Wachovia Championship: Second-Round Notebook

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May. 2, 2008
By Doug Milne, PGA TOUR Staff

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Jay Williamson made Wachovia Championship history when he carded the first hole-in-one in the tournament's history. Williamson used a rescue club from 247 yards at the par-3 sixth hole to achieve the feat.

Vijay Singh
Vijay Singh knows that a good halfway position is crucial to victory in Charlotte. (Greenwood/WireImage)
Recent Wachovia Winners' Positions
Thru 36 Holes
Year Winner 36-Hole Position
2007 Tiger Woods T1
2006 Jim Furyk 2
2005 Vijay Singh T2
2004 Joey Sindelar T5
2003 David Toms T4

• After missing the cut in his only other appearance here in 2007, Jason Bohn carded a second-round 5-under-par 67 to take a two-shot lead over Anthony Kim into the third-round. His 68-67 start missed the lowest-first-36-hole record by a stroke. Bo Van Pelt was at 10 under par in 2006.

• This marks the first time Jason Bohn has ever held a 36-hole lead. His closest was when he began the third round of the 2006 U.S. Bank Championship in Milwaukee in second place.

• Jason Bohn, who has missed four of his past six cuts, managed to finish sixth two weeks ago at the Verizon Heritage and claim his best finish since runner-up honors at the 2006 Chrysler Classic of Greensboro. Bohn, who won $1 million in a 1992 hole-in-one contest caught on amateur video, began 2008 on a Major Medical Exemption and had 12 events to earn $257,668 to retain his exempt status for the remainder of 2008. His solid finish in Hilton Head helped him surpass the amount still needed.

• If history is any indication at the Wachovia Championship, however, Bohn has his weekend work cut out for him. Of the past five champions, only Tiger Woods last year was atop the leaderboard after round two (tied for first).

• Highlighted by six birdies, an eagle, and no bogeys through his first 15 holes in round two, George McNeill was poised to match or even beat his career-low of 8-under-par 64. But all week long, talk of the final three holes at the Quail Hollow Club has been anything but a breeze. McNeill bogeyed all three holes coming in to post a second-round 5-under-par 67.

• McNeill's front-nine 6-under-par 30 tied the record low for the back nine. Others who have achieved the feat include: Kirk Triplett (2004 first round), Trevor Immelman (2006 first round) and Bill Haas (2006 first round).

• With a second-round 2-under-par 70 on top of his first-round 69, Camilo Villegas opened with two sub-par rounds for the first time since the 2008 FBR Open, when he posted a 5-under-par 66 and 4-under-par 67 in rounds one and two, respectively.

• Camilo Villegas has not strung together three consecutive sub-par rounds since the 2007 AT&T Classic at the TPC Sugarloaf, when he combined for an 11-under-par in his opening three rounds, to ultimately finish tied for third.

• On the one-year anniversary of sorts since leaving the PGA TOUR in 2007 to tend to his tumor-stricken wife, Dudley Hart fired a bogey-free, 5-under-par 67 in round two to move to 6 under par for the tournament. Hart did not play on the PGA TOUR after withdrawing from last year's Wachovia Championship. Like Jason Bohn who was playing on a Major Medical Exemption, Hart had 15 tournaments this year to make $485,931 to retain fully exempt status for the remainder of 2008. With his tie for 12th at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans in March came a $110,825 paycheck, surpassing the needed money.

• Following a tie for fifth at the 2007 Wachovia Championship, 22-year-old Anthony Kim's second-round 5-under-par 67 is his lowest score to par since a final-round 6-under-par 66 at the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic in January.

• There's quite a range in age among those near the top of the leaderboard. Anthony Kim will turn 23 on June 19th. A day later on the 20th, Paul Goydos will usher in his 44th birthday. Goydos put himself in contention for the weekend with a 3-under-par 69 to get to 4 under par for the tournament and inside the top 10 (tied for ninth). The last time Goydos sat inside the top 10 at the halfway point was the 2007 Sony Open in Hawaii, where he claimed his most recent win.

Peter Lonard and Kyle Reifers both withdrew during their rounds, citing back injuries.

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