Simpson confirms promise at Barclays
BY Bruce Young | US PGA Tour | 2009 The Barclays | Round Two | 29 Aug 2009
24-year-old PGA Tour rookie, Webb Simpson, leads the Barclays at the halfway stage, adding a second round of 68 to his fine opening round of 66 yesterday. He leads by two over Paul Goydos and Steve Marino.
The Liberty National layout in Jersey City and on the banks of the Hudson River, proved a handful today especially when early rain made a demanding layout even more so. The weather improved for the afternoon field but it was still tough going as the scoring suggests.
Simpson earned his card for the 2009 PGA Tour via the Tour School last year where he finished 7th after several near misses on the Nationwide Tour in 2008.
The manner in which he started his PGA Tour career as a cardholder gave an indication that this was a very special young golfer but after finishing inside the top ten in his first two starts in January things have eased off a little. This week however could put the icing on the cake of what has been a very impressive start to his professional career.
Marino is another looking for his first PGA Tour win while Goydos bogeyed three of his final four holes to slip out of the lead he established with his opening round of 65.
As could be expected much of the focus today was on Tiger Woods, who was unable to advance his cause significantly although his second round of 72 in the more difficult conditions on day two saw him advance 10 places to 17th from his overnight 27th.
The Australians are led by Rod Pampling who added a second round of 73 to be at 1 under and in 11th position, Jason Day and Robert Allenby are at 1 over, John Senden is at 3 over, James Nitties at 4 over and Adam Scott at 5 over.
