Leishman leads at Utah Championship, where another ace is recorded

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SANDY, Utah -- Friday was another historic day on the Nationwide Tour when Bubba Dickerson holed-in-one at the 180-yard 18th hole in the Utah Championship presented by Zion Bank.

No one has needed fewer putts so far than leader Marc Leishman's 51. (McDonald/Getty Images)

Inside the Numbers

Leishman thru 36 Holes

Category Total Rank Eagles 0 N/A Birdies 17 1 Pars 16 T150 Bogeys 3 T111 Double Bogeys 0 N/A Other 0 N/A Driving Accuracy 62.5% T72 Driving Distance 314.0 yds. 15 Greens in Regulation 75.0% T34 Putts per Round 25.5 T1 Putts per GIR 1.481 1 Sand Saves 50.0% T50

After four aces in Thursday's opening round, Dickerson's ace brings the total for the week to five, the most during a tournament on the Nationwide Tour -- and two rounds still remain. The previous record was four aces in the 1994 Cleveland Open and right here at the 1999 Utah Championship.

"Pretty cool to be part of history," said Dickerson (69), who is in a 13-way tie for seventh after two rounds. "I lipped out at the 11th and they have a Rolex on that hole."

Marc Leishman, from Australia, leads at 14-under-par 128 after firing a course-record equaling 8-under 63.

Kyle Thompson (65), a University of South Carolina graduate, is a stroke behind at 13 under.

In third at 12 under is Atlanta, Ga., resident, Brendon Todd (66) followed by Queens, N.Y., native Chris Nallen (65) at 11 under in fourth. Blake Adams (65), a Monday qualifier from Eatonton, Ga., is fifth at 10 under.

Bobby Clampett (67), the 48-year-old CBS announcer who is looking forward to the Champions Tour, is sixth at 9 under par.

After playing the Australasian Tour for a couple of years, Leishman Monday qualified for eight events on the Nationwide Tour last year. He made enough money to finish in the top 100 and earn status for this year. The 24-year-old rookie, who tied for sixth at the BMW Charity Pro-Am for his best finish, birdied all of the par 5s Friday.

"That's big around here because there's five of them," said Leishman. "I birdied four of them yesterday. Up until now, my form has been average at best. I've been playing ok but the biggest challenge is that I have never seen most of the courses. You make a few silly mistakes and hit it in the wrong spots, but it's starting to come together. The last few weeks have been pretty good."

Leishman, whose previous low round this year was 67, chipped in for birdie at the sixth hole then three-putted the seventh from 25 feet. He made six more birdies with no putt longer than 10 feet.

The young Australian may be a long way from home, but he calls Virginia Beach his "home away from home" because his girlfriend lives there.

"My family has never been out of Australia," he said. "I'd love to get them over here at some stage."

Thompson, who birdied two of his last three holes in a bogey-free round, is back on the Nationwide Tour this week to shake of some rust.

"I haven't played the last two weeks and I wouldn't be here unless it was the best place for my game," said Thompson. "For a lot of guys,it might be an ego thing to come back and play here. Not for me, I'm very comfortable out here. People underestimate how good this Tour is."

Todd started his round on the back nine and got away to a good start with three birdies in a row on holes 12-15. He was 13 under with one hole to play, but three-putted his last hole from 50 feet.

"I rolled it to three feet then got a little ahead of myself and missed the next one," said Todd, who has four top-10s this year and is 53rd on the money list. "Yesterday I had it going so low (6 under after his first five holes) then got ahead of myself. I knew my game was there and it's been there a while."

Justin Hicks (69) and Ryan Hietala (68), 24th and 25th on the money list, respectively, did themselves a favor by comfortably making the cut. Both players now have a good chance to improve their positions in The 25 and make their way to the PGA TOUR.

Nationwide Tour money leader and winner of the recent Xerox Classic, Brendon de Jonge (69-70--139), missed the cut by a stroke.

Second-Round News & Notes: Tripp Isenhour (back injury) and Chris Anderson (neck injury) withdrew before the start of play. ... Fran Quinn (65) shot 30 on his closing nine holes to make the cut on the number. ... Michael Putnam (63) joined Marc Leishman with the low round of the day. ... Overnight leader David Branshaw (72) is tied for 20th. ... Kris Blanks (64) got to 9 under for the day through 14 holes, including two eagles, but bogeyed two of his last three holes. ... Jarrod Lyle (68-tied for 20th), Colt Knost (72-tied for 38th) and Scott Piercy (71-MC) are the three multiple winners this year. ... The cut came at 4-under 138 with 63 players advancing to the weekend. ... Past champions Garrett Willis and Craig Kanada both missed the cut. ... The Friday scoring average was 70.507. ... The most difficult hole was the par-3 18th, which averaged 3.279 while the easiest hole was the par-5 first, averaging 4.539.