Steve Stricker shoots 63, leads by five
Steve Stricker followed up an opening-round 5-under-par 68 with a 10-under 63 to move atop the leaderboard at the midway point of the Hyundai Tournament of Champions. At 15-under 131, he holds a five-stroke cushion over Webb Simpson.Stricker’s 63 is the lowest second-round score in Tournament history, topping 64s posted by Kevin Na/2012, Robert Garrigus/2011, Mike Weir/2005, David Duval/1999 and Lee Janzen/1995. By comparison, it fell just one shy of the low 18 at The Plantation Course (62, Graeme McDowell/2011/R4, K.J. Choi/2003/R3).
Stricker’s personal-best round on Tour was a 60 during the opening round of the 2010 John Deere Classic.
Stricker’s five-stroke lead equals the largest 36-hole lead at the Hyundai Tournament of Champions (David Duval/1999).
Stricker, an 11-time PGA Tour winner, is playing in the event for the sixth time and for the third consecutive season. In his last three trips to Kapalua, he has finished 2nd-2008, T10-2010 and T4-2011. His previous-best round at The Plantation Course was a closing-64 in 2008.
With victories at the 2011 Memorial Tournament and the John Deere Classic, Stricker won multiple events for the third straight season on Tour. He is the only golfer to have multiple wins each of the last three years (2009, 2010, 2011).
This is the 12th time that Stricker has held or shared the second-round lead. In the previous 11 times, he carried the second-round lead to victory four times, including his last three (2011 Memorial Tournament, 2010 John Deere Classic, 2009 Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial, 1996 Western Open).
Stricker, Michael Bradley and David Toms are the only players in the 27-man field who competed in the Hyundai Tournament of Champions when it was held at La Costa Country Club in Carlsbad, CA, before moving to Hawaii in 1999.
Stricker leads the field through two rounds in Strokes Gained – Putting, gaining a total of 6.606 strokes on the field.
Webb Simpson, 68-68, 2nd
Webb Simpson’s 2012 season has begun similar to the way it ended in 2011. The 26-year-old Simpson, who finished second in the FedExCup, finished in the top 10 in six of his final seven events in 2011 including two victories and a runner-up finish. He currently stands in solo-second place following matching rounds of 68.
Simpson’s 2011 season included 12 top-10 finishes, second on Tour to Luke Donald’s 14. The second-youngest player in the field this week is one of 12 first-time winners from 2011 in the champions-only field.
Kevin Na, 73-64, 3rd
Kevin Na followed up an opening-round even-par 73 with a 9-under 64 on Saturday. At the time it equaled the lowest second-round score in Tournament history (Robert Garrigus/2011, Mike Weir/2005, David Duval/1999 and Lee Janzen/1995) until Stricker topped it later on Saturday.
Na’s 29 on the back nine equaled the low-9 hole score on the back nine at The Plantation Course (Vijay Singh/2004/R2).
Na became the first person to eagle the final two holes (Nos. 17-18) at the Plantation Course. The only other player to eagle the par-4 17th hole was Darren Clarke (R3, 2004).
Na hit all 18 greens in regulation on Saturday.
Jonathan Byrd, 67-71, T4
Defending champion and first-round leader Jonathan Byrd carded a bogey-free 2-under 71 on Saturday and sits T4, seven strokes behind Steve Stricker.
Byrd, who defeated Robert Garrigus in a playoff at last year’s Hyundai Tournament of Champions, was one of just seven players last season never to fall outside of the top 30 on the FedExCup points list. He ended the season ranked a career-best 27th in the standings.
In Jonathan Byrd’s 18 career rounds at the Plantation Course, he has broken par 17 times. His lone time shooting par or worse came with a final-round 74 in 2008.
Defending champions have done well at this event recently with Geoff Ogilvy winning back-to-back in 2009 and 2010 and Stuart Appleby winning three consecutive events from 2004-2006.
Miscellaneous Notes
Rory Sabbatini was accessed a two-stroke penalty after arriving late for his 11:35 a.m. tee time. He ended the day with a 3-under 70 and sits T10.
Since 1983, second-round leaders/co-leaders have gone on to win this event 14 of 29 times, most recently Geoff Ogilvy in 2009.
Winning the Hyundai Tournament of Champions has traditionally sparked an outstanding season – out of the last 20 winners, 2008 champion Daniel Chopra is the only player who failed to advance to the Tour
Championship by Coca-Cola, the fourth and final event in the PGA Tour Playoffs for the FedExCup.
Bogey-free Rounds:
Friday: Michael Bradley (68), Keegan Bradley (69)
Saturday: Steve Stricker (63), Chris Kirk (66), Jonathan Byrd (71)
The par-4 first hole played the toughest on Saturday, yielding an average of 4.370 and no birdies for the second-consecutive day.
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