Patrick Sheehan recorded a hole-in-one on the par-3 fifth hole during Friday’s second round. He used a 3-iron from 212 yards to post the 20th ace since the tournament moved to the TPC River Highlands in 1984 and the first here since Blaine McCallister aced the eight hole in 2004. Not only did Sheehan dunk his first ace on the PGA TOUR, he also holed out from 164 yards on the 17th to save par after hitting his tee shot into the water. • The cut came at even-par 140 with 73 players advancing to weekend play. The eight-stroke difference between the leaders and the cut matched the lowest on TOUR this season -- Chrysler Classic of Tucson, THE PLAYERS Championship and the Zurich Classic of New Orleans. Twenty-six players are within three strokes of the lead. • Second-round leader Darron Stiles sits in this position for just the second time on TOUR (64th start) and the second time this year -- 2006 FedEx St. Jude Classic (tied for 22nd). This is Stiles’ third start at the TPC River Highlands, where he has finished in a tie for ninth (2005) and a tie for 11th (2003). The tie for ninth is one of just two career top-10s for Stiles (tied for ninth-Chrysler Classic of Tucson). He has earned 20.5% ($195,529) of his career earnings at the TPC River Highlands. • Darron Stiles has split his season between the PGA TOUR and Nationwide Tour having played seven events on each prior to this week. He has made a combined nine of 14 cuts with two top-10s on the Nationwide Tour, including his fourth victory on that circuit at the Rheem Classic in Fort Smith, Arkansas (May 14th). He sits 14th on the Nationwide Tour money list after finishing 143rd on the PGA TOUR money list in 2005. • A few past champions made their way up the leaderboard on Friday -- Stewart Cink (1997), Brent Geiberger (1999) and Notah Begay III (2000). Cink fired a 5-under 65 and Begay a 4-under 66 to sit in a tie for third, two strokes behind the leader Darron Stiles. Just behind them is Geiberger (68) tied for seventh at 5-under. • Notah Begay III made his first cut in five starts this season on the PGA TOUR. He sits in a tie for third through two rounds. Begay, who played the 2005 season on a Major Medical Extension, lost his exempt status on the PGA TOUR after finishing 236th on the money list last year. He has played eight times on the Nationwide Tour with two top-25s and is 112th on their money list. • Fairfield, Connecticut’s J.J. Henry continues to stay in the hunt for his first PGA TOUR victory at 4-under 136 (tied for 13th). In 177 previous TOUR starts, Henry has three runner-up finishes, including one this season at the FBR Open in Phoenix. A win this week would not only give him a two-year exemption on TOUR, the 375 points he would earn towards making the U.S. Ryder Cup team would jump him into the top 10 (778.750 points) with seven weeks to play. Henry’s best finish in seven previous starts at the TPC River Highlands is a tie for 21st in 2003. • Ryan Moore, 2005 NCAA Player of the Year, is making just his 10th start this season after having hand surgery in March. Moore, who earned his 2006 TOUR card via Sponsor Exemptions in 2005, sits in a tie for seventh after two rounds of his first Buick Championship. • Joe Ogilvie posted the best round of the tournament to date with a 7-under 63. The 63 helped Ogilvie jump 94 spots from tie for 101st to tie for seventh. • 2005 champion Brad Faxon missed the cut after rounds of 74-71. He is the third defending champion to miss the cut in 2006, following Tim Petrovic at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans and Michael Campbell at the U.S. Open Championship. He is the first defending champion to miss the cut the following year in Cromwell, Conn. since David Frost missed in 1995. Note: Greg Norman was disqualified in 1996. • After posting just two eagles during Thursday’s first round, the field recorded 13 on Friday. That’s the most in a round at the TPC Highlands since the tournament moved to this course in 1984. In fact, it’s more than the four-round total for seven of the 22 tournaments held here in Cromwell. Six of the eagles came on the par-5 13th hole, six came on three of the par-4 holes and Patrick Sheehan aced the par-3 fifth hole. • Five players hit all 14 fairways on Friday -- Mark Brooks, Ben Curtis, Marco Dawson, Jonathan Kaye and Scott Verplank. It’s nothing new for Verplank, who is ranked third on TOUR with an average of 73.8%, but it was a big improvement for Dawson who sits tied for 113rd on TOUR (59.0%). Verplank has hit 27 of 28 through two rounds. • Jose Coceres withdrew after 13 holes on Friday due to a bad back. Coceres was 2 over for the tournament at the time of withdrawal. • Brett Quigley, who is not in this week’s Buick Championship field, was added to the 2006 British Open field yesterday after the R&A awarded a 13th exemption to the International Qualifier which was cancelled earlier in the week at Congressional Country Club due to heavy rain. The other 12 -- Tom Pernice Jr, Brett Wetterich, Vaughan Taylor, Lee Westwood, Greg Owen, Bo Van Pelt, J.B. Holmes, Jerry Kelly, Ted Purdy, Steve Elkington, Jeff Maggert and Aaron Baddeley. Quigley had originally missed the 12th spot by .03 • Scoring averages for the first two rounds: Front 9 Back 9 Total Cumulative Thursday 35.282 35.282 70.564 Friday 35.584 35.299 70.833 70.723
• Here’s how the nine former champions fared in the opening
two rounds: • There were four bogey-free rounds on Friday – Stewart Cink, Notah Begay III, Ryan Moore and Shane Bertsch. Begay and Moore carry the longest current streaks into the weekend with 24 straight holes without a bogey.
• Below is the breakdown of all the players in the field
with ties to the area: |
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