Golf:Americans Garrett Willis and Chris Couch are the surprise halfway leaders at the PGA Tour Transitions Championship as Paul Casey failed to take his fine form into the second day at Innisbrook and Ireland's Pádraig Harrington missed the cut.
The Dubliner never recovered from his opening round of 73 and managed only a one-under-par 70 yesterday to miss out on the weekend's action by two shots.
Willis was four-under-par for his round on Friday, highlighted by an eagle at the par-five fifth, and nine under overall.
He was joined on that mark by Couch, one of three men to card a round of seven under on Friday.
Couch, 37, suffers from tendonitis in his left elbow and has battled back from a shoulder injury, but is playing some of the best golf of his career despite being restricted in the number of tournaments he can play.
"I feel like I'm good enough to win, and I've been playing well enough this year and last year to win," Couch told pgatour.com.
"And you know, it's just hard to come back from an injury.
"It would definitely mean a lot to me. I've been blessed to be back out here.
"God has given me an opportunity to come back from an injury which I didn't know if I was going to be able to come back or not. I mean, there was times when my shoulder was so bad that I thought that was going to be my career."
One shot back are popular Spaniard Sergio Garcia, who is yet to drop a stroke having hit a second-round 66 on the par-71 course, and American Webb Simpson, four under for the day.
Justin Rose was one of the day's big movers, with a round of six under taking him into a share of fifth alongside, among others, Casey.
The Englishman was level for his round, two shots off the lead having held a two-stroke advantage overnight.
Like Willis, Brandt Snedeker carded a 64 to move into a tie for 11th on six under along with a clutch of players which included Scotland's Martin Laird.
World number one Martin Kaymer added a one-under-par 70 to his opening 68 to be four under overall at the midway point.
Collated second round scores from the US PGA Tour's Transitions Championship at the Innisbrook Golf and Spa Resort's Copperhead Course in Palm Harbor, Florida (USA unless stated, par 71):
133Chris Couch 69 64, Garrett Willis 66 67
134Sergio Garcia (Spa) 68 66, Webb Simpson 67 67
135Brendon De Jonge 69 66, Justin Rose (Eng) 70 65, Roland Thatcher 68 67, Paul Casey (Eng) 64 71, Gary Woodland 67 68, Marc Turnesa 68 67
136Scott Stallings 66 70, Matteo Manassero (Ita) 68 68, Mark Wilson 70 66, Peter Hanson (Swe) 69 67, Martin Laird (Sco) 66 70, Brandt Snedeker 72 64, Stuart Appleby (Aus) 67 69, Ryan Moore 67 69
137Jim Furyk 67 70, Lucas Glover 73 64, David Toms 69 68, Geoff Ogilvy (Aus) 70 67, Kevin Sutherland 68 69, Jonathan Byrd 70 67, Carl Pettersson (Swe) 69 68
138Nick Watney 66 72, Spencer Levin 70 68, Zach Johnson 70 68, Jason Dufner 68 70, Stewart Cink 68 70, Martin Kaymer (Ger) 68 70, Ricky Barnes 71 67, Justin Leonard 67 71, Chad Campbell 69 69, Vijay Singh (Fij) 68 70, Joe Durant 67 71, Trevor Immelman (Rsa) 72 66, Cameron Beckman 71 67
139Charley Hoffman 68 71, Rory Sabbatini (Rsa) 67 72, John Senden (Aus) 67 72, Bobby Gates 72 67, Will Claxton 69 70, Bubba Watson 70 69, Matthew Jones (Aus) 69 70, Peter Uihlein 70 69, Chad Collins 68 71, Troy Matteson 70 69
140Bill Lunde 71 69, Brian Gay 67 73, Woody Austin 71 69, Steven Bowditch (Aus) 72 68, Chez Reavie 70 70, Blake Adams 68 72
141Chris Riley 69 72, Ryan Palmer 72 69, Zack Miller 71 70, Dean Wilson 71 70, Shaun Micheel 70 71, Marc Leishman (Aus) 68 73, Kent Jones 70 71, Brian Davis (Eng) 70 71, Retief Goosen (Rsa) 72 69, Jason Day (Aus) 70 71, Alex Cejka (Ger) 73 68, Kevin Na 69 72, J J Henry 69 72, Kevin Stadler 72 69, George McNeill 71 70, John Rollins 70 71, Andres Romero (Arg) 69 72, Tommy Gainey 71 70
The following players failed to make the cut
142Pat Perez 74 68, Tim Herron 72 70, J.P. Hayes 69 73, Charles Howell III 71 71, Keegan Bradley 73 69, Chris Tidland 74 68, John Huston 74 68, Rich Beem 73 69
143Chris Stroud 72 71, Vaughn Taylor 73 70, William McGirt 71 72, John Daly 70 73, Jarrod Lyle (Aus) 72 71, Nathan Green (Aus) 72 71, Sean O'Hair 73 70, Bill Haas 72 71, Jimmy Walker 71 72, Brandt Jobe 68 75, Stephen Ames (Can) 70 73, Pádraig Harrington (Irl) 73 70
144Jerry Kelly 69 75, Robert Garrigus 69 75, Kyle Stanley 72 72, Steve Flesch 71 73, Harrison Frazar 75 69, Ben Curtis 75 69, Fabian Gomez (Arg) 71 73, Ryo Ishikawa (Jpn) 71 73, Charlie Wi (Kor) 70 74, Bio Kim (Kor) 71 73, K J Choi (Kor) 69 75, Cameron Tringale 72 72, Jesper Parnevik (Swe) 73 71
145Michael Bradley 75 70, Chris DiMarco 71 74, Greg Chalmers (Aus) 74 71, Nick O'Hern (Aus) 71 74, Heath Slocum 75 70, Michael Connell 72 73, Jamie Lovemark 69 76, Brendan Steele 72 73, Tim Petrovic 74 71, Bryce Molder 74 71, Hunter Haas 73 72, Russell Knox (Sco) 71 74
146Kris Blanks 73 73, Jason Kokrak 71 75, Travis Hampshire 75 71, Johnson Wagner 72 74, Matt Bettencourt 73 73, D.J. Trahan 72 74, Alex Prugh 71 75
147Paul Goydos 72 75, Mark Calcavecchia 73 74, Tag Ridings 68 79, David Duval 73 74, Joseph Bramlett 72 75, Rocco Mediate 71 76
148Arjun Atwal (Ind) 69 79, Billy Mayfair 74 74, Billy Horschel 73 75, Daniel Summerhays 77 71, Josh Teater 73 75
149Kenny Perry 74 75, Ryuji Imada (Jpn) 74 75
150Chris Kirk 75 75, Jeff Maggert 73 77
151Troy Merritt 77 74
152James Driscoll 76 76
153Derek Lamely 74 79
154Jeff Freeman 80 74
