Canadian Open: Second-Round Notebook  PGA TOUR Staff MARKHAM, Ontario -- A total of 78 players at the Canadian Open made the 36-hole cut, which came at 1-under 141 on Friday. The last time the 36-hole cut was under par at the Canadian Open was in 2002, when the event was held here at Angus Glen GC (South Course).  Steve Allan was all smiles Friday as he shared the halfway Canadian Open lead. (Frank Gunn/AP)
• Steve Allan currently stands at 10 under par in joint possession of the lead (64-68--132) with John Mallinger. Allan has held a second-round lead only once before in his PGA TOUR career. Allan posted rounds of 67-62--129 (-11) and led by one stroke at the halfway point of the 2004 Sony Open in Hawaii. He shot scores of 70-74 on the weekend and wound up tied for 27th. Allan has never held a first- or third-round lead on the PGA TOUR. • Rookie Brandt Snedeker continues to put together a possible Rookie-of-the-Year resume. Snedeker has carded rounds of 67-68 this week and is 7 under par for the opening 36 holes. The former U.S. Amateur Public Links champion has moved up to No. 32 on the FedExCup points list thanks to his play over the last five weeks, which include a tie for fifth at the Stanford St. Jude Championship, a tie for 23rd at the U. S. Open, a tie for 10th at the Buick Open, a tie for eighth at the AT&T National and a tie for eighth at the John Deere Classic. • Another rookie, John Mallinger, is also putting together a solid week. The 27-year old Californian opened with a 5-under 66 on Thursday and added another 66 Friday to grab a share of first place with Steve Allan at 10-under 132. Mallinger finished third at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am and tied for third at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans this year. He added a tie for 13th last week in Milwaukee and came into the week No. 76 on the FedExCup points list. Mallinger's previous best position after 36 holes came at Pebble Beach this year, where he was tied for third, three shots back of co-leaders Jim Furyk and Phil Mickelson. • Ryan Palmer seems to be regaining his solid game this week. The 2004 FUNAI Classic winner birdied Nos. 8-9-10 Friday to get to 8 under par. Palmer finished with his second straight 67 and is at 8-under 134. Palmer has made the cut in only eight of his 20 starts this year and hasn't finished higher than tied for 34th (PODS Championship in Tampa, Fla.). He is currently No. 189 on the FedExCup points list. The best position Palmer has ever been after 36 holes was a tie for second at the 2006 Chrysler Classic of Greensboro, where he trailed leader Nick Watney by one shot. He eventually finished fifth in that event. • Brad Faxon (70-69--139/3 under par), who had made only four cuts in 16 starts this year, advanced to play on the weekend. Faxon's tie for 33rd at the Travelers Championship is his best finish of the four cuts. These are his first back-to-back sub-par rounds of the year. In 26 starts in 2006, Faxon failed to register a single top-10 finish and wound up the season No. 143 on the money list. • Jeff Sluman, earlier this week named as an assistant to Captain Jack Nicklaus for the upcoming Presidents Cup, shot a bogey-free 65 Friday. Sluman recorded his first top-10 finish last week at the U.S. Bank Championship in Milwaukee (T9). Sluman has made only seven cuts in 19 starts this year and is No. 168 on the FedExCup points list. Friday's 65 matches his best score of the year -- a 65 in the third round last week at Brown Deer Park Golf Club. • Joe Ogilvie, winner of the U.S. Bank Championship in Milwaukee last week, missed the cut this week (73-73--146). • Jim Furyk stands at 7-under-par 135 after the first two days. Furyk, winner of the Canadian Open last year at Hamilton G&CC, is trying to become the first back-to-back winner of this event since Jim Ferrier did it in 1950 and 1951. • Veteran Vijay Singh moved up the leaderboard Friday afternoon and challenged for the second-round lead. Singh, winner of the 2004 Canadian Open, finished with a 6-under 65 and is at 9-under 133 for the opening 36 holes. • Tripp Isenhour (-9) shot a 3-under-par 68 and is at 9-under 133, his highest position after 36 holes on the PGA TOUR. Isenhour's previous best was a tie for fourth, which came at the 2001 Texas Open at LaCantera (he trailed by four) and the 2002 B.C. Open (he trailed by five). Isenhour's career-best finish is a tie for fifth at the 2002 FedEx St. Jude Classic and The Honda Classic earlier this year. • Tripp Isenhour's 9-under 133 total matches his career-best effort after 36 holes. Isenhour also made it to 9 under at the halfway point of both the 2001 Texas Open at LaCantera and the 2002 John Deere Classic. Both of those events were played on par-71 layouts. Isenhour is making his third career start in the Canadian Open -- he missed the cut in both 2001 and 2002. • Canadian Andrew Parr rebounded from an opening 79 with a 5-under 66 Friday. One interesting note, the 24-year old Canadian who played at Texas A&M University hit six of 14 fairways each day. He ranks No. 1 in official driving distance (327.8 yards on four measured drives) but is T114 in Putting Average (1.769). • First-round leader Hunter Mahan shot a 3-over-par 74 Friday and is at 6-under 136. Mahan opened with a record-setting, 9-under 62 on Thursday making this his worst follow-up round of his brief PGA TOUR career. His previous worst disparity in back-to-back rounds was 10 strokes -- he shot scores of 65-75 in the second and third rounds of the 2007 Buick Invitational earlier this year. • In 29 stroke-play events (with a cut) this year, nine of 29 second-round leaders have gone on to win the tournament, including Joe Ogilvie at last week's U.S. Bank Championship in Milwaukee. • Canadian Mike Weir was in danger of missing the cut this week but rallied with three birdies over a nine-hole stretch. Weir shot an even-par 71 on Thursday and posted a 1-under 70 Friday to make the cut on the number. Weir is making his 17th start in the Canadian Open -- he missed the cut the first nine times he teed it up from 1989-99. He then made five straight cuts starting in 2000, including a second-place finish in 2004. He missed the cut in 2005 and again in 2006 without a single sub-par score. • Danny King and Jarrod Lyle birdied five consecutive holes on Friday. King ran off five in a row from No. 12 to No. 16 en route to a 68. King missed the cut. Lyle's string ran from No. 9 to No. 13. He finished with a 65 and is at 2-under, 140. The Canadian Open tournament record for consecutive birdies is 7 by Mike McCullough at Glen Abbey GC in 1984. • Eight players were bogey-free on Friday. They were Bob May (64), Jeff Sluman (65), John Mallinger and Andrew Parr (66), Michael Sim (67), Dicky Pride and Michael Boyd (68), and Daisuke Maruyama (69). • Bob May's 64 was his best round of the year. The last time May posted a 64 was the final round of the 2006 B. C. Open. • John Rollins, winner of the 2002 Canadian Open here at Angus Glen, fired a second-round 69 to get to 3 under par and in position for a good weekend. Rollins is currently No. 11 in the Presidents Cup point standings. The top 10 players after completion of the PGA Championship will make the United States team. • Bryce Molder (68-70--138) birdied three of his final four holes to make the 36-hole cut for the first time in 2007. The four-time Georgia Tech All-America has struggled in 2007 on the PGA TOUR. In his previous 11 starts this year, he missed the cut 10 times and withdrew on one other occasion. Molder finished third at the 2001 Reno-Tahoe Open in his first professional event and has only one other top-10 finish in 48 career starts on TOUR. • Michael Boyd hit all 14 fairways Thursday and shot 75. He hit only 10 of 14 on Friday and shot 68. The difference was that Boyd hit only nine greens in regulation during the first day but hit 16 on the second day. • Olin Browne and Bart Bryant have hit 27 of 28 fairways the first two days. Steve Jones, Ted Purdy and Jay Williamson have hit 26 of 28 fairways. Bo Van Pelt has hit 32 of 36 greens in regulation. Jim Furyk, Ted Purdy, Billy Andrade, David Hearn, Tag Ridings and Camilo Villegas have each hit 31 of 36 greens in regulation. • Cliff Kresge has had only 52 putts for the first two rounds. Dicky Pride is 34 of 34 on putts inside 10 feet this week. Doug LaBelle II is 24 of 24 on putts inside 10 feet this week. George McNeill is 21 of 21 on putts inside 10 feet this week. |
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