Advantage, Harrington.
First-round leader Padraig Harrington is on the course and has set about the difficult business of following a spectacular round with a respectable one.
One-under-par through five holes, he’s four clear of five players, including former world No1 Luke Donald, Puerto Rico Open winner George McNeill and Will Claxton, who’s yet to tee off.
The biggest drama of the evening may yet be ahead of us, but Friday has already thrown a few narrative curveballs:
- Two members of the this week’s Group of the Future, Tom Lewis and Ryo Ishikawa, won’t be around for the weekend. Both three-over-par for the tournament, they’re currently four shots outside the cut-line.
- Once a nearly man in the majors, now a nearly-made-the-cut man in minor league Tour events, Chris DiMarco carded a four-under-par 67 in the second round. He’s drawing within sight of his first top-ten since the 2010 Reno-Tahoe Open.
- Hank Kuehne, of the once formidable Kuehne dynasty (wherefore art thou, Kelli?), currently sits at the tail end of the leaderboard, a full 21 shots adrift of Padraig Harrington.
- Chris Couch, of winning a PGA Tour event while chipping cross-handed fame, has some fond memories of Innisbrook. He held the 36-hole lead here in 2011 before fading to claim a share of fifth place.
Conor Nagle
If this can be compared to say the 1500 meter track race, the first lap (round) is trying to not fall too far back, second lap (round) is getting into a better position but not run out of gas; third lap is getting close to the lead for the final dash to the finish; and fourth lap is going for broke to win the trophy. Padraig was great in the first but he’s still in great postion after two. Let’s see what happens from here on out. I root for George McNeil though and two wins in a row on the tour would be quite an accomplishment.