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Courtesy of Greg Hardwig
Naples Daily News
NAPLES -- Kenny Perry has the lead after the second round of The Franklin Templeton Shootout. And Scott Hoch is playing with him.
Perry had eight birdies and an eagle of his own, and he and Hoch finished with a 12-under-par 60 in the better-ball format at Tiburón Golf Club. They hold a four-shot lead over J.B. Holmes and Boo Weekley after the second round.
"It's fun to watch Kenny play right now," said Hoch, who won on his own in Naples earlier this year at the Champions Tour's ACE Group Classic. "He's really playing well. I just feel fortunate enough to help him on a few holes."
The two teams were tied until Perry and Hoch birdied No. 16, Perry made an 8-footer for eagle on No. 17, and 10-footer for birdie on No. 18. Perry hit a 5-iron from 220 yards on No. 17, and a gap wedge from 115 yards on No. 18.
 Hoch and Perry also held the 36-hole lead at the 2003 Franklin Templeton Shootout. |
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Holmes and Weekley, who both played with Perry on the U.S. Ryder Cup team, made one birdie and four pars in the last five holes. They'll be playing together again, with something else on the line, today.
"They're great kids, so we'll have a fun time," said Perry, who finished second in the Nedbank Challenge in South Africa last Sunday.
"When Kenny is on, he hits every shot about three feet from the hole," Holmes said.
First-round leaders Nick Price and Jeff Sluman are in third at 14-under 130 after a 66. Price's approach on No. 18 hit the flagstick, bounced back, and rolled down to the front of the green.
"It was impressive," said Price, 51. "I was in awe. For someone 48 years old, that was unbelievable."
Zach Johnson and Scott Verplank are fourth at 132. Tournament founder and host Greg Norman and Camilo Villegas, Jerry Kelly and Steve Stricker, and Stewart Cink and Fred Couples are 10-under.
2008 U.S. Ryder Cup captain Paul Azinger and Rocco Mediate, the 2008 U.S. Open runner-up, tied the second-best round of the day with a 62, and are at 135.
The winners split $730,000 from the $2.9-million purse. Today's format is a scramble. The 12 two-man teams played modified alternate shot on Friday.
Only one team has come back from a four-shot deficit in the tournament's 19-year history. In 2003, Hank Kuehne and Jeff Sluman were four back of none other than Perry and Hoch, and came back to win a three-way playoff.
 Hoch, seeking his first victory at the Shootout, would be the first Champions Tour player to win the event. |
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"We'll have to play great, obviously," Holmes said. "If Kenny and Scott go out there and play really well, then I don't know if we'll be able to do it then."
Holmes and Weekley birdied four of their first six holes, then made birdies on Nos. 9, 10, 12 and 13 before leveling off for a 62.
"We still can't get the putts to fall," Weekley said. "If we get those putts to fall, we got them."
In 2003, Perry's and Hoch's chances had already ended when they were assessed a two-stroke penalty when both started practice putting after they forgot to putt out on the 16th hole. They ended up fifth, three shots out of a three-way playoff.
"I was a pre-senior, but I was already thinking like a senior," Hoch said Saturday.
"We played OK that day, I just think the other guys played better," Perry said. " ... The winning team just went crazy-low that day."
Perry knows that can happen again.
"I don't think the lead is ever safe enough in this format, the scramble format," he said. "It's really not."
Sluman isn't necessarily convinced.
"I'd be shocked if they didn't win," he said.
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