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Courtesy of Greg Hardwig
Naples Daily News
NAPLES, Fla. - Steve Stricker and Jerry Kelly fell out of the lead most of the day. But at the end, they were better than they started.
 Stricker and Kelly and Verplank and Leonard started the round tied for the lead after 66s in Friday's modified alternate shot. |
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Stricker birdied No. 18 to finish a string of five birdies in six holes to get the team to 13-under-par 131 after the second round of The Franklin Templeton Shootout at Tiburón Golf Club at the Ritz-Carlton Golf Resort.
"There's a ton of teams up there at the top, and a lot of birdies are going to be flying (today)," Stricker said. "We've got to get right in there with our own games and make a lot of birdies on our own, too."
Stricker's 8-foot birdie putt prevented a four-way tie for the lead. Kenny Perry and J.B. Holmes, Steve Flesch and Dustin Johnson, and Justin Leonard and Scott Verplank are all at 12 under after the better ball second round.
Stricker and Kelly and Verplank and Leonard started the round tied for the lead after 66s in Friday's modified alternate shot. Teams will play a scramble Sunday.
After shooting 29-37 in the first round, Stricker and Kelly struggled to a 35 on the front nine, but bounced back with a 30 on the back.
"We just kind of flip-flopped the nines," said Kelly, who won this tournament in 2006 with Rod Pampling in a playoff over Leonard and Verplank. "We told ourself now we know how to play both sides."
Following 10 pars and two birdies in the first 12 holes, Kelly holed out a chip shot on No. 13 to start a streak of five birdies in the last six holes. Stricker also had a birdie chip-in on No. 15, after he got up and down for a birdie on the par-5 14th. Kelly birdied No. 17, then Stricker hit an 8-iron from 158 yards to eight feet at the last.
Three teams -- Chad Campbell and Tim Clark, Chris DiMarco and Rickie Fowler, and Ross Fisher and Ian Poulter -- are tied for fifth at 10 under.
Tournament host Greg Norman is not playing for the first time in the event's 21 years because of September shoulder surgery.
Holmes eagled No. 17 as his team completed a 7-under 29 on the back nine. Perry is attempting to win his third Shootout title with his third different partner. He won the unofficial PGA Tour event last year with Scott Hoch, but Hoch was unable to play this year after undergoing wrist surgery.
Perry and Holmes had a 10-under-par 62 in the better ball format to get to 12 under 132 for the tournament. The key was an 11-footer for birdie that Holmes made on No. 12 that ended a long string of missed birdie putts that weren't tap-ins over the first two days.
"I stuck my arms up in the air," Holmes said. "I felt like I won the tournament."
"When he rolled it in on 12, it just seemed the gates started opening a little bit more for us," Perry said.
They followed with birdies on Nos. 12, 13, 14 and 15, then Holmes hit a 346-yard drive, and a 7-iron from 188 yards to three feet.
Like Holmes for Hoch, Flesch also is a replacement. He got in the field Monday when Fred Couples withdrew with recurring back problems. The Flesch-Johnson team birdied their final three holes.
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