With a 64, De Jonge grabs halfway lead at Xerox Classic

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ROCHESTER, N.Y. -- Brendon de Jonge fired a 6-under-par 64 in Friday's second round of the Xerox Classic and grabbed the 36-hole lead in the Nationwide Tour's $600,000 event. De Jonge's 9-under 131 total is two strokes better than Bob May (69) and three in front of Jeff Gallagher (65), David Hearn (66), Garrett Osborn (66), Greg Chalmers (68), Greg Owen (68) and Dave Schultz (69).

Brendon de Jonge rolled in five birdies in a seven-hole stretch. (Cohen/Getty Images)

Inside the Numbers

36-Hole Leaderboard

Player Score 1. Brendon de Jonge 131 -9 2. Bob May 133 -7 T3. Jeff Gallagher 134 -6 T3. David Hearn 134 -6 T3. Garrett Osborn 134 -6 T3. Greg Chalmers 134 -6 T3. Greg Owen 134 -6 T3. Dave Schultz 134 -6 T9. Vance Veazey 135 -5 T9. Kyle Reifers 135 -5 T9. Ricky Barnes 135 -5

De Jonge had planned to take last week off and go home to Charlotte, N.C., but he'd been playing too well in recent weeks and decided to just keep going. The decision proved wise as the former Virginia Tech Hokie finished fifth at the Preferred Health Systems Wichita Open, inching him up one spot on the money list to No. 12.

His play this year has been nothing but steady and consistent. Although he has yet to win in 2008, he has a trio of third-place finishes among his five top-10s and has never been lower than No. 27 on the money at any point in the season. The ultimate goal is to be among The 25 top money winners at the end of the year and return to the PGA TOUR, where he played in 2007.

"If I keep playing solid golf, it will all take care of itself," said de Jonge, who finished No. 155 on the PGA TOUR during his rookie season last year. "It's that old cliché about just taking one shot at a time."

De Jonge got off to a slow start on the Donald Ross-designed layout with five consecutive pars before he rolled in the first of his eight birdies in an 11-hole stretch.

"I didn't start out hitting it that good and then around the turn I got the feeling it might be a real good day," he said.

De Jonge's good feelings were the result of back-to-back birdies at Nos. 17 and 18, two of the tougher holes on the Nationwide Tour's shortest course, which measures only 6,720 yards.

"Anytime you can turn that back nine in under par, you're setting yourself up for a good round."

Good things continued as de Jonge rolled in five more birdies on the next seven holes. The only hiccups came on a pair of par 3s, where he stumbled with bogeys at Nos. 2 and 4.

"I felt good all day," he said after hitting 15 of 18 greens. "I feel like I'm getting better at working the ball both ways and you have to do that out here, be it with tree lines or the undulations in the fairways. You've got to turn it both ways."

Trailing de Jonge is the 39-year-old May, who was the outright leader when the day began. May has posted rounds of 64-69, though he hit 15 greens during his second round, compared to 14 on Thursday.

"I hit the ball solid again today," said May, who is No. 29 on the money list. "Yesterday I had a few more putts that went in than today. For the most part, it was just a consistent round of golf. No big putts, no big mistakes."

May had 32 putts during his second round.

"I hit it close enough," he said. "It's golf. Yeah, it gets frustrating but there's so much golf to be played. I'm going to work on it this afternoon and see if we can't capitalize on it tomorrow."

Second-Round News & Notes: Second-round play was suspended from 12:37-1:15 p.m. due to threatening conditions in the area. ... Brent Delahoussaye withdrew prior to the start of the second round. ... Garrett Osborn's birdie-eagle-birdie run starting at No. 8 is the best Birdie-Eagle Streak in the tournament's four-year history. Osborn shot a bogey-free 4-under 66 and is 6 under for 36 holes. ... Andrew Bonhomme aced the par-3 sixth hole with a wedge. The hole-in-one at the 129-yard hole was the sixth in tournament history; five of them have come on No. 6. ... Colt Knost, a two-time winner this year and No. 5 on the money list, hit all 14 fairways during his opening 3-under 67. He missed the fairway on his second hole Friday to end the streak. ... Players who were bogey-free in the second round: Bryce Molder (65), David Hearn (66) and Garrett Osborn (66).