Ryan Palmer bogeyed the final but still shot 62 to hold a two-shot lead over Brandt Snedeker going into the weekend at the Farmer’s Insurance Open.
Palmer played the North course at Torrey Pines and so had a lot less to deal with because Tiger Woods was on the South. No scoreboards meant he pressed on only to know his position when he was done.
Woods opened his round with four putts from 25 feet for a double-bogey, and then a spurt of birdies around the turn to get some momentum, only to stall the rest of the way for a 71 that left him six shots behind.
But at least he’s still playing.
Phil Mickelson was wild again off the tee and shot 73 on the North to miss the cut by two shots. He also missed the cut in the desert last week. The other time Mickelson missed the cut in consecutive PGA TOUR events to start the year was in 1988. He was 17, and those were the only two TOUR events he played.
Joining him with a weekend off were defending champion Justin Rose, Xander Schauffele, Rickie Fowler and US Open champion Gary Woodland.
Palmer was worried about the cut when he was three over through eight holes on the South in the first round. He rallied to shoot 72 and carried that momentum into Friday.
‘I knew today when I got out here, the low rounds were out here,’ Palmer said. ‘A good five-, six-under-par round was to be had. I just took what I had and it turned into a 62. So driving the ball great and I was able to finally get some putts to go in. And the golf course with the par fives reachable and No 11 as well, it’s a golf course you can take if you’re hitting it well. ‘
Palmer lost in a playoff at Torrey Pines two years ago.
Snedeker, who won the wind-blown edition of this event in 2016, renewed his love affair for poa annua greens and shot 67 on the South to get into the final group, along with JB Holmes, whose 69 left him three shots behind.
Woods has won eight times as a pro at Torrey (including the US Open) and twice at Pebble Beach (including the US Open) and twice at La Costa in the WGC-Match Play (no US Opens there). He knows poa. And this time he says it wasn’t his friend, at least at the start.
His 25-foot birdie putt up the hill was wide left, leaving him 30 inches. Woods missed the hole on that one, and it ran down the slope about 5 1/2 feet away. And then he missed the next one.
‘It’s just poa,’ he said. ‘I tried to ram it in the hole and it bounced, and hit obviously a terrible third putt, pulled it. The second putt, it’s just what happens on poa. I tried to take the break out and it just bounced.’
He bounced it on four birdies in a five-hole stretch through the 10th hole, but he didn’t make another birdie until the 18th for his 71 that put him in the group at four-under 140.
Jordan Spieth (70), Jason Day (67) and Rory McIlroy (73) also were at 140.
