Brendon de Jonge coped with demanding conditions to earn a one-stroke lead over five players after the second round at the Valspar Championship in Florida on Friday.
On a day when Australian Adam Scott’s impressive cut streak ended amid poor putting, his former Presidents Cup teammate edged to the front with a two-under-par 69 at Innisbrook Resort in Palm Harbor.
After benign conditions on Thursday, a stiff breeze provided a sterner test for the second round, but De Jonge proved up to the challenge as he notched four birdies to post a six-under 136 halfway total.
De Jonge, the 2012 Zimbabwe Sportsman of the Year, described conditions as tricky and said he did not want to get too excited about his position.
“It’s one of those courses it’s tough enough to get it on the fairway when it’s still and then when the wind blows it’s added difficulty,” the world No. 86 told Golf Channel. “I feel like my game’s in good shape at the moment. It’s just a matter of putting four rounds together.”
World No. 3 Henrik Stenson (70) and Australian Open champion Jordan Spieth (67) were among a group one stroke behind, while first-round leader Brian Davis (76) plunged five strokes off the pace.
At least Davis made the cut, unlike Scott, who missed a series of short putts with a regular-length putter to shoot 75 and bow out early, ending the longest active cut streak on the PGA Tour.
Scott had been in the money for 45 consecutive events on the PGA Tour and 57 worldwide.
The 2013 Masters champion reverted to a regular putter last week after four years using a long putter, a move made with an eye toward the ban on anchoring the club against a player’s chest that will begin next year.
Others to miss the cut included defending champion John Senden and South African Ernie Els, who was somewhat fortunate not to get injured when an iron struck a tree trunk on his follow-through and snapped in half at the 16th hole.
TSHWANE OPEN
Little-known Spaniard Adrian Otaegui birdied five holes in succession as he snatched the clubhouse lead with a superb second round 62 at the Tshwane Open on Friday.
Otaegui, 22, holds a two-shot advantage at the Pretoria Country Club on 11-under-par ahead of South African Merrick Bremner, whose 66 took him to a tournament total of 131.
Otaegui, ranked No. 403 in the world, carded nine birdies and at one stage looked as though he could finish with the first-ever sub-60 round on the European Tour.
He arrived at the 17th hole needing two more birdies to achieve that feat, but only managed a par and then bogeyed his final hole for an eight-under-par 62.
“I was focused and didn’t know that I had made five birdies in a row,” he told reporters of his run from the eighth to the 12th hole. “I was playing well and made a few putts, that’s all I was thinking about. The best golf is when you think as little as possible, and this was one of those days.
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