Shell Houston Open: Second-Round Notebook  PGA TOUR Staff HUMBLE, Texas -- Defending champion Stuart Appleby has been the leader or co/leader following all six rounds of the Shell Houston Open played at The Tournament Course at Redstone Golf Club. He led wire-to-wire last year en route to a 6-shot victory, and has been a co-leader through Rounds 1 and 2 this week. Appleby has successfully defended the Mercedes-Benz Championship twice -- in 2005 and 2006.  Bob Estes is part of a traffic jam in the lead. (Kevin C. Cox/WireImage)
• Bob Estes is part of a traffic jam in the lead. (Kevin C. Cox/wireImage)The six players tied for the lead through 36 holes are the most since six players shared the lead at the 2005 Southern Farm Bureau Classic (Jonathan Byrd, John Cook, Kevin Na, Tom Pernice, Jr., Tag Ridings and Bob Tway) won by Heath Slocum. The record since the PGA TOUR began tracking the statistic in 1970 was eight at the 2001 Canon Greater Hartford Open. The previous record at the Shell Houston Open was four in 1964 (Buster Cupit, Don January, Ramon Sota and Billy Maxwell) won by Mike Souchak. • Due to possible severe weather forecasted for Saturday, the third-round tee times will be run from 7:20-9:20 a.m. off Nos. 1 and 10. The players will be grouped in threesomes, with the final grouping of Bob Estes, Jason Gore D.J. Brigman teeing off at 9:20 a.m. off No. 1. • Co-leader and two-time Shell Houston Open champion Stuart Appleby (1999, 2005) is looking to join Vijay Singh (2002, 2004, 2005) and Curtis Strange (1980, 1986, 1988) as three-time winners of the Shell Houston Open. • Twenty-six players are within three shots of the six leaders. • Entering Friday's second round, Stuart Appleby's career scoring average in five rounds at The Tournament Course at Redstone Golf Club was 67.0 with all five rounds in the 60s. The defending champion posted an even-par 72 in Round 2 and now sports a scoring average of 67.80 at The Tournament Course. • Tommy Armour III qualified for this year's Shell Houston Open via the Monday qualifier, and sits T7, just one off the lead after opening 68-71. • Last year's Masters Tournament runner-up Tim Clark (T10) is playing in just his third event of 2007. He suffered a neck injury in November in the Pro-Am at the Nelson Mandela Invitational, South Africa's premier golf charity event. • Three players in this week's field have double-digit made cut streaks on the PGA TOUR -- David Toms (13/4th), Arron Oberholser (11/T7) and Tim Clark (10/T9). Ernie Els holds the current longest streak with 46. • 78 players made the cut at 1-over-par 145. Just seven strokes separate the leaders and those making the cut at 1 over. • Bubba Watson posted the low round of the day on Friday with a 5-under-par 67 and shares the lead at 6-under-par 138. Watson is second in the field in Driving Distance at 323.5 yards on his four measured drives. On the season, Watson leads the TOUR at 313.5 yards, 4.7 yards further than John Daly. Watson has two top-10s in eight starts this year and ranks 41st in FedExCup points with 2,169. • Four players recorded bogey-free rounds on Friday: Dickey Pride (69), Rich Barcelo (71), Charley Hoffman (69) and Stephen Marino (70). • Eric Axley withdrew after eight holes due to illness. Billy Andrade withdrew after eight holes for undisclosed reasons. And Glen Day was disqualified for signing an incorrect scorecard. Copyright 2007 PGATOUR.com. All rights reserved. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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