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By Greg Hardwig
Naples Daily News
Long-hitting John Daly and J.B. Holmes are trying to leave the rest of The Franklin Templeton Shootout field in the dust.
But two teams keep emerging from it. Daly and Holmes are leading by a stroke over Justin Leonard and Scott Verplank and Jerry Kelly and Rod Pampling after the second round of the $2.75-million, unofficial PGA Tour event at Tiburón Golf Club.
 | | Daly: "I think we brother-in-lawed it pretty good. I couldn't hit a fairway on the first six holes, and J.B. kind of took care of that." |
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Daly and Holmes once again had a hot stretch, but this time without an eagle. They birdied Nos. 8, 9, 10, 11, 13, 14 and 15 in the better-ball format, then broke a tie with Kelly and Pampling with a birdie on No. 18 when Holmes sank a 35-footer to get to 19-under-par 125 for the tournament.
"I think we brother-in-lawed it pretty good," said Daly, referring to the two playing off one another. "The front nine, I couldn't hit a fairway on the first six holes, and J.B. kind of took care of that."
"You don't want to get it too far behind those boys," Pampling said. "We're far enough behind them off the tee. You don't want to get far behind them on the score, too."
Holmes had four eagle putts on the back nine, though he didn't make any of them, he had all six of the pair's birdies on the back nine.
"He played exceptionally well on the back nine," Daly said. "If I hit it there seven or eight feet, he'd hit it in there two or three."
Leonard and Verplank, who shared the lead with Daly and Holmes after the first round, also birdied No. 18 to finish a string of five birdies in their final six holes and tie Kelly and Pampling at 18-under-par.
"They're going to be tough to beat," Daly said of Verplank and Leonard. "They might not be the longest hitters in the world, but (those) two didn't miss a fairway."
Defending champions Kenny Perry and John Huston had the lowest score of the day, shooting an 11-under-par 61 to leap into a three-way tie for fourth with Mark O'Meara and Jeff Sluman and Trevor Immelman and Rory Sabbatini at 15-under.
The teams of Annika Sorenstam and Fred Couples, and Greg Norman and Nick Faldo once again struggled and are at the bottom. Norman and Faldo shot a 7-under-par 65 and are 11th in the 12-team event. Sorenstam, the first woman to play in the Shootout, and Couples were forced to take a bogey on the final hole when Couples hit his drive in a hazard, and Sorenstam hit her approach shot in a hazard near the green. They're in last at 6-under for the tournament.
The teams will play a scramble format today, with the winners splitting $675,000.
The perfect 54 has not been reached in tournament history. Norman and Steve Elkington tied the scramble record with a 17-under 55 last year.
"It's a scramble, but still, it's just two guys," Holmes said. "That 17-under is good. I think we can go out and play well (today) and shoot a good number. We get a lot of wedges in our hands and get some chances and make some putts, we can shoot a low numbers. It depends on how good you play and depends if you get some of those putts to go in or not."
For Daly, who has played in multiple Shootouts but never won one, winning would be a bonus in a difficult year of injuries on the course, and issues in his personal life off it. And it would be a nice capper to the season for Holmes, a rookie who started off strong and struggled a bit.
"Greg has invited me a lot to this tournament and it would be great to have a chance to win," Daly said. "I think this has got to be my 13th or 14th Shootout. I love playing with J.B. Hopefully, we can go out there and get it done (today). I'd love to win Shark's tournament."
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