Sweden’s Ludvig Aberg finished off a three-over-par 75 after sunset on Thursday in San Diego but still shares the lead at the Farmers Insurance Open with American Lanto Griffin.
The second round of the tournament was suspended for an hour and 26 minutes in the afternoon due to high winds. It resumed at 3.31pm local time, but 29 players did not finish their rounds before darkness fell and action was suspended. Shane Lowry completed the round but looks set to miss the cut after a he shot a 75 to move to three over.
Aberg hit his third shot at the par-five 18th hole of Torrey Pines’ South Course into a greenside bunker around the same time the horn sounded to signal a suspension for darkness. He chose to finish out the hole, hit out of the bunker to just shy of a metre of the pin and tapped in for par.
“Obviously the South Course is pretty hard even when you play it in 75 (degrees Fahrenheit) and no wind at all,” Aberg said. “Adding some 30 mile an hour gusts and sustained 15, it makes it pretty difficult. Felt like we hung in there quite well and gave ourselves a chance over the weekend.”
It was a relieving end to a frustrating round for the first-round leader, who had two birdies, three bogeys and a double bogey on his card. The World No 6 will still be a favourite entering the final two rounds, which will both be played at the South Course after golfers split the first two rounds between the North and South courses.
Griffin, who had a first-round 66 on Wednesday and was three shots off Aberg's pace, balanced three birdies with three bogeys en route to a 72 at the South Course on Thursday.
Griffin acknowledged being fortunate he played the North Course on Wednesday.
“The North greens are a little crustier, a little dried out so I could definitely notice with these dry conditions today, it would have been really hard to putt,” he said after Thursday’s round. “That’s crazy that it played tougher because it felt like the South played brutal.”
Looking ahead to the next two rounds at the South Course, Griffin said, “It's going to be a tough weekend, but it's a golf course I really like.”
Griffin and Aberg lead Danny Walker (74, North Course) by one shot. Tied for fourth were Chris Gotterup (69, North Course), South Korea’s Sungjae Im (71, North) and Hayden Springer (75, South) at four-under.
Despite a second-round 76, amateur Jackson Koivun, a golfer at Auburn University, stands at even par and will qualify for the weekend. By making the cut, Koivun earned an “Accelerated point” in the PGA Tour University standings and now has 18 points out of 20 required to earn a tour card early.
Max Homa, who was on track to miss the cut, was among those who withdrew during the Thursday round.
Alongside Lowry, other notables on track to miss the cut, currently projected at one-over par, include Si Woo Kim (three over), Justin Rose, Tony Finau (both five over) and defending champion Matthieu Pavon of France (nine over).
The four-day tournament concludes on Saturday, eschewing a traditional Sunday finish in order to avoid going up against television coverage of the NFL’s AFC and NFC Championship Games.
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