Jonas Blixt soared into the lead with an eye-catching eagle at the 17th hole and held on for a one-stroke advantage over Kevin Na and Tony Finau after the second round of the Charles Schwab Challenge in Fort Worth, Texas on Friday. Blixt holed out from 132 yards at the 17th to shoot a bogey-free six-under-par 64 before windy conditions hit Colonial Country Club.
A closing par left the Swede on nine-under 131 and gave him the 36-hole outright lead for the first time in 185 starts on the PGA Tour.
“I think I played pretty good this year,” Blixt told reporters. “Obviously not had the good finishes yet.”
Four times this season he has entered the weekend in the top-10 but faltered.
“The test is going to be this weekend,” he said, “if I can have a good weekend or not.”
Séamus Power’s recent good form which saw him record three top-15 finishes in his last four starts and make a big move up the FedEx Cup standings unfortunately deserted him in Fort Worth as a second round 74 saw him miss the cut at five over par.
Graeme McDowell’s second round 71 saw him make the cut at two over. That gives him the chance to make up some ground over the weekend and potentially move closer to securing a spot in the field for July’s Open Championship at his home course of Royal Portrush.
Na (62) and first-round leader Finau (68) shared second at eight-under 132. Na, playing in the morning like Blixt, started off with an eagle at the first and added six birdies in his blistering round. “Yeah, I like this golf course,” said Na, after his third 62 or lower at Colonial. “Fits my game. You’ve got to take advantage of those weeks because there is not too many golf courses like this on tour anymore.” Finau finally provided some competition in the afternoon, despite increasing winds, with three birdies and a bogey in his last nine holes. Slovakia’s Rory Sabbatini (66) held fourth at six-under with former champion Jordan Spieth (70) in a group of five at five under.
Spieth, often missing fairways, wound up with five bogeys before collecting birdies on two of his final three holes. He also had a 50-foot birdie putt at the 10th and a 46-footer two holes later.
“It was a grind,” Spieth said. “I would like to think -- I hope, I hope -- and it felt like today was kind of the off day in a four rounds.
“I just -- you know, towards the end of yesterday’s rounds kind of lost a little bit of the feel in my swing that I had Tuesday, Wednesday, beginning of Thursday, and I didn’t really find it today.”
Jason Dufner (68), who at one time had a chance to take the lead, was in the group at five-under. Three bogeys in his final four holes soured a sparkling round that included five birdies.
World number three Justin Rose, the defending champion, shot 67 to avoid the two-over cut by a stroke while Rickie Fowler (three over) and Bryson DeChambeau (four over) were not as fortunate.
Collated second round scores in the USPGA Tour Charles Schwab Challenge, Colonial CC, Fort Worth, Texas, United States of America (USA unless stated, par 70)
131 Jonas Blixt (Swe) 67 64
132 Tony Finau 64 68, Kevin Na 70 62
134 Rory Sabbatini (Svk) 68 66
135 Nick Watney 67 68, Jason Dufner 67 68, Jim Furyk 69 66, Cheng-Tsung Pan (Tai) 68 67, Jordan Spieth 65 70
136 Trey Mullinax 67 69
137 Roger Sloan (Can) 65 72, Ryan Palmer 68 69, Tyrrell Hatton (Eng) 71 66
138 Daniel Berger 71 67, Max Homa 70 68, Kevin Tway 68 70, Scott Piercy 70 68, Mackenzie Hughes (Can) 68 70, Martin Kaymer (Ger) 73 65, Josh Teater 68 70
139 Andrew Putnam 69 70, Austin Cook 72 67, David Toms 71 68, Brian Harman 70 69, Chesson Hadley 67 72, Matt Every 70 69, Tom Hoge 70 69, Emiliano Grillo (Arg) 69 70, Adam Long 70 69, Russell Knox (Sco) 71 68, Brice Garnett 73 66, Anirban Lahiri (Ind) 68 71
140 Scott Brown 67 73, Benjamin Silverman (Can) 69 71, Tim Herron 72 68, Brian Gay 69 71, Nate Lashley 69 71, Kevin Streelman 69 71, Danny Lee (Nzl) 69 71, J.J. Henry 67 73, Abraham Ancer (Mex) 68 72, Peter Uihlein 67 73, Bill Haas 69 71, Tyrone Van Aswegen (Rsa) 69 71, Matthew Fitzpatrick (Eng) 69 71
141 Francesco Molinari (Ita) 71 70, Peter Malnati 74 67, Charley Hoffman 70 71, Vaughn Taylor 74 67, Byeong-Hun An (Kor) 69 72, Beau Hossler 70 71, Kyoung-hoon Lee (Kor) 72 69, Justin Rose (Eng) 74 67, Joaquin Niemann (Chi) 71 70, Sam Burns 69 72, Jimmy Walker 67 74, Martin Laird (Sco) 72 69, Billy Horschel 72 69, Jhonattan Vegas (Ven) 74 67, Brandt Snedeker 74 67
142 Brian Stuard 70 72, Chris Stroud 72 70, Graeme McDowell (NIrl) 71 71, Branden Grace (Rsa) 71 71, Cameron Champ 70 72, Aaron Baddeley (Aus) 73 69, Talor Gooch 72 70, Ben Crane 75 67, Ted Potter, Jr. 70 72, Mike Weir (Can) 71 71, Ian Poulter (Eng) 73 69, Dominic Bozzelli 73 69, Corey Conners (Can) 69 73
The following players missed the cut:
143 Bud Cauley 71 72, Xander Schauffele 76 67, Chez Reavie 71 72, Joel Dahmen 74 69, Denny McCarthy 72 71, Ollie Schniederjans 75 68, Nick Taylor (Can) 69 74, Rickie Fowler 74 69
144 Richy Werenski 74 70, Matt Jones (Aus) 73 71, Boo Weekley 70 74, Bryson DeChambeau 72 72, Kevin Kisner 72 72, Sungjae Im (Kor) 72 72, Doug Ghim 75 69
145 JT Poston 74 71, Carlos Ortiz (Mex) 76 69, Scott Stallings 73 72, Rod Pampling (Aus) 73 72, Colt Knost 76 69, Ryan Armour 72 73, Kelly Kraft 72 73, Keith Clearwater 71 74, Séamus Power (Irl) 71 74
146 Shawn Stefani 71 75, Hudson Swafford 71 75, Andrew Landry 77 69, Bronson Burgoon 73 73, Kiradech Aphibarnrat (Tha) 75 71, Michael Thompson 73 73, Scott Langley 69 77, Jon Rahm (Spa) 75 71
147 Wyndham Clark 76 71, Kramer Hickok 74 73, Zach Johnson 72 75, Ryan Blaum 73 74, Si Woo Kim (Kor) 72 75
148 Whee Kim (Kor) 74 74, Michael Kim 72 76
149 Roberto Castro 76 73
151 Adam Schenk 72 79, Patton Kizzire 78 73
152 Brendan Steele 75 77
154 Tucker Wadkins 76 78
158 Dru Love 78 80
