Second round scores and summary from the Tour Championship
Second round scores and summary from the Tour Championship
INNISFIL, Ont. - Daniel Im carded a four under par 68 to hold a one stroke lead over Marc Lawless after two rounds of the $235,000 Tour Championship.
Im is at 12 under par 132 after his second trip around a damp National Pines Golf Club that saw several brief showers roll through.
Graham DeLaet shot 68 to sit alone in third at 134 while Scott Gibson (68), Tom Stankowski (70) and Wes Heffernan (68) are at eight under par 134.
Dustin Risdon shot 71 to share seventh spot with John Ellis who slipped to a 73.
Ryan Cairns, Mike Grob and Dale Vallely all shot 71 to share ninth spot at 5 under par 139 heading into the weekend.
“I had an awesome round going. I started on the back nine and was five under through 10 holes and then it started raining,” said Im, who opened with a pair of birdies.
“It’s been quite a while since I’ve played in the rain so I had to get used to playing in it again.”
Im’s only bogeys came on his final nine.
“They moved the tee up at No. 4 and I was forced to hit 3-wood instead of driver off the tee. I put it in the deep rough and was forced to lay up,” he explained.
“I made bogey there and then hit a bad hook at No. 6 that hit a tree and almost ricocheted into the water.
“Even though I made another bogey, I saved a shot or two because if I didn’t hit the tree, it would have been in the hazard.”
Despite his 68, Im admitted he left a lot of shots on the golf course.
“I had a good look at a couple of eagle putts but didn’t make it. Overall, though, I played solid golf today and had a great caddy with me.”
The 63 Marc Lawless threw at the board is just one off the course record set by Byron Smith last year.
“I switched to a different putter today,” said Lawless. “I putted horribly yesterday with the other one and I found one today on the practice green that seemed to jell with me. I rolled it well it well out there.
“All of my approach shots were fairly close. I holed a bunker shot at No. 15 and chipped in at my tenth hole, so yeah, it was a great round.”
The only blemish on his card was at his final hole when he three-putted from 40 feet.
“That was the longest putt I had all day,” continued Lawless. “Shooting a 62 and tying the course record would also have been a personal best.
“You don’t want to finish with a bogey - especially a three-putt - but I’m still happy with what happened today.”
“I’ve been hitting it great the last few weeks and just want to keep doing what I’m doing heading into Q-School this fall. I’m feeling good about things and ready to go.”
Although he didn’t have to deal with as much rain as the afternoon groups, Scott Gibson went out early and battled swirling winds.
“The wind today reminded me of when I won in Texas in 2005. You have to keep the ball low in conditions like this, which is how I usually play.
“I played with a couple of guys (Kris Wasylowich and Eugene Smith) that were bombing their 3-wood tee shots past my driver all day,” said Gibson.
“I just told my caddie I was going to play my own game and not worry about it.
“I wasn’t hitting it very far at all, but I kept it in the fairway,” he continued.” Even if I have a 3-iron into the green, I don’t care because I can just get it up by the green or on the green itself.
“I’ve been putting pretty well this week. There wasn’t any one thing that stood out except for a chip-in birdie at No. 6 after I hit it short right.
“The pin was back left but I made a perfect chip that rolled all the way up the right side of the green and then started rolling backwards and ended up in the hole. It was like Tiger’s chip at No. 16 at Augusta.
“I made par at my first nine holes and I was happy with that because of the way the weather was. It was just basically fairways and greens all day.”
Also helping this week is veteran caddy Joe Fitzpatrick.
He’s a great caddy,” said Gibson. “We teamed up in Seaforth last week and he was good enough to come up here this week.
“We work really well together and it’s been great having him on the bag. I probably wouldn’t be in this position right now if he wasn’t here.
“He’s talked me into playing safer on some shots and it’s been good. I’m really appreciative of having him with me the last two weeks.”
A group of 64 players made the cut at 2 over par or better.
Best Regards,
John Berkovich - Media Director
Canadian Tour
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Oakville, Ontario
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