Defending champion Vijay Singh missed the cut on Friday at the Chrysler Championship, where Steve Lowery seized the second-round lead with a five-under-par 66.
Singh, ranked number two in the world, missed the cut for a second straight week. A four-time winner on the United States tour this year, Singh followed up his first-round 74 with a 71 on the Westin Innisbrook Resort’s Copperhead Course, missing the cut, which fell at 144 by one stroke.
The Fijian, who claimed his ninth title of 2004 here last year, had hoped to rebound after missing his third cut of the season at last week’s Funai Classic.
While Singh struggled, Lowery was storming up the leader board.
He carded a birdie and a bogey on the front nine, but came home with a blistering 30 that included five birdies as he completed 36 holes in eight-under 134.
Lowery started the back nine with three consecutive birdies and added birdies at 14 and 16 to take a two-shot lead over Bo van Pelt.
A 31-foot birdie putt at the 10th launched Lowery’s run.
He followed it up on the par-five 11th with a birdie from two feet after blasting out of a bunker, and he stuck a nine-iron to 15 feet on 12 and converted for another. At the par-five 14th, he two-putted for birdie from 35 feet, and a 25-foot birdie putt on 16 capped his run.
”I got a good start there on 10 and drove it in the fairway a lot on the back nine,” Lowery said. ”It’s a great golf course, very tough. If you’re in the fairway, obviously, you can shoot some good scores.”
A two-time winner on the PGA Tour, Lowery has only made 15 cuts in 30 events entering this tournament.
”I’ve started to play a lot better at the end of the year,” Lowery said. ”It’s more fun. I’ve felt a lot more competitive.”
Van Pelt posted a six-under 65 for 136. He carded a bogey-free round with three birdies on each side.
”That was one of the better rounds of golf I have played this year; from the standpoint, I was hitting it in the right spot,” Van Pelt said. ”I think I missed two fairways and one green. I was just real happy with my ball striking.”
Davis Love (69), Germany’s Bernhard Langer (69), Tom Pernice (66) and Sweden’s Carl Pettersson (68) shared third on five-under.
South Africa’s Retief Goosen (71), England’s Justin Rose (68), Tim Herron (67), Charles Howell (71) and Tom Lehman (71) were all in the hunt in a tie for seventh at four-under.
”This golf course is hard and I think it’s made a little bit harder because we come from two tournaments where you can make a whole bunch of birdies,” Howell said. ”I think this is the highest rough we have seen since the PGA at Baltusrol. The golf course is not easy at all.”
Jeff Brehaut started the day with a two-shot lead but struggled to a three-over 74 and fell into a five-way tie for 12th. — Sapa-AFP