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Allenby shoots 68 to tie with Wi at top of leader board

Robert Allenby shot a 2-under 68 on Friday, getting him to 5 under after two rounds of the Honda Classic and into a tie atop the leaderboard with first-round leader Charlie Wi -- who shot a wild round of even-par 70.

"I think 5 under is a pretty good score after two days," the Australian said. "This golf course is only going to get tougher from this moment on."

Allenby is winless in his last 139 US PGA Tour events, yet arrived at Palm Beach Gardens this week insisting that it's only a matter of time before that streak ends -- and his play is backing up that assertion.

"At the start of the week, I thought 10 under, 11 under would probably win this tournament," Allenby said. "I'm 5 under at the moment. I can definitely shoot 5 under on the weekend, even if it blows like this, if I'm on my game and if I can play the way I know I can play."

His round was relatively problem-free.

Wi could hardly say the same.

He fell out of the lead by making triple bogey on No. 11, his second hole, after balls found hazards and bunkers with such regularity that he actually thought he made an 8 instead of a 7.

"Got a stroke back there," Wi said.

A run of three straight birdies -- starting with a chip-in from just off the green at 12 -- immediately undid the damage caused by the triple, but by round's end, it almost seemed as if Wi was alternating birdies and bogeys.

He made back-to-back birdies to pass Allenby with two holes left, but dropped another shot on the par-4 ninth, his last of the day.

In total, he had eight pars, six birdies, three bogeys and one triple-bogey -- not to mention six consecutive 3's at one point.

While the wind abated somewhat from Thursday, the breezes did pick up as the second round went along -- and par remained a very solid score. The cut was 4-over and only 30 broke par, with 71.9 being the average score for the round.

Will MacKenzie and Steve Stricker were tied for third at 3 under after 69s.

Daniel Chopra, Joe Ogilvie, Mathias Gronberg, Camilo Villegas and Mark Wilson were another shot back.

Wilson and Gronberg shot 66s, the best rounds of the day.
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