Second straight 66 boosts Gardiner ahead by one at halfway  PGA TOUR Staff HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ohio -- A second consecutive 5-under-par 66 moved Australian Scott Gardiner to the top of the leaderboard Friday at the Legend Financial Group Classic presented by Cynergies Solutions.  Scott Gardiner is averaging a whopping 315 yards off the tee this week. (Jim Rogash/WireImage)
The 31-year-old native of New South Wales, Australia, moved to 10-under 132, one stroke in front of Keith Nolan (65) and James Driscoll (68) at the Nationwide Tour's 17th event of the season. "You couldn't have had a better day," said Gardiner, who hit 10 of 14 fairways and 14 of 18 greens in regulation. "Any mistakes were all your own fault today." Just as first-round co-leader Roland Thatcher (71) has been a familiar name recently on Nationwide Tour leaderboards, Gardiner has also been knocking on the door as of late. He enters the 17th event of the year with two consecutive top-5 finishes -- a tie for fifth at the Knoxville Open presented by Food City and a fourth-place effort at last week's Peek'n Peak Classic. "When you're playing well, you don't think you're doing all that much," said Gardiner. "But when you're playing bad, you're trying all kind of stuff out there. I'm not trying to get ahead of myself. I'm just trying to make the cut and move up the list a few spots each week." Gardiner began the season in unspectacular fashion, making the cut in just six of 11 starts. During that stretch, a tie for 31st place at the Melwood Prince George's County Open was his best finish. Things turned around two weeks ago in Knoxville, though, and his solid play of late has propelled him all the way to No. 43 on the official money list. "We're all trying to move up the list and get one of those gold bibs," said Gardiner, referring to the gold-colored bibs worn by the caddies of the players ranked among "The 25." "I've been playing steady. I just want to keep it going. This game is all about momentum." Gardiner has plenty of momentum going his way this week at the par-71 StoneWater Golf Club. His scorecard listed just one bogey at the par-3 17th hole on Friday, and his six birdies were highlighted by a 20-foot birdie on the par-5 13th hole. "The courses recently have been quite suitable for me," said Gardiner, who grew up playing similar courses Down Under. "We're playing courses now that are a little drier ... a lot like the courses back in Australia. The experience of playing these type of courses has helped out. It is a strategic course that you've got to think yourself around." Nolan also found the course to his liking on Friday, pulling within one of Gardiner with a bogey-free 65 and in the process extending his bogey-free streak to 33 holes. Five of his six birdies came at distances greater than 13 feet, with a 30-footer on the par-4 15th hole his best of the day. "It was nice to go bogey free," said Nolan, who hit 15 of 18 greens in regulation. "I'm very thankful for a bogey-free round, never mind a bogey-free 65. The hole looked a little bigger today." Kris Cox (65), Jason Day (66), Jeff Klauk (66), Joe Daley (67) and Hunter Haas (67) are two shots back at 8-undere-par 134. Second-Round News & Notes: The cut came at 2-under-par 140 with 63 players advancing to the weekend. ... Jason Kokrak (3-under 139), the 2006 Ohio Amateur champion, becomes just the third amateur this season to make the cut, joining Jamie Lovemark (runner-up finish at the Rochester Area Charities Showdown at Somerby) and Jason Anthony (tied for 58th at the Livermore Valley Wine Country Championship). ... Arjun Atwal moved to 4-under 138 to increase his Tour-leading consecutive cuts made streak to 11 tournaments (four in 2001 and seven in 2007). ... Tommy "Two Gloves" Gainey, the winner of GOLF Channel's Big Break VII, finished at 2-over 144. ... 2005 Legend Financial Group Classic winner Andrew Johnson will be around on the weekend after a 2-under 69 moved him to 3-under 139. ... Ben Bates (3-under 139) made his Nationwide Tour-record 199th career cut. ... The 36-hole leader has gone on to win four of 16 tournaments on Tour this season. ... There were seven bogey-free rounds on Friday, bringing the total for the week to 13. Players without a bogey included Josh Williams (64), Ryan Hietala (64), Keith Nolan (65), Kris Cox (65), Chris Anderson (65), Jeff Klauk (66) and Brad Elder (69). ... The second-round scoring average was 71.168. ... Ted Potter Jr. was disqualified for failing to show for the second round. |
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