Round 2 Notes: Buick Open

text size
Increase Text Size
Decrease Text Size
Email This Story Print This Story RSS
Jul. 31, 2009
By Mark Williams, PGA TOUR Staff

John Senden (64-66), at 14-under, leads by two strokes over Michael Letzig (67-65). Vaughn Taylor (65-68) and Bill Lunde (68-65) are at 11-under. Six players, including Tiger Woods (71-63), are at 10-under.

• The 36-hole cut came at 4-under 140 with 72 players advancing to the weekend. This equals the lowest cut in tournament history, matching the 4-under 140 in 2005, 2004, 2001 and 1995. It also marks the lowest cut this season.

• Ten players are at double figures under-par after 36 holes, the most at the Buick Open since 13 players in 2006.

• Woods (71-63) began the second round at No. 10 and started birdie, birdie, eagle, birdie, birdie. He posted another birdie at the 16th before a three-putt bogey on No. 18 saw him turn in 6-under 30. Birdies at 1, 7 and 8 gave him a 9-under 63.

• Six-under after the opening five holes (Nos. 10-14) marks a career-best start for Woods on the PGA TOUR. His previous-best start through five holes was 5-under (also Nos. 10-14) in round one of the 2006 Buick Open, where he opened with five consecutive birdies en route to a 6-under 66. Woods followed with three more rounds of 66 to win.

• This marks the third time Senden has held the 36-hole lead/co-lead on the PGA TOUR. Senden led the 2002 Bob Hope Chrysler Classic after 36 holes and eventually finished T13. He also led this year's Shell Houston Open at the halfway mark and finished T31, after weekend rounds of 71-78.

• Senden bogeyed the par-5 first hole on Thursday and has not dropped a shot since.

• Senden is enjoying a solid year with four top-10 finishes in 21 starts, the best being T4s at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and the St. Jude Championship presented by FedEx, where he fired a final-round, 6-under 64.

• Senden is not the only Aussie near the top of the leaderboard. He is joined by Greg Chalmers (66-68), James Nitties (65-70), Marc Leishman (67-69), Stuart Appleby (69-67) and Matt Jones (68-68), who are all in the top-20.

• Senden won the 2006 John Deere Classic on the PGA TOUR but also owns four international victories, including the 2006 Australian Open.

• Since 1984, the only international player to break into the winner's circle at Warwick Hills has been Vijay Singh (1997, 2004, 2005).

• The last Australian winner of the Buick Open was Jack Newton in 1978.

• Letzig finished T12 at the 2008 Buick Open (his only previous start here) with four rounds in the 60s (69-67-69-69) and now has six consecutive rounds in the 60s at Warwick Hills CC.

• Letzig had never played a PGA TOUR event before his rookie year in 2008. This week's Buick Open is his 50th start on TOUR.

• Letzig has played 20 events this season, missing just one cut (Quail Hollow Championship), and posting just one top-10 which came last week at the RBC Canadian Open (T8), shooting a final-round 74.

• Taylor is coming off three consecutive missed cuts at the AT&T National, John Deere Classic and last week's RBC Canadian Open. Taylor has two top-20 finishes this season (T14/AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, T17/Arnold Palmer Invitational).

• Taylor is competing in his fourth Buick Open. He missed the cut in 2005 and 2008 and finished T4 here in 2006, thanks to a third-round, 9-under 63 to tie his career-low round.

• A victory for Taylor at the Buick Open would send him to Firestone CC in Akron, Ohio next week for a start in the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational. Alternatively, Taylor will make his way to the Legends Reno-Tahoe Open where he is a two-time winner (2004, 05).

• Lunde (68-65) started on No. 10 and was 4-under after five holes, including an eagle 2 at the par-4 14thwhere he hit a 336-yard drive to 9 feet and holed the putt. Lunde was bogey-free in round two.

• It was this week a year ago that Lunde won the Nationwide Children's Hospital Invitational, chipping-in on the final hole and eventually finishing fifth on the 2008 Nationwide Tour money list to graduate to the PGA TOUR.

• Lunde has one top-10 this season, a career-best T6 at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am. He shot his career-low 10-under 62 in round three of the 2009 50th Bob Hope Classic.

• This marks the second time Woods has shot 63 in the second round of the Buick Open. He posted 63 in round two of 2002 and went on to win the first of his two victories here. However, Woods' low round at Warwick Hills is 61 (Round 2/2005).

• Woods' second-round 9-under 63 marks his low round of the season, bettering his first-round 64 at the AT&T National, which he hosted and won. It is also his lowest round, in relation to par, since his 11-under 61 in round two of the 2005 Buick Open.

• Woods has shot 63 in the second round seven previous times in his PGA TOUR career and gone on to win each time, including the 2002 Buick Open and the 2005 Buick Invitational. Incidentally, Woods shot 61 in round two of the 2005 Buick Open, but finished T2.

• Woods is competing in his ninth Buick Open. In 34 rounds he has never posted a round worse than even-par 72, which was just once. The other 33 rounds have all been below par. His lone par score came in round one of 1997, his debut at Warwick Hills.

• Coming into this week, Woods ranked T72 in Second-Round Scoring Average for the season with 70.56. That will improve to 69.80 after Friday's 9-under 63.

• Woods snapped a string of three consecutive rounds in the 70s (71-74/British Open, 71/Buick Open). The last time Woods shot four consecutive rounds in the 70s was the 2007 Masters Tournament (73-74-72-72). Those four rounds followed a final-round 73 at the 2007 WGC-CA Championship, won by Woods.

• Letzig (Nos. 3, 8 and 11) and Woods (Nos. 8, 11 and 12) both recorded three 2s on their scorecards in round two. They were also recently paired together in the final round of the 2009 Memorial Tournament where Woods shot 65 and won and Letzig scored 75 to finish 14th.

Roland Thatcher's nine birdie, one bogey, 8-under 64 is his career-low at Warwick Hills and his lowest round on TOUR since a 9-under 61 in the third round of the 2008 Mayakoba Golf Classic, where he tied for ninth.

• Thatcher has one top-10 finish this season, a T9 at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans.

• First-round leader Steve Lowery (63-75) birdied his opening hole of the second round but a double bogey at the ninth, and two further bogeys dropped him into a tie for 37th.

John Daly (76-88) posted 15-over 51 on his final nine, including a 10 at the par-5 first hole (his 10th) where he hit it out of bounds twice. Five players have scored 10s this year before Daly's, the most recent being James Driscoll (Hole 13/Round 1/Memorial Tournament).

• Daly's 88 equals his second-highest round on TOUR (89/Round 2/2008 British Open, 88/Round 1/1986 U.S. Open).

Nathan Green (69-70), winner of last week's RBC Canadian Open, has recorded nine birdies and four bogeys in 36 holes, and is tied for 46th.

James Oh withdrew during the second round.

• Scoring average:

Day Front Back Total Cumulative
Thursday 35.548 34.555 70.103 ---
Friday 36.045 35.078 71.123 70.612
Email This Story   Print This Story   RSS   Bookmark and Share
SHOP.PGATOUR.COM

Shop your favorite brand name golf equipment and accessories at SHOP.PGATOUR.COM

FAN ZONE

Fan Zone
Kodak Challenge
© 1995-2009 PGA TOUR, Inc. | Turner Sports Interactive, Inc. All Rights Reserved. PGA TOUR, Champions Tour, Nationwide Tour and the swinging golfer logo are registered trademarks.
TurnerPGATOUR.com is part of the Turner Sports and Entertainment Digital Network