Canadians staying in the hunt at Wyndham
Former teenage prodigy An Byeong-hun seized the sole halfway lead at the Wyndham Championship in North Carolina on Friday as big guns Webb Simpson, Jordan Spieth and Paul Casey focused their sights on a weekend shootout.
An remained bogey-free for the tournament as he carded a tidy 5-under-par 65 in the second round on a languid afternoon at Sedgefield Country Club in Greensboro.
“It was an OK day,” the 27-yearold South Korean said after signing for a 13-under 127 score.
An led American Brice Garnett by one stroke, with a group of six, including 2011 champion Simpson and Canadians Adam Svensson and Mackenzie Hughes just two shots off the lead.
Svensson’s 61 was the best score of the day by three shots, and he reacted incredulously when asked by a reporter when had been the last time he had broken 60. “Sixty? Never done it,” he said. Svensson, from Surrey, B.C., likely will need to finish in third place or better this week to move into the top 125 in the Fedex Cup standings and secure his PGA Tour card for next season.
A highly touted amateur player, Svensson won the 2015 Web.com Tour (now Korn Ferry Tour) qualifying tournament by seven strokes. He won both the Phil Mickelson and Jack Nicklaus award as a collegiate at Division II Barry University.
Hughes, of Hamilton, followed up his opening round 63 with a 66 on Friday to stay close to the lead.
Corey Conners of Listowel, Ont., and Roger Sloan of Merritt, B.C., were at 5-under after both carded 66s, while Mike Weir (69) of Sarnia, Ont., was at 4-under.
Nick Taylor of Abbotsford, B.C. (3-under, 69), Adam Hadwin of Abbotsford (2-under, 70) and Ben Silverman of Thornhill, Ont. (1-under, 67) all missed the cut.
Casey shot a 65 to sit just three shots off the pace, and another superb day on the greens left Spieth (67) four behind, well within striking distance heading into the weekend.
Lurking in a tie for 12th, Spieth is still mixing some fine play with the occasional poor swing, and he found a ready scapegoat for a wayward second shot at the parfive 15th that ended up out of bounds.
“The cart paths are just so inconveniently placed. I almost think of them as the out-of-bounds markers,” said the three-time major winner.
“If it stays in play, I think I look at the round a little bit differently than just average.”
Playing companion Casey was certainly impressed with Spieth’s putting.
“Jordan was making the hole look like a bucket,” said the Englishman, who predicts a winning score of at least 20-under.