One of those young guns who doesn’t have Augusta on his mind took a carefree route to the top of the leaderboard in the Houston Open at Memorial Park in downtown Houston, as 24-year-old Sam Burns – chasing a breakthrough PGA Tour win – shot a bogey-free 65 to claim the clubhouse lead on seven-under-par 133.
“Coming in this week, it was just like, ‘let’s just see how disciplined we can be around here’ and so far I think we’ve done a good job,” said Burns, who hit 15 of 18 greens in regulation to establish a two stroke lead over Augusta-bound Jason Day, the former world number one who is chasing a first tour win in two years.
Shane Lowry sits five shots behind Burns after a second consecutive round of 69 which leaves him at two under par.
The British Open champion had to battle hard on the tough layout after going out in one over but birdies at the 10th, 15th and 17th – to respond to a bogey at the 16th – leave him in contention heading into the weekend.
Pádraig Harrington sits a further shot back after also carding a second round 69 in which he followed a bogey at the fourth with birdies at the fifth, sixth, and ninth before parring his way home to go into the weekend at one under.
Graeme McDowell shot a second round 73 to reach the midway point on two-over, one shot inside the projected cut mark when play was suspended for darkness. Both McDowell and Lowry opted to use the Houston Open to sharpen their games ahead of the Masters.
However, Phil Mickelson’s decision to play Houston, rather than the Champions Tour where he has won his only two appearances, backfired when he shot a 73 for 149 to miss the cut.
Latest second round scores and totals in the Houston Open, Memorial Park Golf Course, United States of America (USA unless stated, par 70):
Play suspended due to darkness. Play will resume 7:15am local time
133 Sam Burns 68 65
135 Jason Day (Aus) 67 68, Carlos Ortiz (Mex) 67 68
136 Dawie Van Der Walt (Rsa) 70 66, Aaron Wise 70 66, Patton Kizzire 69 67, Brandt Snedeker 65 71, Corey Conners (Can) 69 67
137 JT Poston 70 67, Talor Gooch 68 69, Scott Brown 69 68, Adam Scott (Aus) 68 69, Sepp Straka (Aut) 68 69
138 Tony Finau 69 69, Kristoffer Ventura (Nor) 69 69, Francesco Molinari (Ita) 70 68, Dustin Johnson 72 66, Harold Varner III 67 71, Adam Long 68 70, Shane Lowry (Irl) 69 69
139 Satoshi Kodaira (Jpn) 70 69, Michael Thompson 67 72, Viktor Hovland (Nor) 70 69, Fabian Gomez (Arg) 70 69, Pádraig Harrington (Irl) 71 68
140 Charley Hoffman 71 69, Justin Harding (Rsa) 72 68, Hideki Matsuyama (Jpn) 70 70, Mark Hubbard 69 71, Brian Harman 71 69, Sean O’Hair 71 69, Isaiah Salinda 71 69, Erik Van Rooyen (Rsa) 71 69, Russell Knox (Sco) 69 71, Cameron Tringale 70 70
141 Chris Kirk 73 68, Matt Jones (Aus) 69 72, Greg Chalmers (Aus) 68 73, Nate Lashley 73 68, Kevin Chappell 70 71, Doc Redman 71 70, Denny McCarthy 69 72, Russell Henley 69 72, Tyrrell Hatton (Eng) 71 70, Cheng-Tsung Pan (Tai) 72 69
142 Brian Stuard 73 69, Graeme McDowell (NIrl) 69 73, Scott Piercy 68 74, Jamie Lovemark 73 69, Brooks Koepka 72 70, Maverick McNealy 71 71, Scottie Scheffler 67 75, Max Homa 74 68, Scott Harrington 70 72, James Hahn 71 71, John Huh 73 69, Mackenzie Hughes (Can) 70 72, Troy Merritt 74 68, Brice Garnett 74 68
143 Kramer Hickok 75 68, Zach Johnson 73 70, Austin Cook 71 72, Lanto Griffin 72 71, Cameron Davis (Aus) 67 76, Jhonattan Vegas (Ven) 73 70, Erik Barnes 71 72, Sungjae Im (Kor) 74 69, Will Gordon 76 67
144 Henrik Norlander (Swe) 75 69, Hudson Swafford 71 73, Robby Shelton 72 72, Lucas Glover 73 71, Kevin Streelman 68 76, Si Woo Kim (Kor) 71 73, Wyndham Clark 75 69, Xinjun Zhang (Chn) 76 68, Dylan Frittelli (Rsa) 70 74, Jordan Spieth 73 71
145 Luke List 71 74, Andrew Putnam 75 70, Scott Stallings 74 71, Vaughn Taylor 73 72, Kelly Kraft 72 73, Tom Hoge 73 72, Emiliano Grillo (Arg) 75 70, Keegan Bradley 70 75, Kevin Stadler 74 71, Ollie Schniederjans 74 71, Sergio Garcia (Spa) 74 71
146 Martin Laird (Sco) 72 74, Stewart Cink 72 74, Michael Kim 75 71, Kyoung-hoon Lee (Kor) 76 70, Kevin Tway 75 71, Lee Westwood (Eng) 77 69, Bol Hoag 76 70
147 Andrew Landry 70 77, Sung Kang (Kor) 76 71, Ryan Armour 76 71, Luke Donald (Eng) 74 73, Henrik Stenson (Swe) 72 75
148 Pat Perez 69 79, Sam Fidone 74 74, Matthew NeSmith 77 71, Alex Noren (Swe) 79 69, Patrick Rodgers 73 75
149 Phil Mickelson 76 73, Jason Dufner 73 76, Ted Potter, Jr. 75 74, Sam Ryder 79 70, Bol Van Pelt 74 75, Tyler Duncan 77 72
150 Hunter Mahan 77 73, Adam Schenk 75 75, Kyle Hogan 81 69, David Hearn (Can) 73 77, Martin Trainer 70 80
151 Danny Lee (Nzl) 74 77, D.A. Points 77 74, Branden Grace (Rsa) 71 80, Tom Lewis (Eng) 71 80, Camilo Villegas (Col) 74 77, Bronson Burgoon 79 72
153 Ben Willman (Eng) 80 73
154 Keith Mitchell 78 76
156 Jimmy Walker 78 78
157 Grayson Murray 85 72, Beau Hossler 75 82
