David Lingmerth fired a near-flawless second round 65 to extend his lead to two shots over Geoff Ogilvy at the Quicken Loans National.
The 29-year-old Swede, the winner of a Web.com Tour event on the punishing TPC Potomac Washington-area layout in 2012, used his reliable fade off the tee to avoid trouble and set up birdie opportunities, reports the PGA TOUR website.
He has gone 34 straight holes without a bogey. His final fade of the day was possibly his best, a 6-iron 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 on Thursday and 10 of 14 on 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 bump-and-run into a steep slope that trickled on to 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.
No one came close to challenging the leaders in the afternoon as the wind picked up, firming up the already-dry fairways and baking out the greens at TPC Potomac, which is hosting the event for the first time. The cut was 4 over.
Big numbers were easy to come by. Playing in the featured afternoon group with Rickie Fowler, Marc Leishman bogeyed four of his first six holes before rallying on the back nine to shoot 72 and remain in contention, eight shots off the lead. Fowler didn’t make a single birdie in his round of 72. He was 12 shots back.
Justin Thomas, the second-highest-ranked player in the field behind Fowler, couldn’t overcome the quadruple-bogey 9 he made on the 10th hole Thursday. He missed his second straight cut and hasn’t broken par since his record-tying 63 in the third round of the U.S. Open.
Russell Henley, who shot 67 on Thursday, made nine bogeys and was 10 shots worse on Friday. He still made the cut on the number.
Atwal is playing on a sponsor’s exemption from the tournament host, who happens to be a good friend – Tiger Woods, who is skipping this year’s tournament while he seeks treatment for his use of prescription drugs.
‘I’ve been talking to him almost every day, and obviously he’s one of my better best friends as I would say. He wants me to play well,’ Atwal said. ‘I’m hoping I won’t let him down.’
Photo: Rob Carr/Getty Images
