Goydos surges ahead in Texas

Paul Goydos pulled ahead of overnight co-leader Justin Leonard to move into a three-stroke lead at the Valero Texas Open.
Paul Goydos pulled ahead of overnight co-leader Justin Leonard to move into a three-stroke lead at the halfway point of the Valero Texas Open.
The Americans had begun the day tied at seven under par with former Open champion Leonard, a Texas native, who started early at the par-70, 6,896-yard Resort Course at La Cantera and followed his first-round 63 with a two-under 68 to move to nine under.
Goydos set off in pursuit later in the day and got off to a bad start with a bogey on his first hole at the par-four 10th.
But it was to be the only blemish on his card as the 2008 Players Championship runner-up knocked off six birdies for a five-under 65 to get to 12 under.
“Another good day,” Goydos said. “Really only had one mediocre shot all day, and that was on the first hole.
“I made bogey, and after that I played reasonably well.
“Yesterday I made a bunch of birdies and bogeyed the last hole. And today I bogeyed the first hole and birdied some. Twenty-five putts today.
“When you’re under and on pace to break 100 putts (for the week), you better play well and that’s the situation.”
Mathias Gronberg led a Swedish charge in San Antonio, opening the day at four under and going one better with a second-round 65 to take a share of the clubhouse lead with Leonard at nine under.
American Ted Purdy improved by three strokes with a 67 while his compatriots John Mallinger, with a 64, and Scott Sterling, who posted a 63, made it a five-way tie overnight for second place.
Brian Davis of England continued the good form that earned a tie for fifth at last week’s Players Championship but missed the chance to finish on nine under when he missed the green at the par-four 18th with his approach shot.
Davis then came up short with a par putt inside nine feet. The bogey left him with a 67 and sent him back to eight under, five shots off the lead.
Five days after Henrik Stenson won The Players for Sweden at TPC Sawgrass, Fredrik Jacobson added to the Scandinavian momentum with a second-round 66, although a missed nine-foot birdie putt at the par-four 18th kept him at eight under.
“I think it was Helen Alfredsson yesterday went out and shot a low round (at the LPGA Sybase Classic) and Johan Edfors shot a low number on the European Tour (in The 3 Irish Open), probably late after the first session,” Jacobson said. “Might be inspiring to some of the Swedes.”
Jacobson will start the third round alongside Davis and American Kent Jones, who shot a 65, in a tie for sixth place.
The low round of the day was an eight-under 62 from JJ Henry that took the American to seven under for the tournament, tied for 10th alongside Stephen Ames of Canada, Australian Marc Leishman and England’s Greg Owen, who added a 68 to his opening 65.
Defending champion Zach Johnson got to five under with a second-round 67, while former Open champion David Duval failed to build on his opening 66 but shot a 69 to comfortably make just his third cut of the year at five under.
The cut line came at one under and there was a trio of Swedes striving to get to that score and reach the weekend’s play.
Only Richard S Johnson made it, shooting a 68 to move to one under, while Daniel Chopra shot a one-under 69 that got him to level par, missing out by a stroke.
Jesper Parnevik, though, hit a four-over 74 to fall to four over for the tournament and he joined Alex Cejka of Germany in making an early exit.
Cejka had been hoping for a turnaround in form after he carried his final-round agony at TPC Sawgrass last week into La Cantera on Thursday.
Cejka shot a last-day 79 at the Players to blow a five-shot overnight lead and he followed up with a 73 in Texas to leave him starting his round at three over.
Cejka added three more to his tally with a second-round 73 to bow out at six over par.
All the second round scores & totals in the USPGA Tour Valero Texas Open, The Resort Course at La Cantera Golf Club, San Antonio, Texas, United States.
(USA unless stated, par 70):
128 Paul Goydos 63 65
131 Justin Leonard 63 68, Scott Sterling 68 63, Ted Purdy 64 67, Mathias Gronberg (Swe) 66 65, John Mallinger 67 64
132 Brian Davis (Eng) 65 67, Kent Jones 67 65, Fredrik Jacobson (Swe) 66 66
133 Marc Leishman (Aus) 64 69, J.P. Hayes 71 62, Greg Owen (Eng) 65 68, Stephen Ames (Can) 66 67
134 Jeff Maggert 64 70, Bill Haas 67 67, Lee Janzen 66 68, Briny Baird 68 66
135 Kris Blanks 70 65, Kevin Stadler 67 68, Aron Price (Aus) 69 66, Zach Johnson 68 67, Tag Ridings 69 66, Brandt Jobe 70 65, David Duval 66 69
136 Patrick Sheehan 68 68, Charles Warren 70 66, Marco Dawson 68 68, Bart Bryant 70 66, Wil Collins 67 69, Greg Chalmers (Aus) 69 67, Harrison Frazar 67 69, James Driscoll 67 69, Matthew Jones (Aus) 67 69, J J Henry 66 70, Jimmy Walker 70 66, Tim Clark (Rsa) 67 69
137 Scott McCarron 70 67, Gary Woodland 67 70, Todd Fischer 70 67, James Nitties (Aus) 68 69, Chad Campbell 68 69, Bob Estes 67 70, Jay Williamson 69 68, Scott Gutschewski 71 66, Carlos Franco (Par) 71 66, Scott Verplank 67 70, Robert Gates 73 64, Matt Weibring 67 70, Frank Lickliter II 69 68
138 Anthony Kim 69 69, Bill Lunde 73 65, Vaughn Taylor 70 68, Chris DiMarco 72 66, Corey Pavin 66 72, Garrett Willis 68 70, Troy Matteson 72 66
139 Jonathan Kaye 71 68, Charley Hoffman 70 69, Paul Stankowski 70 69, Matt Bettencourt 68 71, Nathan Green (Aus) 70 69, Shaun Micheel 67 72, David Peoples 72 67, Robin Freeman 70 69, Jason Gore 70 69, Tim Herron 68 71, Eric Axley 72 67, Mark Brooks 71 68, Martin Piller 69 70, Mark Wilson 67 72, Charlie Wi (Kor) 68 71, Billy Andrade 72 67, Dustin Johnson 74 65, Richard S Johnson (Swe) 71 68, Matt Loving 72 67, Rocco Mediate 69 70
——————The following players failed to make the cut———————-
140 Peter Tomasulo 70 70, Spencer Levin 73 67, Tom Byrum 72 68, Colt Knost 70 70, Steve Allan (Aus) 70 70, Nick O’Hern (Aus) 70 70, Heath Slocum 71 69, Tim Wilkinson (Nzl) 69 71, Bob Burns 70 70, Daniel Chopra (Swe) 71 69, Notah Begay III 68 72, Ryan Palmer 69 71, Rich Beem 69 71, Bryce Molder 70 70, Tyler Aldridge 72 68
141 Chris Riley 72 69, Lance Ten Broeck 71 70, Greg Kraft 70 71, Chez Reavie 70 71, Brian Bateman 72 69, Ricky Barnes 71 70, Joe Durant 73 68, Brian Vranesh 72 69, Dean Wilson 67 74, Tommy Gainey 71 70, Nicholas Thompson 72 69, D.J. Trahan 74 67
142 David Ogrin 72 70, Neal Lancaster 73 69, Casey Wittenberg 70 72, Matthew Borchert 74 68, D.A. Points 75 67, Jarrod Lyle (Aus) 72 70, Grant Waite (Nzl) 68 74, Guy Boros 70 72, Jim McGovern 75 67, Troy Kelly 72 70, Dicky Pride 71 71, Rick Price 73 69
143 Willie Wood 66 77, Brad Adamonis 73 70, Omar Uresti 73 70, Darron Stiles 74 69, Mark Hensby (Aus) 69 74, Tadd Fujikawa 72 71, Derek Fathauer 68 75, Cameron Beckman 74 69, David Mathis 75 68, John Huston 71 72, Bob Heintz 71 72
144 Brendon De Jonge 74 70, Roland Thatcher 73 71, Glen Day 71 73, J.L. Lewis 72 72, Jesper Parnevik (Swe) 70 74
145 Robert Gamez 76 69, Jay Delsing 70 75, Chris Stroud 72 73, Jim,