David Hearn has a two stroke lead; Jerry Rice misses cut
By Joe Chemycz
Hayward, Calif. --- David Hearn wasn't perfect on Friday but his efforts were still good enough to give him the second-round lead at the Fresh Express Classic. Hearn didn't miss a fairway or a green in Thursday's opener at TPC Stonebrae but his 7-under 64 left him tied for second place, one shot back of Dicky Pride's 63. The 30-year-old Canadian carded a 6-under 65 in the morning to give him a 13-under 129 total and a two-stroke leading heading into the weekend.
Argentina's Miguel Carballo birdied the final hole for a 4-under 67, which put him within two of the leader. Frank Lickliter's 5-under 66 also put him at 11-under 131 and two behind Hearn.
Colt Knost of Texas suffered back-to-back bogeys to close his round of 68, which dropped him to 10-under and tied with Jon Mills (67), Doug LaBelle II (63) and Michael Clark II (64), three back. Clark was within one of the lead before faltering with a double-bogey on the par-5, 9th hole to fall into a tie for fourth.
Former San Francisco 49er wide receiver Jerry Rice cut seven strokes off his opening-round score, but his 83-76 159 placed him near the bottom end of the list of 152 scores. Rice, 47, who is also serving as tournament host this week, ran into similar problems Friday that had plagued him Thursday. Errant tee shots, wayward approach efforts and some missed putts all contributed to the NFL Hall of Famer not playing on the weekend.
Rice needed 37 putts to complete his opening round but was able to reduce that to 31 on Friday, still far from what he needed to make the cut.
"This tournament has been unbelievable," Rice said. "Even though I had a bad round the first day, I've had so much fun. I'm getting so many 'thank you's' from the players. There's been a lot publicity for the tournament and a lot of guys have thanked me. It's felt good because I didn't know how they would react to me. These guys have been so cool all week. I feel very good that they have accepted me into their fraternity."
Hearn's rise to the top has been the product of stellar iron play. He missed only four greens Friday and was able to save par on three of those holes.
"I played well. My focus has just been on hitting the greens and my putter has been real solid," he said. "If I'm hitting the greens I'm going to have an opportunity to make birdie and I've been fortunate to make a few."
He also added an eagle to the resume, dropping a 15-footer for a three on the par-5, 7th.
"The pin was right in the middle of the green," he said. "It was in a good spot for getting it close."
Hearn has been getting closer this year, making three cuts in four starts. The challenge will come in Round 3, where the former University of Wyoming player has a scoring average of 73.66 this season.
Caballo replaced Knost in second place on their closing hole in the morning. Knost three-putted from 60 feet to fall into a tie for third, while Carballo tapped in a short birdie putt to reach 11-under.
"My shots and iron play have been very good all week. The putter is working very well," he said. "If there was something I could tweak it would be the tee shots. Sometimes I'm a little uncertain about where to go and which line to take off the tee. Overall though, it's been pretty good."
Second-Round Notes:
* The top pairing of the opening two rounds consisted of Miguel Carballo, Colt Knost and Jamie Lovemark. The trio is a collective 30-under par after 36 holes. The group combined for 41 birdies and three eagles so far, with Carballo posting a tournament-leading 17 birdies on his own.
* Michael Clark II posted a 7-under 28 on his opening nine holes Friday. Only two players in Tour history have ever shot lower scores on 9 holes. Clark's nine included five birdies and an eagle. His birdie putts all ranged from 10-20 feet and the eagle at the 606-yard, par-5 15th hole was the result of a 20-yard flop shot near the green that found the cup. "I got lucky with a tremendous lie," he said. "It was probably one of my top-5 all-time hole outs, maybe top 3."
* Michael Clark was on pace to equal or better the course record of 62 before an errant tee shot on the final hole. Clark was 9-under through 17 holes but hit a bad tee shot on the par-5 and eventually made a double-bogey 7.
* Ken Duke was disqualified after the first round for signing an incorrect scorecard. Duke signed for a par-5 on No. 15 in the opening round but made a bogey-6. The mistake did not come to light until prior to his second round.
* B.J. Staten withdrew during the second round because of an injury to his right arm.
* Leading money winner Bobby Gates 65-71 136 is at 6-under and tied for T19.
* A total of 63 players made the 36-hole cut, which came at 2-under 140. Last year's cut was at 2-over 144.
* Kevin Chappell closed eagle-birdie-birdie to finish with a 67 and move into a tie for 8th place, four back of Hearn. Chappell has played the four par-5s in 8-under (6 birdies, 1 eagle) the first two days. He is 4-under on the par-4s but 3-over on the par-3s.
* Brendon Todd (83-77 160) was 18-over for the first two days despite being tied for the lead in putting average. Todd had only 53 total putts in the opening 36 holes. He ranked last in fairways hit (9 of 26) and last in greens in regulation (7 of 36).
* Wil Collins (71-72 143) was 1-over for the first two days and was ranked T1 in fairway hit (25 of 26) and second in greens in regulation (31 of 36). Collins' problems were on the greens, where his 71 putts (35, 36) put him last in the field.
* John Douma withdrew during the round.
* Best rounds of the day:
63 -- Chris Kirk, Doug LaBelle II
64 -- Michael Clark II, Adam Meyer
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