BYRD SOARS AT SUGARLOAF
Jonathan Byrd - leads by three
Following the recent victories by Trevor Immelman, Adam Scott, Anthony Kim and Sergio Garcia, yet another golfing young gun is on track to win on the US PGA Tour.
This time it's American Jonathan Byrd who was in the lead after Friday's second round of the AT&T Classic at TPC Sugarloaf in Duluth, Georgia.
The 30-year-old, chasing his 4th Tour victory since turning professional in 2000 and tied with four others including the seasoned veteran, Kenny Perry, when he teed off this morning, took full advantage of the course's soft greens and the overcast skies that kept them that way all day to shoot a second successive 6-under 66 for a 12-under 132 total that catapulted him into a three-stroke lead heading into the weekend.
Perry and Ryan Palmer, another of the five that led the first round, are in second place at 135 after rounds of 69 with three more Americans, David Toms, Charles Howell III and Parker McLachlan a further shot back on 136.
Defending champion Zach Johnson (70) and Sugarloaf local Stewart Cink (71) were seven shots off the pace at 5-under, while England's Brian Davis, the leading Brit at Sugarloaf this week, is in joint 16th place after posting rounds of 69 and 71.
Paul Goydos, who earned a million dollars when he took eventual winner Garcia to a play-off at The Players last week, missed the cut by a stroke
Byrd, who finished 9th last year and 6th two years ago when Phil Mickelson romped home to win in a stunning 28-under, has posted just one single and one double bogey along with his 15 birdies in the first 36 holes.
He has also averaged 301 yards off the tee, found the fairways 85% of the time, hit 83.3% of greens in regulation and needed 27.5 putts per round.
But what has most impressed Mickelson who along with the bulk of the game's leading 20 top-guns, is not playing this week, and watched it on TV, was Byrd's aggression.
"I watched him just kind of stay aggressive, stay aggressive, stay aggressive, and he kept making birdies," Byrd told AP.
Byrd, who said, "I just kept telling myself that today. It's windy, but the greens are soft, so I've got to keep trying to hit it close and keep trying to make birdies," was upset with himself at giving away the round's only bogey with a three-putt at the par-5 6th.
"You just can't give away shots in a PGA Tour event with guys that are this good," Byrd said. "And that was just a pure giveaway. You do that in junior golf. You don't do that on the PGA Tour, but it happened and it might motivate me to play better."
Perry, the only one of the first round leaders who played in the afternoon downpour of Thursday, teed off at 08:00 on Friday and was relatively pleased with his round, but said he knew the inviting afternoon conditions would make shooting birdies easier for Byrd and co.
Perry's consolation is that his excellent play this week has helped him shrug away the unhappy memories of his Players Championship meltdown last week when he blew himself out of contention with a closing 81.
"I played good last week," Perry said. "I just got caught in a situation where it was very difficult on Sunday. We played in 30 mph winds on a golf course that was set up in major championship form, and I just didn't handle it very well.
"I mean, I hit one really bad, horrible, horrible golf shot when I scalded out of the bunker at 15 and made triple. But I take a lot from last week."
Palmer, in the meantime, stumbled with a double bogey at the par-4 fifth, dropping him to 4 under, but got pack in the hunt when he blasted into the back nine with an eagle on the par-five 10th
ALL THE SECOND ROUND SCORES
(USA unless stated, par 72):
132 Jonathan Byrd 66 66
135 Kenny Perry 66 69, Ryan Palmer 66 69
136 David Toms 67 69, Parker McLachlin 66 70, Charles Howell III 67 69
137 Camilo Villegas (Col) 68 69, Heath Slocum 69 68
138 Bob Sowards 67 71
139 Justin Bolli 73 66, Zach Johnson 69 70, Brian Gay 71 68, Jay Williamson 72 67, Craig Kanada 68 71, Stewart Cink 68 71
140 Chris Kirk 69 71, Brian Davis (Eng) 69 71, Ted Purdy 67 73, Matt Kuchar 71 69, Gavin Coles (Aus) 70 70, John Mallinger 68 72, Steve Elkington (Aus) 71 69, John Rollins 73 67, Brett Quigley 70 70, Brandt Jobe 73 67, Ryuji Imada (Jpn) 71 69, Bob Heintz 68 72, D.J. Trahan 70 70
141 Tom Byrum 72 69, Steve Flesch 68 73, Eric Axley 72 69, Gabriel Hjertstedt (Swe) 70 71, Bubba Watson 75 66, Nick O'Hern (Aus) 69 72, Guy Boros 68 73, Retief Goosen (Rsa) 73 68, Corey Pavin 72 69, Briny Baird 72 69, Troy Matteson 71 70
142 Bob Tway 72 70, Chris Riley 70 72, Dan Forsman 72 70, John Morse 71 71, Michael Allen 71 71, Kevin Sutherland 70 72, Marc Turnesa 74 68, Stephen Leaney (Aus) 70 72
143 Tom Scherrer 69 74, Esteban Toledo (Mex) 71 72, Omar Uresti 74 69, Joe Ogilvie 73 70, Reid Edstrom 72 71, James Driscoll 71 72, Kevin Streelman 71 72, Dustin Johnson 70 73, Bill Haas 69 74, Rich Beem 70 73, Shane Bertsch 71 72
144 David Lutterus (Rsa) 75 69, Jonathan Kaye 66 78, Jeff Gove 69 75, Kyle Thompson 76 68, Kenneth Ferrie (Eng) 76 68, Chez Reavie 72 72, Dean Wilson 73 71, Jim McGovern 74 70, Larry Mize 71 73, Andrew Buckle (Aus) 74 70, Lee Janzen 70 74, Todd Demsey 72 72, Ian Leggatt (Can) 72 72, Nick Flanagan (Aus) 72 72, Bob May 68 76, Len Mattiace 75 69, Robert Damron 71 73, John Huston 70 74
Missed the cut
145 Patrick Sheehan 68 77, Chris Stroud 73 72, Scott Dunlap 70 75, Jeff Overton 74 71, Brad Elder 74 71, Neal Lancaster 75 70, J.P. Hayes 72 73, Billy Andrade 75 70, J J Henry 72 73, Richard S Johnson (Swe) 73 72, Yong-eun Yang (Kor) 71 74, Grant Waite (Nzl) 75 70, Paul Goydos 73 72, Notah Begay III 75 70, Glen Day 74 71
146 Brad Adamonis 73 73, Scott McCarron 70 76, Lucas Glover 73 73, Tag Ridings 72 74, Marco Dawson 71 75, Brenden Pappas (Rsa) 72 74, Travis Perkins (Sco) 73 73, John Riegger 73 73, Carlos Franco (Par) 73 73
147 Michael Bradley 72 75, Paul Stankowski 73 74, Jason Dufner 75 72, Brent Geiberger 71 76, Ronald Whittaker 73 74, Paul Claxton 73 74, Scott Sterling 75 72, Roberto Castro 74 73, Martin Laird 73 74, Jimmy Walker 78 69, Olin Browne 73 74, Jason Day (Aus) 76 71
148 Willie Wood 75 73, Jason Allred 78 70, Kris Cox 72 76, Jon Mills (Can) 73 75, Dicky Pride 78 70, Skip Kendall 76 72, Douglas Labelle 74 74, Jason Gore 68 80, Spike McRoy 74 74
149 Brett Rumford (Aus) 73 76, Jose Coceres (Arg) 78 71, Harrison Frazar 75 74, Mark Brooks 75 74
150 Steve Pate 77 73, Kevin Stadler 77 73, Garrett Willis 75 75, Mathias Gronberg (Swe) 75 75, J.L. Lewis 72 78, Tommy Gainey 76 74, Robert Gamez 74 76
151 Jeff Hull 77 74, Greg Norman (Aus) 80 71
152 Jin Park (Kor) 77 75, Richard Johnson (Wal) 76 76, Chad Collins 77 75, Cody Freeman 76 76
153 Kelly Sellers 76 77, Scott Parel 78 75, Ronnie Black 77 76, Nicholas Thompson 79 74
154 Mike Heinen 78 76, Bob Burns 77 77
155 David Duval 78 77, Steve Allan (Aus) 76 79, Alex Cejka (Ger) 77 78
159 Luke List 79 80
163 Doug Dvorak (Gb) 85 78, Jim, jr. Gallagher 84 79