Burns grabs second round lead as big names miss the cut at the Safeway Open
By Kyle Foster
Twitter: @NapaKyle @NapaSportsNews
Even though every round is important in a golf tournament, the second round is where you have to set yourself up for a good weekend.
In some cases, a good day could at least make it to where you’re playing over the weekend instead of missing the cut altogether.
After shooting a 64 in the first round, Sam Burns followed it up with yet another solid round. He shot a seven-under, 65 round to jump to the top of the leaderboard.
The main thing that Burns has done well in the tournament is to make it onto the greens in regulation. Once again, he excelled at that as he hit 16 of 18 greens in regulation and has made 30 of 36 overall for the tournament.
“Actually some of the guys at Callaway came to my house last week and we worked on some stuff with my irons, put the new irons in play,” Burns said about his iron play, which led him to being so good at hitting greens in regulation. “So far, they’ve been pretty good. I really like the way they feel, they set up really nice. I’ve been happy with it.”
Burns collected birdies on nine holes, but the round could’ve been even better had he not had a double bogey on the par-three, 160-yard hole 11. Of his nine birdies, he made three in a row after the double bogey on 11.
“I think it pissed me off a little bit, woke me up, I guess,” Burns explained. “It was early, cold. It was kind of like it picked me up, like ‘hey, let’s go.’ Just kind of stuck with it and the golf course opened up for me the rest of the day.”
From 230 yards out on his final hole of the day … 👀
A walk-off albatross for @HarryHiggs1991!#QuickHits pic.twitter.com/v9HJGUJmlF
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) September 11, 2020
After having a so-so first round, the newcomer in the top three after the first round in Harry Higgs. He finished up the first round only three-under. But by shooting a 10-under, 62 round he vaulted all the way into second place. His day was solid all-around as he collected seven birdies and an albatross on a dogleg left at hole nine, which was his final hole of the day. Yes, you read that right. Higgs did get three-under on that hole. What makes the albatross even more impressive is the fact that it took him two shots to go 564 yards.
“I mean, there’s not really much to say. I hit my 4-iron solid, it drew a little bit, landed short, rolled in the hole,” Higgs said of his fantastic shot on nine. “What a wonderful way to end the day and also just really weird. Being the last hole, it’s so final.”
Cameron Percy put entrenched himself with the leaders after the first round by shooting a 64, which put him at eigh-under. But in the second round, he was still solid just nowhere near where he was the day before. In the second round, he shot a four-under, 68 to put him at 12-under for the tournament, He was able to save his round thanks to getting on greens in regulation as he was 15-for-18 on the day and has been on the green 32 of 36 times so far.
A bogey on the second and 17th hole put a damper over the round where he knocked down six birdies.
After a great first round, Russell Knox also came a little bit back to earth. After shooting a nine-under round, Knox made only three birdies on the day and 15 pars. Overall for the day, he shot a 69, three-under.
As for Phil Mickelson, the day was a bit of a turnaround after a rough first round. While he won’t be contending for the victory, he will at least make the cut. Last year, Mickelson didn’t make the cut after making it every year he’s come to Napa. He was able to slide through to Saturday thanks to five birdies. He hit 13 of his 18 greens in regulation for the second day in a row.
Big names don’t make the cut
While some have great starts to their tournaments, others are now done for the weekend.
After coming up just short of the tournament title a few years ago, Brandt Snedeker didn’t make the cut. This is the second year in a row he has missed the weekend part of the tournament. Snedeker shot a 73 round putting him at one-over after the first day and then a two-under 70 round Friday. All of that puts him at two-under, with the cut at four-under.
Tournament headliner Justin Speith won’t be playing the weekend portion of the event as well. Just like Snedeker, he finished up at two-under after shooting a 73 on Thursday and a 70 on Friday.
The tournament continues tomorrow. Golf Channell’s coverage begins at 3 pm.
