Mercedes-Benz Championship: Second round notes  • The start of the second round of the Mercedes-Benz was delayed from 10:40 a.m. until 12:00 p.m. (local time) due to ongoing showers that hit Maui Thursday night and continued into Friday. • Players remained in twosomes but played off Nos. 1 and 10.
• Players were allowed 'preferred lies' in closely-mown areas, commonly known as lift, clean and place. Last year, there were seven tournaments that utilized 'preferred lies' in a total of 16 rounds. The 2005 PGA TOUR event at Kapalua used 'preferred lies' in round four due to an overnight/morning thunderstorm. • Arron Oberholser withdrew prior to the second round due to a back injury. He will receive $50,000 unofficial money and will not receive FedExCup points. • Through 36 holes, Davis Love III (T4) and Will MacKenzie (T2) lead the field in par-5 scoring average at 4.00. • Mercedes-Benz Championship rookie J.B. Holmes (T4) posted four straight birdies (Nos. 11-14) en route to a 5-under-par 68. As a rookie in 2006, Holmes was the youngest player to win on the season (23 years, 9 months, 9 days) as he captured the FBR Open. He also had success in Hawaii in 2006, as his first career top-10 (T10) came at the Sony Open in Hawaii. The 24-year-old Holmes is looking to become the youngest Mercedes-Benz Championship winner since Sergio Garcia (2002) at the age of 21 years, 11 months and 28 days. • 17 of the 33 players finished at par or better in the second round. • Through 36 holes, Trevor Immelman has hit 28 of 30 fairways (93.33 percent). • Through 36 holes, five players have hit 31 of 36 Greens in Regulation (86.11 percent) to lead in that category: Stephen Ames, Jim Furyk, J.J. Henry, Will MacKenzie and Kirk Triplett. • Five players in the top 10 through 36 holes are first-time participants at the Mercedes-Benz Championship: Will MacKenzie (T2), Trevor Immelman (T2), J.B. Holmes (T4), Chris Couch (T4) and Troy Matteson (T8). These first-timers are looking to become the second player to win the Mercedes-Benz Championship in his first appearance since the event moved to Kapalua in 1999. Sergio Garcia accomplished the feat in 2002. • On a day the scoring average was over par (73.394), J.B. Holmes (T4) and Trevor Immelman (T2) posted the low rounds of the day with matching 5-under-par 68s. • Will MacKenzie (T2) had his bogey-free streak snapped at 21 with his first bogey of the day on No. 17 on Friday. • Troy Matteson (T8), the winner of the 2006 Frys.Com Open as a rookie, is currently riding a streak of five consecutive events with a top-10 performance. During that period he finished T8 at Southern Farm Bureau Classic, T6 at the Chrysler Classic of Greensboro, first at the Fry.com Open, T2 at the FUNAI Classic at Walt Disney World Resort and T9 at the Chrysler Championship, with earnings of $1,502,450 in that period. Coming into the Southern Farm Bureau Classic, he was No. 172 on the money list. He finished the season at No. 36 and earned his first trip to the Masters Tournament in 2007. • Stuart Appleby (T11) has his work cut out for him in his bid for his fourth consecutive Mercedes-Benz Championship title, as he trails the leader Vijay Singh by seven strokes entering the third round. • Vijay Singh is second in appearances for members of this year's field, his 11th overall (second behind Davis Love III's 12). Singh has finished inside the top 10 in his last seven starts at the Mercedes-Benz Championship. He holds the 21st 36-hole lead/co-lead of his career, including the third Mercedes-Benz Championship 36-hole lead (2004 and 2005). |
