Pettersson's solid 61 puts him ahead in Greensboro

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GREENSBORO, N.C. -- The thought did cross his mind. Briefly, that is.

"But then I was kind of laughing at myself," Carl Pettersson admitted. And when he proceeded to bogey the par-5 16th hole at Sedgefield on Friday, the Swede's fleeting chance at shooting 59 had all but evaporated.

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Carl Pettersson did have a few sneaky thoughts of a 59 on his way to a 61.

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Still, the 61 that Pettersson finally ended up with was pretty darn good -- breaking the course record by two strokes and giving him sole possession of the lead at the midway point of the Wyndham Championship.

Pettersson's two-day total of 15-under 125 also equals the lowest opening 36-hole score in PGA TOUR history. He made 11 birdies, including three in a row to kick things off, but two bogeys robbed him of a chance for the magical 59.

Even so, Pettersson was threatening to run away from the field and hide in the final event of the PGA TOUR Regular Season. Only three others -- Garrett Willis, Scott McCarron and Kevin Streelman -- join the two-time TOUR champ in double-digits under par.

"I was glad Carl ran out of holes," said Willis, who is three strokes back in second after shooting a second straight 64.

"Every time I looked at the board, I was trying to keep up closer," McCarron agreed. "After making birdie, I was still four behind. I'm happy to be within shouting distance."

Pettersson, who serves on the board of directors for the tournament and lives about 90 minutes away in Raleigh, N.C., has a substantial lead as the weekend begins. But the 30-year-old N.C. State product refused to get ahead of himself.

"Obviously, I'm pleased with the round, but we've still got 36 holes," he said. "There's such a long way to go. One shot can put an end to anything. So what I've learned over the years is to play the game and see what happens."

Pettersson went to high school in Greensboro, winning the state 4-A title as a senior, after his father, an executive with Volvo Trucks, moved the family to North Carolina. He didn't play his first round at Sedgefield until last November, though, when tournament officials began to consider the move from Forest Oaks in earnest.

The 61 matched Petterson's low on TOUR. He has, however, shot 59 before -- reaching the magic number at Treyburn Country Club, a Tom Fazio design in Durham, N.C., during a casual round with a couple of friends and the head pro.

"I remember I birdied the last four," Pettersson said. "We get on the 18th tee and a friend of mine said, man, if you birdie this you'll shoot 59, and everybody else was like, I can't believe you said that. It was just a social game of golf, but it was fun."

The stakes were higher on Friday in the $5.1 million PGA TOUR event, but Pettersson made it look just as easy. He set the tone with birdie putts of 15, 3 and 10 feet on his first three holes, then added another at the par-5 fifth when he two-putted from 25 feet.

When Pettersson missed the seventh green and failed to get up and down for par, the momentum was briefly halted. But he promptly got on another roll with birdie putts of 12 inches and 25 feet on his next two holes and a 10-footer at No. 11.

A well-struck 9-iron at the 13th hole produced another birdie, again from 12 inches. When he sank a 10-footer at the 14th hole to move to 8 under for the day, Pettersson let those thoughts of 59 enter his head.

That was his first mistake. His second was that wedge he said he "chunked" into the greenside bunker at the par-5 15th after hitting his rescue club long and right. He blasted out to 10 feet but couldn't sink the putt for par.

"I should have played a pitch kind of safe out to the right and got it to about 15 feet, but I felt I had momentum with me," Pettersson said. "It wasn't that hard of a shot, really."

At the same time, that bogey on the reachable par 5 he has now played in 1 over "fired me up," Pettersson said. So he responded with a 30-footer for birdie on the 16th hole and another from 6 inches at No. 17 to cap off the impressive round.

"It's a nice change to be really aggressive," Pettersson said. "It kind of suits my style. I try to play really aggressive all the time, and so far it's paid off great."