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The Sports Network
James Driscoll managed a one-under
71 Friday to fall into a share of the lead after two rounds of the Puerto Rico
Open.
Rio Grande, Puerto Rico (Sports Network) - James Driscoll managed a one-under
71 Friday to fall into a share of the lead after two rounds of the Puerto Rico
Open.
Driscoll completed 36 holes at 10-under-par 134. He was joined atop the
leaderboard by Troy Matteson (67) and Chris Tidland, who matched the course
record with his nine-under 63.
Derek Lamely, the 2010 champion, set the course record last year, and Driscoll
matched it on Thursday.
Stephen Ames, the 2006 Players Championship winner, and George McNeill both
shot 66 on Friday to join Hunter Haas (68) in fourth place at minus-nine.
Driscoll birdied the first to get to 10-under, but remained there with 11
consecutive pars. He jumped two strokes clear of the field with back-to-back
birdies from the 13th at Trump International Golf Club.
The 38-year-old Driscoll stumbled to a double-bogey on the 15th to slide back
to minus-10. He parred the final three to share the second-round lead.
"Obviously, it could have been better today, but overall, the way I kind of
played and handled everything, I thought was pretty good," Driscoll admitted.
"I don't really have any complaints."
Tidland played the back nine first on Friday and posted his first birdie on
the par-three 11th. He flew up the leaderboard with three straight birdies
from the 15th.
Around the turn, Tidland birdied the first and third to move to seven-under.
He again made three consecutive birdies, this time from the sixth, to gain a
piece of the lead. The birdies at six and seven were both from three feet.
"Everything obviously went pretty well," Tidland stated. "I got off to a nice
start. I hit a six-iron on No. 11 to a foot, and that kind of started me off.
I made some nice putts for par, and then I just kept hitting some fairways and
some greens."
Matteson stumbled out of the gate with a bogey No. 10. He parred his next
three before birdies on 14 and 15 got him to six-under. Matteson also birdied
the 18th to turn at minus-seven.
The 31-year-old, who has won twice on the PGA Tour, played the front nine at
three-under. His birdies came on the second, fifth and eighth.
"I've putted pretty good. These greens are tough to read, but that's just kind
of the part of the game when you come here," Matteson explained. "You try to
hit as many greens as you can, and hopefully you read some of those putts
well. I think I've done a nice job reading the putts so far."
Ben Martin (66) and Michael Bradley (68) share seventh at eight-under-par 136.
NOTES: Stewart Cink, the highest ranked player in the field at No. 59, carded
a four-under 68 to move into a tie for ninth place at seven-under-par 137,
where he was joined by Chris DiMarco (69), former Masters champion Angel
Cabrera (71) and three others...The cut line fell at one-under-par 143 with 70
players making the cut...Among those missing the weekend are Jason Gore, John
Daly, Brett Quigley, Brett Wetterich, Brad Faxon and Lamely.
The Sports Network