Record-tying five players share 36-hole lead at Korn Ferry Challenge at TPC Sawgrass

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Florida – As the Korn Ferry Tour returned to play this week at the Korn Ferry Challenge at TPC Sawgrass (Dye’s Valley Course), a record-tying five players sit tied atop the 36-hole leaderboard at 6-under 134: Scott Langley, Lee Hodges, Paul Barjon, Ben Kohles and Kristoffer Ventura.

The five players ties the Korn Ferry Tour’s all-time record of players tied for a 36-hole lead, which had previously occurred seven times since 1991 and most recently at the 2016 DAP Championship.

Of the five, Langley was the only player to tee off in Friday’s morning wave, following up a first-round 66 with a second-round 68 to take the early clubhouse lead.

Like all 156 players in the field, the former PGA TOUR member entered the week wondering exactly what his game would look like after more than 100 days away from competition due to the coronavirus pandemic.

“I didn’t quite know what to expect with my competitive game coming in here because it’s basically been four months since my last tournament,” said Langley. “I’ve been playing, working hard at home the last month, but still you never really know what you’re going to get until you get out there.”

Langley entered the week at No. 85 on the Korn Ferry Tour points list with two made cuts in five starts. The former University of Illinois star spent five full seasons on the PGA TOUR between 2013 and 2019, recording a pair of third-place finishes amidst 23 top-25s. The 2010 NCAA Individual Champion won the 2018 Panama Championship for his first and only Korn Ferry Tour title, but admitted on Friday that he often pays too much attention to his standing when on the course.

“This is actually probably a good exercise for me, playing with no scoreboards, because sometimes in my history, maybe I’ve cared a little too much about scoreboards, admittedly,” he said, referring to the Tour’s removal of all scoreboards this week as part of the event’s small footprint. “I haven’t looked at a single scoreboard, or anything online these whole two days yet.”

Hodges, in his second season on the Korn Ferry Tour, is one week removed from winning the 36-hole Back 2 Golf Challenge at Sea Island – a prep event which paired PGA TOUR and Korn Ferry Tour players together in a team format prior to golf’s official return to play this week.

The Huntsville, Alabama, native posted 10-under to win the individual title, holding off former U.S. Open champion Jim Furyk and PGA TOUR winner Harris English in the process, all while being paired with World Golf Hall of Fame member Davis Love III.

Hodges, 24, posted two top-10s in 24 starts last season on the Korn Ferry Tour, but is currently 24th on the 2020 points list thanks to four top-30 finishes in five starts, including a career-best T3 at the Panama Championship.

First-round leader Paul Barjon followed up a Thursday 64 with a round of even-par 70 on Friday. The 27-year-old reached 8-under for the week through nine holes of his second round, but closed with a 2-over 37 thanks to three bogeys on the back nine.

Barjon, who won the Order of Merit on the Mackenzie Tour – PGA TOUR Canada last year, opened 2020 with two missed cuts before notching T27, T20 and runner-up finishes in his next three starts prior to the cancelation of play. At the El Bosque Mexico Championship by INNOVA, he three-putted the 72nd hole to fall into a playoff with David Kocher and Chad Ramey, which Kocher won with a birdie on the first extra hole.

Local resident Ben Kohles recorded bogeys on 1 and 18 on day two to offset six birdies for a 4-under 66.

The former University of Virginia golfer won the Tour’s Nationwide Children’s Hospital Championship in his professional debut in 2012, then followed it up with another victory the next week at the Cox Classic. The back-to-back wins put the Cary, North Carolina, native on the PGA TOUR that fall, but he lost his card and has been fighting his way back ever since.

This year, Kohles is off to one of the fastest starts since his 2012 season, recording a second- and third-place finish in February to enter the week at TPC Sawgrass at No. 10 on the points list.

Ventura, who played alongside PGA TOUR winners Matthew Wolff and Viktor Hovland at Oklahoma State, is currently on the PGA TOUR after earning his card through the Korn Ferry Tour in 2019 – thanks to wins at the Utah Championship and Pinnacle Bank Championship.

The Norway native has made just 12 starts during the 2019-20 season on TOUR, but has managed to record a pair of top-25 finishes, including a T20 in his last start at the Puerto Rico Open – which Hovland won.

Ten players are tied for second, one shot back of the co-leaders at 5-under 135.