LA JOLLA, Calif. – Jhonattan Vegas has just made consecutive birdies at Nos. 9 and 10 to move back into a tie for the lead with Bubba Watson for the second time on Sunday.
Vegas picked up his first PGA TOUR victory last week in a playoff at the Bob Hope Classic. The last player to win consecutive events was Tiger Woods in 2009 at the Buick Open and World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational.
The Farmers Insurance Open is just the third event of Vegas’ rookie season and his fifth since turning pro. The last player to win multiple events in his rookie year was Todd Hamilton in 2004.
No rookie has ever won the Farmers Insurance Open but Gene Littler won the tournament as an amateur in 1954.
If Vegas ends up winning on Sunday, he would be the first player in more than 13 years to win his first two PGA TOUR events consecutively. The last player to do that was David Duval – who actually won three straight starts – in 1997.
One more interesting stat? Woods reached $2 million in earnings quicker than any other player --- needing just 16 events. If Vegas were to win today, he would have $1,955,880 in just four.
With perfect weather conditions for a second straight day, David Duval and Boo Weekley are among the early movers at the Bob Hope Classic, where they 4 and 2 under on their rounds, respectively. Duval is currently one shot off the lead, while Weekley is two back.
While Duval famously recorded a final-round 59 to win here in 1999, he doesn’t exactly have a great track record at the event – since his tie for fifth in 2000 Duval’s best finish at the Bob Hope Classic was a tie for 39th in 2007, and he’s also missed five cuts, including the last three.
Click here to follow the second round live with Shot Tracker.
David Duval had the kind of ball-striking day that made him the world's best player 10 years ago: He hit 17 greens on Saturday at TPC Summerlin. But his putter (33 putts) let him down.
Still, Duval's 67 has him in a tie for 11th and in position to score back-to-back top-10s on TOUR. The last time that happened? The 2001 season, when he closed the year with a second place finish at the Buick Challenge and a tie for seventh at THE TOUR Championship.
David Duval made a strong run to put himself in position to make the cut last Friday:
David Duval hits it stiff on the par-4 15th.
David Duval was under the cut line 90 minutes ago, but the former world No. 1 has birdied six of his last seven holes to get to 6 under on the day and 7 under overall, two shots ahead of the cut line.
David Duval is loving Northern California this year. The former world No. 1 finished tied for second in the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am in February, but it remains his only top-10 of the year.
Duval has already birdied three holes on Friday to get to 6 under and into a tie for 12th. He is projected to move to 105th on the money list. He has played all season out of the 126-150 category but has still made it into 23 events, one more than 2009.
David Duval’s chances of making the cut this week ended pretty much on the first hole earlier this morning when he made a 10 on the 425-yard par-4.
Here’s the rundown of what happened:
Duval hit his first tee shot of the day into a hazard right, then came up short of the green after taking a drop, then airmailed the green on his fourth shot.
That’s where things got really messy. Duval’s fifth shot from behind the green went all of two feet before his sixth shot came up short of the green, too. His chip (or seventh shot) didn’t make it to the hole either and he eventually missed a 2-footer as well before eventually tapping in for 10.
Duval went on to make just two bogeys -- but no birdies -- the rest of his round for a 78 that included a 42 on the front nine. He finished at 9 over. -- Brian Wacker
Below is a look at Duval’s first hole from Shot Tracker
It looks like David Duval is no longer with Nike Golf (the photo of him logo-less at this week’s Viking Classic seems to confirm it).
Duval, who opened with a 68 on Thursday before struggling to a 5-over start through 14 holes today, entered this week 107th on the money list with one top-10 this season (a runner-up at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am) and 11 missed cuts in 20 starts.