The Live Report: Zurich Classic of New Orleans, Round 2
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By PGATOUR.COM staff
DONE FOR THE DAY (6:25 p,m.) The second round of the Zurich Classic of New Orleans has been suspended for the day. Weather permitting, play will resume at 8:30 a.m. ET (7:30 a.m. CT).
Play was orginally suspended at 1:57 p.m. ET. Players were briefly let back on the range late in the afternoon but called back to the clubhouse when another cell of severe weather approached TPC Louisiana.
The decision to call play for the day came at 6:21 p.m. ET. During the delay 2.55 inches of rain fell at TPC Louisiana and while the course drains well, the majority of the bunkers were full of water.
The bad news? There is an 80 percent chance of more severe weather on Saturday. Keep your fingers crossed. -- Helen Ross
WEATHER DELAY: The skies are filled with lightning and severe weather is pummeling TPC Louisiana. Play was suspended at 1:57 p.m. ET with 47 players having completed their second rounds. Live notes will resume once play begins again but for now we're all in a holding pattern.
TOURNAMENT TIDBITS (4:30 p.m.) Lee Janzen's 66 matches his lowest round of the year. He posted the same number in round three of the Bob Hope Classic. After taking 31 putts in round one, he needed just 24 putts in round two.
* As evidence that conditions favored the early groups, consider this; the first group off off the tee in round two consisted of Lee Janzen, Alex Cejka and Chris Riley. Janzen and Riley both posted 66s, with Cejka in with a 5-under 67, a combined total of 17-under par.
* For the second straight day, Cejka hit 12 of 18 greens. The difference was in putting once he hit those greens. In round two, he took 25 putts, four fewer than in round one.
* Cejka remains in search of his first PGA TOUR win in his 217th start this week. He is the owner of 11 international titles.
* Brian Davis' second-round 66 matches his low round of the year shot in the third round of last week's Verizon Heritage. Although he is ranked 108th in putting on TOUR this year, Davis took control of the flat stick in round two, needing just 22 putts.
* 2002 Zurich Classic champion K.J. Choi followed his opening-round, 4-under 68 with an even-par 72 in round two. Choi will now have made the cut in each of his 10 starts this year, including a runner-up finish to Jim Furyk at the Transitions Championship and a tie for fourth at the Masters Tournament. -- Doug Milne
OPPOSITES ATTRACT (4 p.m.) Greg Owen, who is tied for the lead at 7 under, is sitting in the clubhouse with one hole remaining in his round. He had just birdied the 17th hole to move to 2 under for the day.
Jason Bohn, on the other hand, was about 25 minutes from beginning his second round after opening with a 65 on Thursday. He and Owen are tied with Alex Cejka, Lee Janzen and Brian Davis -- the latter three having completed the second round before the weather arrived. -- Helen Ross
EAGLES LANDING (3:10 p.m.) Aussie Jarrod Lyle became the 21st player on TOUR this year to make two eagles in the same round.
The first came at the par-4 10th hole, his first of the day, where he holed a lob wedge from 92 yards. His next eagle came at the par-5 second hole, where he hit his second shot from 238 yards to within 8 feet and made the putt.
When play was suspended, Lyle was 4 under for the day and 6 under for the tournament with four holes remaining. -- Doug Milne
KARMA FOR DAVIS (2:30 p.m.): A two-shot penalty that ended a playoff. A sore back. A sore neck. None of it seems to be slowing Brian Davis down. Maybe it's karma for calling that penalty on himself last week in Hilton Head.
Tied for the lead at 7 under after a 66 Friday, Davis said a few people have asked him if his good play at TPC Louisiana is poetic justice. "I'll tell you Sunday," he said smiling. "If I break a rule on Sunday and get DQ'd, I'm going to give up."
As for that stiff neck and back, Davis said it's the result of standing too much on his left side, something his instructor Peter Kostis noticed last week.
"That was quite nice to redirect the brain to move off the ball a bit more," Davis said. "My timing is not quite there. But I'm not stiff at all, so obviously problem solved."
Indeed. -- Brian Wacker
JANZEN IN A GOOD PLACE (2:15 p.m.): Despite missing his last four cuts, Lee Janzen hasn't lost his sense of humor. Standing in the 18th fairway for what was a longer-than-usual amount of time, Janzen said afterward that he was waiting for the group in front of him to "get off the green" before he cracked a smile, saying, "Come on, where's the laughter here?"
He wasn't joking, though. Janzen, not exactly known as a long hitter, was able to reach the par-5 finishing hole in two before making birdie to close out his 66.
"The wind was picking up, and it wasn't very consistent," Janzen said of No. 18. "One second it was helping us, and one second it was across, and we felt like it was in and back and forth. Plus I had a little downhill lie."
The 66 Janzen shot Friday was his lowest score of the year and he added afterward, "Physically or technically my swing, everything about my game is as good as it's ever been."
Mentally? That's apparently another story.
"That's the mental issue, though, is how do I handle it?," Janzen said. "Will I continue to hit the shots with the freedom and confidence that it takes to win a tournament?" -- Brian Wacker
PLAY SUSPENDED (1:57 p.m.): With rain lightning in the area, play has been temporarily suspended at the Zurich Clasisc of New Orleans. Stay tuned for more details. -- Brian Wacker
CUT CHECK (1:55 p.m.): We're into the afternoon wave at TPC Louisiana and right now the cut line is at 1 under. That leaves Ben Crane, who opened with a 70 on Thursday but struggled to a 74 here in Round 2, on the outside looking in at even par through two rounds.
Also below the line: Tim Herron. That's not really a surprise given the fact he's missed the cut in three of the six events he's entered and he hasn't played since the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by MasterCard.
Herron, though, has had an interesting start to his two rounds. Thursday, he opened with a quadruple-bogey 8 before rallying to shoot even par. Friday, he already has a double bogey on the card with a 6 on the fourth hole. Is another comeback in store? He'll obviously need one to make the weekend. -- Brian Wacker
DUVAL STILL BOGEY-FREE (1:36 p.m.): David Duval has now played 21 holes without a bogey. He's also 2 under through his first three holes here in the second round, moving him to within one of the current lead of 7 under.
If Duval can keep it 2 under or lower today, he'll shoot back-to-back rounds in the 60s for just the third time this season and for the first time since last month's Transitions Championship, where he tied for 41st.
Duval's other back-to-back 60-somethings came at Pebble Beach, where he opened 67-68 before closing with rounds of 67-69 on the weekend to tie for second, his best result of the year. Click here to follow Duval live with Shot Tracker. -- Brian Wacker
DON'T LOOK NOW (1:25): Over on the Champions Tour, Tom Watson and Fred Couples have picked up where they left off at the Masters.
They are playing in the Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf in Savannah, Ga., and Watson, with his partner Andy North, are 8 under and one stroke off the lead held by John Cook and Joey Sindelar. Couples and his partner, Jay Haas, are 7 under.
RIGHT DIRECTION (1:10 p.m.) The 66 Chris Riley shot in the second round is his best score of the season.
He started the day at 1 over and in danger of missing the cut but Riley had moved up 80 spots when he finished. Riley was tied for seventh when he signed his scorecard just before noon in New Orleans.
Riley hadn't broken 70 in his last seven rounds. Friday marked just the fifth time he'd in the 60s in 23 rounds this year. -- Helen Ross
LOGJAM AT TOP (12:58 p.m.): Lee Janzen just joined the group at the top of the leaderboard when he birdied the 18th for a bogey-free 66. Brian Davis, who started on the back, also shot 6 under to move into the tie at 7 under.
Alex Cejka fell out of sole possession of the lead when he made bogey at No. 17. His 67, though, also pulled him into the tie at the top with Janzen, Davis and Jason Bohn, who has yet to tee off.
BOHN'S BEST STARTS (12:40 p.m.): Jason Bohn won't tee off for couple of hours, but when he does it will be the second time he's taken at least a share of the lead into the second round (though he's since been passed on the leaderboard this morning). Bohn's only other first-round lead came at the 2004 Michelin Championship, where he tied for 24th.
His opening-round 65 also represents one of the lowest scores he's ever fired on the first day -- though only once has it translated to victory. -- Brian Wacker
| Bohn's Best Opening Rounds | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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ON THE MEND (12:20 p.m.) Ian Poulter had to withdraw from the Zurich Classic on Wednesday due to a bum knee. An MRI on Thursday revealed fluid on the knee, but no serious damage according to posts on Poulter's Twitter account.
"Great news, folks, the new is healthy, just fluid on the knee from jumping too much, will be fit and strong for TPC, big relief IJP back soon." Posted 16 hours ago.
"Morning had some rehab this morning on the knee, some swimming pool walking this afternoon, start hitting some balls Monday i think. : )" Posted 43 minutes ago
Small wonder Poulter is so focused on playing at THE PLAYERS Championship (which he called TPC) in two weeks. A year ago, Poulter, who got his first PGA TOUR win earlier this year, finished second at THE PLAYERS. -- Helen Ross
WORST TO ... (11:55 a.m.) Alex Cejka was in the made-cut-did-not-finish group at the Verizon Heritage last week.
A total of 82 player survived the cut on Friday so a secondary one was necessitated after the third round. Cejka's 75 left him 80th and with an extra day off.
What a difference a week makes.
Cejka has just seized sole possession of the lead at 8 under after making his sixth birdie of the day on the 15th hole. He's 8 under and one stroke ahead of Jason Bohn, who tees off at 1:20 p.m. -- Helen Ross
KISMIT? (11:35 a.m.) Maybe it's poetic justice. More likely, though, it's just continued good play.
Brian Davis, who called a two-stroke penalty on himself last Sunday during his playoff with Jim Furyk at the Verizon Heritage, is suddenly in the mix again after playing his first 13 holes at TPC Louisiana Friday in 4 under.
Davis started on the back nine and took a while to get untracked, making two birdies and two bogeys in his first five holes. He birdied the 18th, though, and added three more on Nos. 1, 2 and 3 to move to 5 under for the tournament, two strokes off the lead currently held by Boo Weekley, Jason Bohn and Alex Cejka. -- Helen Ross
OLDIE BUT GOODIE (11:20 a.m.) Lee Janzen turns 47 in August, but the two-time U.S. Open champ is more than holding his own in New Orleans this week.
He's just made his third straight birdie to move to 6 under for the tournament. Janzen is 5 under through 13 holes and has yet to make a bogey this week.
Looks like Janzen will snap two pesky streaks this week. He's missed his last four cuts and he hasn't shot in the 60s since the third round of the Waste Management Phoenix Open where he tied for 24th, picking his last check. -- Helen Ross
GOOD VIBES (11:05 a.m.) Boo Weekley hasn't made a bogey since his fourth hole in the first round, and he's consequently making a big move up the leaderboard.
Weekley has played his first nine holes on Friday in 4 under and has moved within a stroke of the lead held by Alex Cejka, who is currently on the course, and Jason Bohn. The leaders are currently 7 under.
Looks like Weekley gained confidence last week at the Verizon Heritage where the two-time champ tied for 12th. -- Helen Ross
OFF TO FAST STARTS (10:45 a.m.): Here are a few players who are making early moves in the second round ...
• Chris Riley - Five birdies in his first 11 holes (click to follow)
• Roland Thatcher - Five birdies in his first 10 holes (click to follow)
• Alex Cejka -- Four birdies in his first 11 holes (click to follow)
• Boo Weekley -- Three birdies in his first seven holes (click to follow)
Cejka is 6 under for the tournament and Weekley is 5 under, both players just off the pace set by first-round leader Jason Bohn.
CHOI UPDATE (10:40 a.m.): It figures. Just as we mentioned K.J. Choi's fast start in the second round, he promptly bogeyed the 15th and 16th holes and is now even par for his round.
WATCH THAT WIND (10:30 a.m.): Winds are expected to reach 17 mph in Friday's second round, with even stronger winds forecast for Saturday's third round.
Wind, obviously, is always a concern for golfers, but perhaps even more so at TPC Louisiana.
"There is not much coverage out here on this golf course," said Jason Dufner after his opening-round 67 that left him among the leaders. "It's pretty open. You have some open spots. So if it can get windy, that will make the play a lot more difficult."
The field may get a break, though, if the course gets rain. The weather forecast for Friday calls for isolated storms, with rain also a possibility on Saturday.
"If we have conditions that stay like this or possibly with some rain to soften the golf course up, you can expect to probably see some low scores," Dufner said. "There's plenty of room to play out there. The fairways are generous. The greens are pretty big.
"So guys get kind of dialed in with their irons, and they have a lot of putts in the 8- to 15-foot range for sure."
BOHN EXPECTS TOUGHER FRIDAY (10:25 a.m.): First-round leader Jason Bohn had an early tee time in the first round. With ideal scoring conditions, he went out and shot a 7-under 65.
With an afternoon tee time of 2:20 p.m. ET for Friday's second round, Bohn knows it will be difficult to match that score.
"I think any time in the afternoon, the conditions are a little drier," he said. "Greens get a little firmer, and the breeze is going to be stronger."
Good news for Bohn, though -- in three of his last four starts, Bohn has broken 70 in the second round.
CHOI KEEPS IT GOING (10:15 a.m.): K.J. Choi as the TOUR's top scoring average in the first round this year, with a stroke average of 68.56. So it's no surprise that he opened with a 4-under 68 in Thursday's first round in New Orleans.
But Choi's second-round average of 70.11 ties for 43rd on TOUR. While that's nothing to be embarrassed about, the Korean obviously would like to produce numbers that are closer to his first-round average.
So far so good for Choi during Friday's second round. Starting his round on the 10th hole, Choi birdied two of his first three holes to move up the leaderboard.
By the way, Choi's overall scoring average of 69.38 ranks second on the TOUR this year behind Anthony Kim's 69.19.
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