Killeen, Blixt share halfway lead at Cox Classic

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J.J. Killeen has played near-perfect golf so far, missing just four fairways in two rounds at the Cox Classic.

Omaha, Neb. -- J.J. Killeen has been nearly perfect for the opening two rounds of the Nationwide Tour's Cox Classic. The former TCU standout posted a 5-under 66 to reach 13-under 129 at the halfway point, good for a share of the 36-hole lead with Florida State rookie Jonas Blixt, who survived a rocky start en route to a 6-under 65 at Champions Run.

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Florida's Matt Every (68) is alone in third place, one shot back, with Rich Barcelo (62), 18-year old Tadd Fujikawa (67) and leading money winner Michael Sim (65) tied for fourth, two behind the co-leaders, along with Brian Smock (67) and Brent Delahoussaye (67).

Killeen has missed only four fairways the first two days and has no complaints, despite consecutive bogeys to open his back nine Friday, one of them a three-putt from 30 feet.

"I wouldn't say I missed a shot on those two holes," he said. "I wasn't disappointed because I played them exactly the way I was supposed to. If I was all over the place and making bogeys it would be a different thing but it felt exactly like it did when I was making birdies."

Killeen's miscues dropped him back to 9-under for the tournament but the 27-year old Fort Worth resident rallied with four birdies on his final six holes, including a two-putt birdie on the reachable, par-4, 9th hole.

"I just feel really confident," he said. "If you're flagging it and taking advantage of the par-5s and the short par-4s, you can make a lot of birdies."

Blixt has been making his share this week. The 25-year old is refreshed and back on track after taking a three-week break to return to his native Sweden.

"I think I needed it," he said of his visit home. "We have 14 tournaments in a row now. It was a big event (that I missed) but I think I invested a lot of energy in myself for the fall. We'll see if it was a good thing or not."

So far, so good.

Blixt grabbed a share of the lead despite a shaky opening to round two.

"It was not pretty," he said of the first five holes that produced two birdies, a bogey and pair of par-saves.

After his drive on the opening par-5 caught the cart path and bounded forward, Blixt only needed a 6-iron to reach the green, where he two-putted for birdie. He hooked his tee shot on the next hole, chipped out and needed a 12-foot putt to save par, which he did.

After a bogey and birdie, his tee shot on the par-4 14th wound up in the trees. He tried to chip out but advanced the ball about 10-15 feet. His third from the deep rough came up 50 yards short of the green. Naturally, the next one found the bottom of the cup for a less-than-routine par.

"If you're going to be up there in a tournament, you're going to have bad stretches," said Blixt. "You have to get out of the bad stretches in a good way. It means you either miss the cut or you are at the top of the leaderboard. I could have been 5- or 6-over on that stretch and I was 1-under."

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Second-Round Notes:

• Among the bigger names on this year's money list to miss the cut this week:

No. 2 Kevin Johnson 69-72?141
No. 3 Roger Tambellini 68-72?140
No. 5 Alex Prugh 73-68?141
No. 6 Cameron Percy 70-71?141

• There have been 47 eagles during the opening two rounds. Eleven of the eagles have come on the two short par-4s on the front nine: No. 4 (2 eagles) and No. 9 (9 eagles).

• The second round scoring average was 69.266.

• The low group of the first days was the trio of Smock (-11), Delahoussaye (-11) and Camilo Benedetti (-9) which finished a collective 31-under par.

• A total of 67 players made the 36-hole cut, which came at 5-under 137, matching the lowest in tournament history. This is the fourth time, and the third time in the past four years that the cut has been at minus-5.

• Saturday's featured pairing will have 18-year old Fujikawa with No. 1 money winner Sim. The two are in the third-to-last group and will tee off at

• Florida All-American Billy Horschel had a 37 on the back nine to open play and then rallied with a 6-under 29 on the front for a total of 66.

• Hunter Haas (65) played his final 10 holes in 7-under par, including a bogey.

• Chris Thompson had five birdies in a row (Nos. 16-2) as he made the turn.

• Marco Dawson had a pair of eagles on the back nine (Nos. 10 and 17). Dawson carded a 7-under 29 on the back.

• Defending champion Ryan Hietala (66-72?138) missed the cut by a single stroke.

• Players who were bogey-free in the second round:

62 -- Barcelo
63 -- Brendan Pappas, Geoffrey Sisk
64 -- Garrett Osborn
65 -- Justin Hicks
66 -- Chris Nallen, Brendan Steele, Sal Spallone
67 -- Ryan Armour
68 -- Gavin Coles