Schenk getting results in 10th straight week
PALM HARBOR, Fla. – Adam Schenk is playing for the 10th consecutive week on the PGA Tour and finally seeing some good results, making enough putts Friday for a 2-under 69 that gave him a oneshot lead going into the weekend at the Valspar Championship.
Schenk had four birdies, all but one of them from inside 10 feet, and finished with a bogey from the bunker short of the 18th on the Copperhead course at Innisbrook.
That didn’t bother him too much because of the 20-foot putt he made for par on the par-3 eighth, the 10-footer for par he made on the 10th and the long upand-down for par on the par-5 11th.
“I feel like a lot of times you … maybe shoot 2 under and you’re like, ‘It could have been 6 or 7.’ But it really couldn’t have been a ton better with the amount of putts I made,” he said.
He was at 7-under 135, one shot ahead of Kramer Hickok, who had a 68.
Jordan Spieth is a big part of the weekend, wasting a great round of driving with some suspect short irons. He still posted a 70 and was only two shots behind.
Also part of the weekend is Nick Gabrelcik, who grew up about 10 miles away and is a regular at the Valspar Championship – working the range, carrying signs, caddying in the pro-am. Now the University of North Florida junior is in the field on a sponsor exemption.
Gabrelcik, who lost in the semifinals at Oakmont in the 2021 U.S. Amateur, opened with a 75 and responded with a 67 to easily make the cut. He was at even-par 142.
“Going into the round I was like, ‘We got nothing to lose, we’re 4 over, so let’s just go out and have fun.’ Maybe it’s the last round, maybe it’s not,” Gabrelcik said. “Got the putter going early, made four birdies my first five holes and was like, ‘All right, let’s just keep it together, let’s not play defensive now.’
“It’s an awesome feeling making my first cut.”
Also making the cut was Ludwig Aberg, the No. 1 amateur in the world. Aberg also played the weekend at Bay Hill.
Tommy Fleetwood had a 69 and joined Spieth in the group two shots behind along with Cody Gribble (65) and Davis Riley (68), who lost in a playoff to Sam Burns at Innisbrook last year.
Burns, the two-time defending champion, is trying to become the first player to win the same tournament three straight years since Steve Stricker at the John Deere Classic (2009-11). He had a 73 and was seven shots behind.
Justin Thomas had a 70 and was in the group at 3-under 139.
LIV Tour
MARANA, Ariz. – Marc Leishman holed a series of long birdie putts and even a few big putts for par to post a 6under 65 for a one-shot lead Friday in the LIV Golf League in the high desert of Arizona.
The second LIV Golf event of the season is at The Gallery north of Tucson, where the former Match Play Championship was held for two years.
For stroke play, the undulated greens and pins tucked on crowns made it difficult in spots to find birdies. That wasn't an issue for Leishman. The Australian made from 20 feet on the 14th, from the same range on the 16th and then rolled in a 40-foot putt on No. 3.
He also made a 12-footer for par on No.
4. With only one bogey on his card, he led by one shot over Abraham Ancer, Louis Oosthuizen and Matthew Wolff.
Charles Howell III, who opened LIV's second season with a win at Mayakoba three weeks ago, had one of the best turnarounds.
He opened with a double bogey and was 3 over after four holes, only to answer with four straight birdies. He finished with a 69.
“I hung in there nicely,” Howell said. “You're in altitude, the pins are on the edges of slopes, it's hard to get the ball close. Birdies aren't easy.”
Howell is among eight players who previously played The Gallery when it was a World Golf Championship event in 2007 and 2008. Henrik Stenson won in 2007 and lost in semifinals to Tiger Woods the following year before it moved to a different course on Dove Mountain.
Stroke play wasn't as kind to Stenson. He was 4 over after seven holes and had to rally with four birdies the rest of the way for a 73.
Dustin Johnson also got off to a rough start with a tee shot into the desert for double bogey on No. 2, his starting hole in the shotgun start, and another double bogey on No. 7. He finished with three straight birdies from short range for a 73.
Joaquin Niemann, Peter Uihlein and David Puig, who signed with LIV Golf out of Arizona State, each were at 67. The group at 68 included Sergio Garcia and Pat Perez.
Niemann and Puig each play for Torque, which had a one-shot lead in the team competition over Smash and Iron Heads.
Cameron Smith, at No. 5 in the world the highest-ranked player with LIV Golf, struggled with his tee shots in the high desert. He rallied with three straight birdies late in his round, only to hit another wild drive on the 18th hole for bogey and a 71.
Thirty of the 48 players in the field broke par. That included Phil Mickelson (70) and Laurie Canter (70), who again filled in for Martin Kaymer as the German recovers from injury.
European Tour
ST. FRANCIS BAY, South Africa – Julien Brun took the lead at the SDC Championship on 8 under par before high winds forced the second round to be suspended on Friday.
The Frenchman carded a 5-under 67 on the St. Francis Links course but most of the afternoon’s play was lost because of the weather on South Africa’s notoriously blustery south coast.
Brun was ahead by a shot from Jens Dantorp, Albert Venter and Matthew Baldwin, who were also early starters and able to complete their second rounds.
Overnight co-leaders David Ravetto and Kristian Krogh Johannessen were three shots off the lead on 5 under but yet to finish their second rounds, which they’ll have to do early Saturday.