36-Hole Tourney Record Broken by Rose
Birdieing five consecutive back-nine holes for the second straight round, Justin Rose shot an 8-under 62 and took a four-stroke lead over Kevin Sutherland, on Friday, in the Travelers Championship.
The Memorial winner three weeks ago, Rose broke the tournament record for the first 36 holes, finishing at 14-under 126. At TPC River Highlands, 62 was one off the course record although Rose failed to qualify for the U.S. Open last week at Pebble Beach.
“Yesterday’s finish was amazing, ran five birdies in the last six and then again today, managed to get five in a row again. Birdied 10 of the 12 holes, so from just cruising, suddenly I went to the top of the leaderboard just like that and began to get a nice little lead there”, said Rose.
Five strokes back at 9-under were Corey Pavin (66), Charlie Wi (67), Bill Lunde (63) and Vijay Singh (66). Sutherland shot his second straight 65. Rose broke through at the Memorial three weeks ago, after making 162 PGA Tour starts without winning. after 65s, Sutherland will not be complaining about consistency. Lunde eagled Nos. 13 and 15. Singh birdied his first two holes. Pavin’s last of the day, stopped a revolution short and he had his birdie bid on the ninth hole.
Rose’s birdie putts, all eight of them were inside 11 feet. after a pair of chip shots, his putts on the 13th and 15th holes were tap-in birdies.
Really, I felt under-prepared coming in here. I got to tell you. Didn’t do a lot of practice. I’m doing a lot of things well. My feel’s really good. For a while, I was chasing results because I knew I was playing well, instead of just letting it happen. So, it’s a very fine line out here. It’s very subtle, and I haven’t really changed much. Suddenly, my name’s up there, and you think, ‘Well, what’s different?’ But really, nothing is different. It’s just suddenly happening,” said Rose.
