Sweden’s Lingmerth extends lead at tough TPC Potomac
David Lingmerth knows he won’t have to shoot 20-under par for the week to win at tricky TPC Potomac in Maryland. After two near-flawless rounds in the Quicken Loans National, he was halfway there.
Lingmerth, 29, of Sweden, winner of a Web.com Tour event on the punishing Washington-area layout in 2012, shot another 5-under 65 Friday to extend his lead to two shots over Geoff Ogilvy.
Lingmerth used his reliable fade off the tee to avoid trouble and set up birdie opportunities. He has gone 34 consecutive holes without a bogey. His final fade of the day was possibly his best, a 6iron from 177 yards that he held up against the wind on the par-4 18th. It finished 7 feet from the hole, leading to birdie.
Several players said before the tournament that 10 under might be good enough to win. Lingmerth’s winning score five years ago was 8 under.
“It’s definitely as tough as advertised,” he said. “It happens quite a bit actually that [the] two-round score ends up being pretty close to the final winning score. That’s not necessarily always the case. So I’m hoping to keep plugging away, making more birdies over the weekend.”
Lingmerth hit 12 of 14 fairways Thursday and 10 of 14 Friday, and he hit all but five greens in regulation each day. His short game was sharp, too. After his approach came up short on the uphill par-3 12th, he hit a bumpand-run into a steep slope that trickled onto the green and settled inside 2 feet.
The former University of Arkansas player won the 2015 Memorial for his lone PGA Tour title.
Ogilvy played in the first group off the 10th tee and also shot 65.
Daniel Summerhays shot 68 and was alone in third, four shots back. Sung Kang, who shot 69 amid tougher conditions in the afternoon, was five shots back along with Arjun Atwal (67).
Ogilvy took advantage of calm morning conditions and flawless greens to birdie three of his first four holes. He added birdies from 6 feet on No. 1 and inside 2 feet on Nos. 2 and 4. He finished with an 8-footer for par.
Ogilvy, the 2006 U.S. Open champion who was once ranked No. 3 in the world, now sits at 232 and had to take a one-time exemption for being in the top 50 in career earnings to maintain his PGA Tour playing privileges this season. He missed the U.S. Open for the first time in more than a decade and isn’t in the British Open, either, although that could change this week. The top four players in the Quicken Loans National field who aren’t already exempt will qualify for the British Open, provided that they finish inside the top 12.
Other tournament
French Open: Spaniard Adrian Otaegui and Peter Uihlein of the United States shared the lead at 8 under after rain disrupted play in the second round in Guyancourt. Otaegui shot a 5-under 66 after rolling in six birdies on the Golf National course that will stage the 2018 Ryder Cup. After storms halted play for more than two hours late in the afternoon, Uihlein joined him at the top of the leader board with a 67 — matching his score from the first round.