at the 2007 Honda Classic and 2009 Mayakoba Golf Classic at Riviera Maya-Cancun. On this year's schedule, the Waste Management Phoenix Open is sandwiched between those two events.
Ryan Palmer (Sony Open in Hawaii) and Dustin Johnson (AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am) are the only two players to win in 2010 after holding the lead/co-lead after 36 holes.
This is the 75th anniversary of the Waste Management Phoenix Open. It is also Kim's 75th career start on TOUR.
Kim is making his fourth start at TPC Scottsdale, making the cut for the second time (2010/TBD, 2009/MC, 2008/T30, 2007/MC).
Fowler recorded an eagle at the par-4 second hole where he holed a wedge from 100 yards, the only eagle at No. 2 so far this week. It marks the third eagle on a par-4 in a TOUR event for Fowler in his ninth start as a professional. He made two eagles on par-4s at the 2009 Frys.com Open, along with an ace.
Fowler's only previous start at the Waste Management Phoenix Open was last year, playing as an amateur on a sponsor's invitation. He finished T58.
Should Fowler, at 21 years of age go on to win, he would replace Jerry Pate as the youngest winner of this event. Pate won in 1977 at the age of 23 years, three months, three days.
Pat Perez, who posted his first TOUR win at the 50th Bob Hope Classic last year, is playing well in the desert once again. Following a bogey-free first-round 65, Perez recorded 68 and is T??, 9-under through 36 holes.
Perez is making his ninth consecutive start here this week but has had not had much success at the Waste Management Phoenix Open. Perez missed six consecutive cuts at TPC Scottsdale from 2002-07 before finishing T43 in 2008 and T48 in 2009.
Tom Lehman is making his 19th appearance at the Waste Management Phoenix Open. The 50-year-old has posted five top-10s at this event, including a win in 2000 (T7/2001, T7/1997, T6/1994, T9/1993).
When Lehman won at TPC Scottsdale in 2000 he held the lead/co-lead after 18 and 36 holes.
This is Lehman's second start on TOUR this season after posting a T16 at the Sony Open in Hawaii. Lehman also has two top-5 finishes on the Champions Tour in two starts this year (4th -- Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai, T5 -- Allianz Championship).
Lehman has posted 11 of 12 rounds in the 60s this season on both the PGA TOUR and Champions Tour combined.
Alvaro Quiros (67-66), who was defeated 8 and 6 by Mike Weir in the first round at last week's World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship, recorded four birdies in his final six holes in the second round. The 27-year-old Spaniard is not a TOUR member and is playing on a sponsor invitation this week. Should Quiros, ranked No. 31 in the Official World Golf Ranking, finish in the top-10 at the end of the week he would become eligible for The Honda Classic next week.
Ian Poulter, winner of last week's World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship, rebounded from an opening-round 72 with 8-under 63 on Friday. The nine-stroke impovement represents Poulter's career-best rebound from round-one to round-two since joining the TOUR in 2004. His previous-best was 78-70 (2007 Quail Hollow Championship) and 77-69 (2005 U.S. Open). Poulter posted 79-67 in rounds 3 and 4 of the 2006 Memorial Tournament, marking his largest margin of improvement between rounds on TOUR.
Poulter's bogey-free 63 included a front nine 5-under 30. Fifteen players have shot less than 30 on the front nine in tournament history at TPC Scottsdale. Chris DiMarco's 28 in round three of 2003 is the lowest.
Poulter shared the low round of the day with Nick Watney (74-63), who had a pair of eagles at holes 3 and 13 and a lone bogey at No. 16.
Former Nationwide Tour winners Scott Piercy and Bryce Molder have identical rounds of 68-67--135 to sit at 7 under through 36 holes. Both Piercy and Molder have yet to win on TOUR.
Brian Stuard (72-64), a PGA TOUR rookie, posted six birdies in his last seven holes for a career-best 64 in just his fifth start on TOUR. Stuard finished T2 at last week's Mayakoba Golf Classic at Riviera Maya-Cancun, which will benefit him greatly with the first reshuffle of the year coming after the Waste Management Phoenix Open.
John Rollins (69-66), who currently sits at No. 30 in the FedExCup standings and No. 26 in Ryder Cup rankings, is off to another good start this week. The three-time TOUR winner has finished in the top-30 in each of his four starts this season.
|
Phil Mickelson posted his second consecutive 68 to sit T24 at 6-under through 36 holes.
Defending champion Kenny Perry (68-70) is T54.
Kevin Streelman (69-67), the 2009 Kodak Challenge winner, is back in the hunt for that title again this year. Streelman holed a 5-foot putt for birdie in round one at the par-3 16thhole, this week's Kodak Challenge hole, to take a share of the lead, which he still holds through the second round. Rickie Fowler and Marc Leishman also joined the lead with birdies at No. 16 on Friday.
Bogey-free rounds on Friday: Anthony Kim (65), Ian Poulter (63), John Rollins (66), Charles Howell III (66), Kevin Streelman (67), Nathan Green (68), Chris DiMarco (69), J.J. Henry (66), Greg Owen (67).
Scoring Averages at TPC Scottsdale:
|
Rocco Mediate, who shot 74 in Thursday's first round, withdrew before the start of round two.