Ryan Palmer fired a sensational 10-under-par 62 to seize the lead at the halfway stage of the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines on Friday, as Rory McIlroy’s challenge unraveled.
Palmer had been worried about missing the cut at the PGA tournament after slipping to three over through his first eight holes of Thursday. He recovered to make an even-par 72 but was still six shots off the first-round lead.
On Friday, however, he set the course alight with a superb display, which would have been even better but for a bogey on the final hole.
“I knew today when I got out here, the low rounds were out here,” Palmer said.
“A good five- or six-under-par round was to be had. I just took what I had and it turned into a 62.”
Meanwhile a poor back nine on the South Course at Torrey Pines saw McIlroy slip down the leaderboard and leave himself with plenty of work to do.
He started brightly on Friday, picking up shots on seventh and ninth to move to a promising seven under par for the Championship.
However, he couldn’t keep up the pace on the turn for home and bogeys on 12, 15 and 18 saw him sign for a one over par round of 73 - leaving him six shots off the lead on four under par.
Palmer currently has a two-shot lead over compatriot Brandt Snedeker, who fired a 67 on Friday. American JB Holmes sat third, a further shot away following opening rounds of 68-69.
Meanwhile shooting for a record 82nd PGA tour victory, Tiger Woods was six shots behind after an up-and-down 71. England’s Ben Taylor was also six shots off the pace after a round of 69, while Scotland’s Martin Laird was two shots further back after a pair of 71s.
Collated second round scores in the Farmers Insurance Open, Torrey Pines GC (USA unless stated, par 72):
North Course:
134 Ryan Palmer (USA) 72 62
137 Sebastian Cappelen (Den) 66 71, J.B. Holmes (USA) 68 69
138 Beau Hossler (USA) 72 66, Zac Blair (USA) 72 66
139 Patrick Rodgers (USA) 70 69
140 Jason Day (Aus) 73 67, Hideki Matsuyama (Jpn) 73 67, Scott Stallings (USA) 71 69, Christopher Baker (USA) 72 68, Bubba Watson (USA) 67 73, Mark Anderson (USA) 74 66, Richy Werenski (USA) 72 68, Tony Finau (USA) 70 70, Ben Taylor (Eng) 71 69, J.J. Spaun (USA) 73 67, Jordan Spieth (USA) 70 70
141 Max Homa (USA) 73 68, Jason Dufner (USA) 70 71, Cameron Davis (Aus) 76 65, Cameron Percy (Aus) 68 73
142 Matthew Wolff (USA) 76 66, Maverick McNealy (USA) 71 71, Martin Laird (Sco) 71 71, Dylan Frittelli (Rsa) 76 66, Harris English (USA) 72 70, Tom Hoge (USA) 71 71
143 Luke List (USA) 73 70, Matt Jones (Aus) 75 68, Zack Sucher (USA) 70 73, Kevin Streelman (USA) 72 71, Trey Mullinax (USA) 77 66, Aaron Baddeley (Aus) 71 72, Sam Burns (USA) 74 69, Russell Knox (Sco) 69 74, Will Gordon (USA) 75 68
144 Rory Sabbatini (Svk) 71 73, Xander Schauffele (USA) 74 70, Harold Varner III (USA) 74 70, Brandon Hagy (USA) 74 70, Bronson Burgoon (USA) 74 70, Cheng-Tsung Pan (Tai) 73 71, Martin Trainer (USA) 73 71, Rickie Fowler (USA) 75 69
145 Roger Sloan (Can) 76 69, Austin Cook (USA) 76 69, Gary Woodland (USA) 75 70, Robert Streb (USA) 75 70, Fabian Gomez (Arg) 75 70, Kristoffer Ventura (Nor) 71 74, Phil Mickelson (USA) 72 73, Ted Potter, Jr. (USA) 73 72, Justin Rose (Eng) 75 70, D.J. Trahan (USA) 75 70
146 Francesco Molinari (Ita) 79 67, Steve Stricker (USA) 74 72, Chris Stroud (USA) 76 70, Scott Harrington (USA) 76 70, Chesson Hadley (USA) 74 72, Kyung Ju Choi (Kor) 72 74, Anirban Lahiri (Ind) 75 71
147 Lucas Bjerregaard (Den) 78 69, Scottie Scheffler (USA) 75 72, Scott Brown (USA) 78 69, Kyoung-hoon Lee (Kor) 73 74, Lanto Griffin (USA) 76 71
148 Peter Uihlein (USA) 76 72, Rob Oppenheim (USA) 76 72
149 Henrik Norlander (Swe) 73 76, Keith Mitchell (USA) 74 75, Bol Hoag (USA) 78 71
151 Harry Hall (Eng) 77 74
152 John Senden (Aus) 76 76, Isaiah Salinda (USA) 79 73
155 Sepp Straka (Aut) 79 76
157 Jim Herman (USA) 76 81, Patrick Martin (USA) 82 75
Cut to take place at end of Round 2 for scores of no more than 143
South Course:
136 Brandt Snedeker (USA) 69 67
137 Matthew NeSmith (USA) 67 70, Jhonattan Vegas (Ven) 69 68
138 Keegan Bradley (USA) 66 72, Harry Higgs (USA) 70 68, Patrick Reed (USA) 69 69
139 Jon Rahm (Spa) 68 71, Collin Morikawa (USA) 70 69, Stewart Cink (USA) 68 71, Cameron Champ (USA) 71 68
140 Tiger Woods (USA) 69 71, Brandon Wu (USA) 68 72, Sung Kang (Kor) 69 71, Lucas Glover (USA) 73 67, Tyler McCumber (USA) 72 68, Joel Dahmen (USA) 67 73, Rory McIlroy (NIrl) 67 73, Marc Leishman (Aus) 68 72, Billy Horschel (USA) 68 72, Sungjae Im (Kor) 67 73
141 Byeong-Hun An (Kor) 67 74, Jamie Lovemark (USA) 73 68, Cameron Smith (Aus) 70 71, Denny McCarthy (USA) 70 71, Joaquin Niemann (Chi) 71 70, Jimmy Walker (USA) 71 70, Kevin Tway (USA) 67 74, Joseph Bramlett (USA) 71 70, Dominic Bozzelli (USA) 68 73
142 Chase Seiffert (USA) 71 71, Bill Haas (USA) 72 70, Rhein Gibson (Aus) 69 73, Ryan Brehm (USA) 70 72
143 Jason Kokrak (USA) 69 74, Charley Hoffman (USA) 69 74, Pat Perez (USA) 69 74, Robby Shelton (USA) 71 72, Doc Redman (USA) 70 73, Talor Gooch (USA) 71 72, Grayson Murray (USA) 70 73, Xinjun Zhang (Chn) 67 76, John Huh (USA) 70 73, Cameron Tringale (USA) 68 75
144 Emiliano Grillo (Arg) 71 73, Kyle Stanley (USA) 73 71, Vincent Whaley (USA) 68 76, KK Limbhasut (Tha) 69 75, Eddie Olson (USA) 72 72
145 Michael Thompson (USA) 71 74, Mackenzie Hughes (Can) 73 72, Michael Gligic (Can) 71 74, Vince Covello (USA) 70 75, Tim Wilkinson (Nzl) 72 73
146 Wes Roach (USA) 74 72, Bud Cauley (USA) 71 75, Peter Malnati (USA) 71 75, Sam Ryder (USA) 73 73, Doug Ghim (USA) 74 72
147 Brendan Steele (USA) 74 73, Michael Gellerman (USA) 70 77, Nelson Lauta Ledesma (Arg) 70 77, Josh Teater (USA) 71 76
148 Justin Suh (USA) 73 75, Wyndham Clark (USA) 69 79, Ben Martin (USA) 72 76, Satoshi Kodaira (Jpn) 73 75, Nick Watney (USA) 72 76, Hank Lebioda (USA) 72 76, Patton Kizzire (USA) 69 79
149 Kevin Stadler (USA) 76 73
150 Seung-Yul Noh (Kor) 78 72, Alex Beach (USA) 76 74, Carlos Ortiz (Mex) 74 76, (a) Jacob Bergeron (USA) 75 75
151 Sebastian Munoz (Col) 74 77
154 Kramer Hickok (USA) 74 80, Michael Block (USA) 77 77
Cut to take place at end of Round 2 for scores of no more than 143
