American veteran David Toms made the most of ideal scoring conditions after a lengthy weather delay to burst seven shots ahead of the field in record-equaling style at the Colonial Invitational on Friday.
Co-leader overnight with compatriot Chez Reavie, the red-hot Toms birdied four of the last eight holes for a second successive eight-under-par 62 at Colonial Country Club.
The 44-year-old, who was beaten in a playoff for the Players Championship last week, matched the PGA Tour record for the lowest 36-hole start with a 16-under total of 124. Fellow American Pat Perez set the same mark after the first two rounds of the 2009 Bob Hope Classic.
Photo: AFP
Australians Steve Bowditch (64) and John Senden (66) were tied for second at nine under with South Korean Charlie Wi (67) and American Mark Wilson (66).
Toms, however, spreadeagled the field with another bogey-free display at Colonial where he reached 17 of 18 greens in regulation and needed only 27 putts.
He birdied the first, fourth, seventh and ninth to stretch his lead to three but, after hitting his tee shot at the 11th, had to wait two-and-a-half hours to resume when play was suspended due to the threat of lightning.
Toms, whose most recent PGA Tour victory came at the 2006 Sony Open, said conditions following the weather delay were typical of late afternoon golf after a rain shower.
Toms has often held sizeable leads in PGA Tour events and he felt the recipe for success was simply to maintain a blinkered approach and keep moving forward.
Former US Open champion Jim Furyk carded a 69 to lie a distant 12 strokes off the pace, level with Australian Adam Scott who returned a 70.
Scott is bidding to become the first player to complete a career sweep of victories in the four PGA Tour events held in Texas, having already won the Houston Open (2007), Byron Nelson Championship (2008) and Texas Open (2010).
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