Snedeker still steady at Wyndham
Historic 59 followed by 67, two-shot edge
GREENSBORO, N.C. — Brandt Snedeker couldn’t block out the buzz that surrounded his first-round 11-under-par 59 at the Wyndham Championship. He refocused just in time to reclaim the lead.
Snedeker followed his historic opening score with a 67 on Friday to take a two-stroke lead into the weekend.
A day after becoming the 10th player in PGA Tour history to break 60, Snedeker moved to 14-under 126 halfway through the final PGA Tour event before the playoffs.
“You hear people telling you every two seconds, ‘Mr. 59,’ or saying how cool it was to watch it,” Snedeker said. “So, yes, totally on your mind.”
D.A. Points shot a 64 to reach 12 under — one stroke ahead of C.T.
Pan, who also had a 64. David Hearn, Peter Malnati, Keith Mitchell, Harris English, Brett Stegmaier and Sergio Garcia were 9 under.
Snedeker, the 2012 Fedex Cup champion, won this tournament in 2007 before it moved across town to the par-70 Sedgefield Country Club. He had the tour’s first 59 of the year during the first round.
But it wasn’t easy to follow a score like that. Of the nine previous players who have broken 60 on the tour, six had to play the next day, and only one has shot better than 65 in that round: Justin Thomas, who had a 64 in the second round of last year’s Sony Open.
By the time Snedeker teed off Friday afternoon, that low score had held up for a one-stroke lead. It temporarily slipped away when he had three bogeys on the front nine.
He reclaimed the lead late in his round with nifty putting. He sank two putts longer than 30 feet, one for eagle on the par-5 15th and another for birdie on the par-4 16th, and wrapped up with the best two-roundscore at this tournament since Carl Pettersson’s 125 a decade ago.
Points, who has made only one cut since January and failed to reach the weekend in 19 of his 24 tournaments this season, had a strong front nine with three birdies and an eagle on the par-5 fifth hole, where he sank a 40foot putt.
At Indianapolis, Sung
Hyun Park shot a 9-under 63 for a share of the lead with Lizette Salas during the suspended second round of the Indy Women in Tech Championship. Salas, the first-round leader after a 62, had a 69 to match Park at 13 under at Brickyard Crossing. Las Vegas resident Danielle Kang (68) and Nasa Hataoka (69) were two shots back.
At Endicott, N.Y., Doug Garwood birdied the final three holes for an 8-under 64 and the first-round lead in the Dick’s Sporting Goods Open. Michael Bradley and Marco Dawson shot 65, Woody Austin and Clark Dennis followed at 66, and Bob Estes and Tom Gillis were at 67.
At Gothenburg, Sweden, England’s Paul Waring birdied four of the last seven holes for a 7-under 63 and a share of the Nordea Masters lead with Scotland’s Scott Jamison (65) at 11-under 129. South Africa’s Thomas Aiken (65) was two shots back.
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