Scott shares 36 hole lead in Boston
BY Bruce Young | US PGA Tour | 2011 Deutsche Bank Championship | Round Two | 04 Sep 2011
At the halfway point of the Deutsche Bank Championship at the TPC Boston in Massachusetts, three players have edged clear of the high class field, opening up a one shot lead as the tournament heads into Sunday’s third round.
Adam Scott, Charl Schwartzel and Bubba Watson lead by one over Brandt Snedeker with Nick Watney one further back.
The highlight of Scott’s second round of 63 was a 45 foot putt for eagle at the 18th hole (his 9th of the round) but he did not drop a shot all day and again putted well throughout.
The Australian’s first PGA Tour victory came at this golf course in 2003 and on top of his recent resurgence this was an event he started as one of the favourites. Scott has also finished runner-up at this venue in 2004 so there was plenty to say this would be a good week for him even before proceedings got underway, despite a surprising final round of 76 last week in New Jersey.
Schwartzel has played well since his win at Augusta National earlier in the year but to a large extent it has been under the radar as he has seldom contended in that time. Today however the South African birdied six of the first seven holes to start his back nine after being 1 over for the round when making the turn.
Bubba Watson eagled the 7th hole for the second day in a row en route to a round of 64 to grab a share of the lead. Since his two victories earlier in the season Watson has played well enough although hardly spectacularly and the TPC Boston is hardly a golf course on which he has played well previously so this week has gone against his recent trends.
Snedeker produced a third round of 61 last week at the Barclays and today he was at it again. His outward nine of 29 included a hole in one at the 16th and another eagle at the par five 18th.
Almost predictably, Jason Day is the next best Australian after Scott, last year’s joint runner-up close enough if good enough over the final two rounds. Despite tomorrow being Sunday it will only be the third round and therefore there is still a long way to go in this event.
Greg Chalmers is in 18th position after he too had holed in one at the 16th, Geoff Ogilvy and John Senden are 33rd, Aaron Baddeley 51st, Robert Allenby 61st and Marc Leishman 67th.
All eight Australians in the field, therefore, made the cut but their work is not over as not only is a potential victory at stake for the likes of Scott and Day but the race for survival in the FedEx Cup Playoffs is also up for grabs over the final 36 holes.
FedEx Cup standings right now have Scott in 3rd position, Day 13th, Chalmers 65th, Ogilvy 78th, Senden 55th, Baddeley 23rd, Allenby 68th and Leishman 83rd.
With only the leading 70 making it through to the BMW in Chicago in two weeks time a lot is at stake over the final two rounds of this week’s event.
For the likes of Ogilvy and Allenby, desperate for one or two more opportunities to impress the Greg Norman in their quest for a place on the Presidents Cup team, there is even further incentive.
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