Brandt Snedeker extended his run of strong performances at the Wyndham Championship by shooting a 65 on Friday to take a share of the lead with Arjun Atwal after two rounds.
Snedeker had an eagle and three birdies to move to 12-under 127 and into familiar territory atop the leaderboard of golf’s final pre-playoff event. He won the tournament in 2007 and shared the lead after a rainy first day last year.
He again has company in the lead, Atwal, who lost his tour card last month and is bidding to become the first player in 24 years to qualify on Monday and then win an ensuing tournament. He followed his tournament-record-tying first round with a 67.
Since the Wyndham returned to the par-70 Sedgefield Country Club in 2008, both winners — Carl Pettersson in 2008 and Ryan Moore last year — either held or shared the lead after two rounds.
Kevin Streelman (65), Lucas Glover (65) and John Rollins (65) were at 11-under, while Webb Simpson (64) was at 130. Justin Leonard, whose 63 was the best round of the day, joined Boo Weekley (67) and Tim Herron (64) on 131.
Snedeker’s only USPGA Tour victory came at the Wyndham, when it was held across town at Forest Oaks Country Club. He was in the lead last year when severe weather forced an early end to the first day of play and he finished in a tie for fifth, two strokes behind Moore.
“I feel comfortable here. Though the golf courses are different, they’re the same kind of grass and greens, stuff I grew up on, very similar,” Snedeker said.
Snedeker, who was two strokes behind Atwal at seven-under after the first round, came up with a second consistent trip around Sedgefield, calling it “the best back-to-back ball-striking rounds I’ve had in a while.”
He started on the back nine and eagled the par-five 15th, then had three birdies on the front nine of his bogey-free round and the Wyndham record of 61 could have been matched for a second straight day, had Snedeker — who has the best putting average among USPGA Tour players — not missed four putts of eight feet or shorter.
“I left quite a few out there,” Snedeker said, adding that missing those putts “is very unlike me ... Frustrating to go play that good of golf and the one thing I’m normally the best at — putting — wasn’t there, but it never seems to work where you got everything working at the same time.”
Atwal, who played his way into the Wyndham field by sharing first place at the qualifier at Forest Oaks, is not eligible to play in The Barclays or any of the other playoff events because his minor medical exemption ran out when he came up short on the money list following the Canadian Open.
He said his main goal is to earn his card for next year — something he can do by climbing the earnings lists on the USPGA and Nationwide tours, or, of course, by winning.
“There’s no doubt. I’m going to definitely be thinking about winning,” Atwal said. “If I get into contention on Sunday on the back nine, I won’t be scared. Hopefully, my swing holds up and we’ll see what happens.”
A total 78 players made the cut of three-under.
Among those on the bubble for the playoffs, which begin next week in New Jersey for the top 125 players on the points list, No. 123 Andres Romero (seven-under) and No. 125 Michael Letzig (six-under) advanced to the weekend. No. 126 Mike Weir (two-under) and No. 129 Brett Quigley (two-under) didn’t.
One more who didn’t make it was Anthony Kim, who at No. 14 on the points list was the highest-ranked player in the field. The potential candidate for the US Ryder Cup team was two-over and missed his second straight cut.
“I know I put the captain in a tough spot here ... but hopefully, with enough practice, I’ll start getting my game into shape ... and make it an easy decision,” Kim said.
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