Northern Trust Open: Second-Round Notebook

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Feb. 15, 2008
By Joan Alexander, PGA TOUR Staff

PACIFIC PALISADES, Calif. -- Darkness led to the suspension of round two at 5:48 p.m. local time, with six players (one group on each side) yet to complete round two. The second round will resume at 7:15 a.m. Saturday, with the third round running approximately 7:45 to 10 a.m. on Saturday.

Phil Mickelson has won 14 times when holding a 36-hole lead. (Dunn/WireImage)

Past Northern Trust Open champions

as of Friday night

Player	Score	Position
Robert Allenby (2001)	70-66--136	T2
Billy Mayfair (1998)	68-69--137	T4
Rory Sabbatini (2006)	72-67--139	T13
Fred Couples (1990, 1992)	70-70--140	T23
Charles Howell (2007)	71-70--141	T30
Adam Scott (2005)	73-69--142	T38
Mike Weir (2003, 2004)	73-75--148	T97

• The first round came to an end at 8:26 a.m. on Friday morning after having been suspended the night before due to darkness at 5:41 p.m.

• At the time of the suspension Friday evening, Phil Mickelson held the second-day lead of the Northern Trust Open after posting rounds of 68-64. Should that lead hold up, it will mark the 26th time in Mickelson's career that he has held/shared the 36-hole lead.

• Mickelson has gone on to win 14 times out of his 25 36-hole leads. He also has five seconds, two thirds, one seventh and two eighth-place finishes when he's been at the top. Three of the last four times Mickelson has been in this position, he has won the tournament. He held the 36-hole lead last year at the Northern Trust Open, but lost in a playoff to Charles Howell III, and also won the 2007 PLAYERS Championship, the 2007 AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am and the 2006 BellSouth Classic. He also lost in a playoff at the 2007 Nissan Open.

• Scott McCarron fired a 6-under 65 on Friday and sits five strokes back of Phil Mickelson at the time of the suspension, tied for fourth. The three-time winner is back on TOUR following a long rehabilitation after elbow surgery in August of 2006. This is his fifth start of the 2008 season and he has made one cut, tying for 70th in his season debut at the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic. His last start before this year came at the 2006 Booz Allen Classic where he missed the cut.

• McCarron had never won a PGA TOUR event in his home state of California, but he has had several close calls. He tied for second at the Northern Trust Open in 2002 and a week later in Carlsbad, he lost 1-up to Kevin Sutherland in the final match of the World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship

• Jeff Quinney, who fired a 4-under 67 on Friday is tied for second, four strokes back of Phil Mickelson at the time of the suspension. Qunney is making just his second start at the Northern Trust Open; last year as a rookie he finished ninth, for his fourth consecutive top-10.

• Robert Allenby -- who survived a six-man playoff to win the 2001 Nissan Open -- moved up the leaderboard at the Northern Trust Open at 6-under-par 136. At the time of the suspension he sits four strokes back of Phil Mickelson. He is one of nine past champions of the Northern Trust Open competing this week.

• There have been four bogey-free rounds recorded this week, all coming in the first round. They came from K.J. Choi (-6), Kevin Na (-5), Cody Freeman (-1) and Dustin Johnson (-3).

• John Mallinger withdrew before the start of round two due to illness. ... Scott Mahlberg was disqualified for signing an incorrect scorecard. At No. 10 signed for a 4 but made 5. ... J.L. Lewis was disqualified for signing an incorrect scorecard. At hole No. 15 signed for a 5 but made 6.

Round 1 Notes and Updates:
• During the first round there was significant change in the playing conditions from the morning wave compared to the afternoon wave of players. In the morning 26 players finished under par, while only three players under par from the afternoon wave. The morning wave scoring average was 71.28, while the afternoon wave scoring average was 73.51.

• The scoring average for the first round was 72.465 -- that's one of the highest first-round averages at Riviera Country Club since the TOUR starting keeping such statistics in 1984. The average has been 72.00 or higher in the first-round of the event six other times, including a 75.759 average in 1984.