The 30-year-old shot a 7-under-par 64 in the second round to take a one shot lead over Chez Reavie.
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Johnson (66) and left-hander Watson (68) were just two shots off the pace with McIlroy a further two strokes back at six under after carding a roller-coaster 69. They are long par 5s, but for us, we can get there in two.
Watson, who is looking to win his second title at the event in three years, began his round on a high as he made two birdies at the first and fourth before committing his lone blemish of the round at the eighth, where he made a bogey after missing a 27-foot par putt.
Bubba Watson was booed two weeks ago in Phoenix after he made a comment that he only played in the Waste Management Open because his sponsors wanted him to play it.
A mixed round from Rory McIlroy left him four shots off the lead at the halfway point of the Northern Trust Open in California.
Much had been made of McIlroy and world number one Jordan Spieth going head-to-head on the PGA Tour for the first time this season, but the latter will not be competing over the weekend.
Spieth rebounded from the third-worst start of his career – an 8-over 79 – and followed with a 3-under 69, a round that included eight birdies and five bogeys. I just played really poorly from good positions off the tee, and didn’t strike the iron shots bad either. “Playing in the penultimate threesome, he missed eagle at the par-5 first from 8’1″, settling for a two-putt birdie and then three-putted the second from 48’10” for bogey-5.
“I really like this golf course”.
“I felt like there was a couple rounds last week where I shot 2 under and I was more miserable than I was today”, Spieth said.
Kokrak knows there will be several players trying to chase him down but the leader insists he will just be concentrating on his own game on Saturday.
Johnson said he didn’t play golf from the Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas on December 6 until he arrived in Kapalua almost a month later. “He’s an incredible talent and fun to play with, fun to watch”. Jordan Spieth missed the cut.
“You’ve got to hit a lot of different shots, and it never plays easy”.
While Spieth’s putting improved on Friday, his ball-striking remained decidedly average as he hit just 7-of-14 fairways in regulation and 11-of-18 greens in regulation.
“Those two holes were just out of the blue”, Schwartzel said. And then when I come back… For the first time at Riviera, new technology from MasterCard means fans can order and pay for concessions throughout the course with MasterPass.
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He missed a par putt inside 3 feet on No. 12. “And the back nine was a little scrappy”. His most recent form and record in this event did not indicate a start along these lines was likely but a round of 64 today has opened up the opportunity for at least his best finish in this event and possibly on the PGA Tour.
