Jun 12, 2020
Varner recovers to lead at Colonial; Conners in striking distance
Harold Varner III backed up his opening-round 63 with a 66 despite a triple bogey while Canada’s Corey Conners remains in the hunt at the Charles Schwab Challenge, Bob Weeks writes.
By Bob Weeks
Harold Varner III made a triple bogey and shot 66, Jordan Spieth had a four-putt and shot 65 and Rory McIlroy used an indoor simulator to dial in his wedges en route to a 63 at the Charles Schwab Challenge Friday.
Yup, golf is back and it’s stranger than ever.
On the second day of golf’s return to action, the unusual surroundings of Colonial Country Club became more normal. What happened on the course did not. But as the PGA Tour heads to its first weekend of play in 14 weeks, it couldn’t have asked for a better leaderboard. Big names, great stories and some Canadian flavour were tangled at the top.
Varner III backed up his opening-round 63 with a round of 66 that included birdies on five of his last six holes. It’s the lowest 36-hole score of his career and the lowest score by a player posting a triple on his opening hole in the ShotLink era.
It would have been lower had it not been for an errant tee shot on his opening hole that led to the triple-bogey seven. The ball veered wide right and came to rest on a bridge, from which he had to take a penalty drop.
"Obviously not the start I wanted," said Varner, "but it's just a part of golf. If I would have tripled the last, it would have added up to the same."
Varner rode a hot putter through the second round, draining 135 feet of putts, including a 31-foot bomb that started his finishing stretch. Clearly, he’s comfortable playing golf with the new protocols put in place by the PGA Tour, but he’s not necessarily enjoying the lack of galleries.
"I wish there was some fans tomorrow," said the 29-year-old who is looking for his first PGA Tour win. "I like that a lot. I mean, when it comes to being around the guys, it's very normal, but when it comes to fans and spectators, it's not normal at all."
Varner is being chased by a notable gang of golfers including Spieth, who made eight birdies on his day. As with Varner, it might have been even better except for one hole. On the third hole, he rolled his 29-foot birdie attempt four feet past the cup and then took three more swats before depositing it in the hole. He followed that with another bogey on the fourth hole before righting the ship with birdies on five and six.
"I played a really, really solid round of golf with a kind of 20-minute hiccup for a couple holes," Spieth said, "and with eight birdies around this place, it's nothing to complain about."
Spieth, who has fallen to 56th in the world and hasn’t won since the 2017 Open Championship, hit 13 fairways on Friday, the first time he’s done that in three years. That’s quite an achievement considering he’s ranked 227th in driving accuracy this season and has suffered mightily from a wayward driver for some time.
The world’s top-ranked player, Rory McIlroy, posted a 63 that was bogey-free until his final hole. He credited improved wedge play from his opening round as the key to going five shots lower on Friday. And that improvement came after dark and in a house rather than a range.
"Actually, the rental home we're staying in this week has a simulator in the basement," he revealed, "and I've actually hit a few balls in there last night, and that helped."
When the PGA Tour paused, McIlroy had logged a win and five other top-five finishes. Despite working on his game and practising during the weeks leading up to the restart in Fort Worth, Texas, he wasn’t certain if he’d be able to pick up where he left off.
"I learned a lot about my game yesterday just through 18 holes," he said, "and you can do as much practice as you want and play as much as you want at home, but until you actually get into that competitive environment, you're never 100 per cent sure of how your game is."
Canadian Corey Conners is also within striking distance after two strong rounds. He jumped to a fast start with birdies on four of his first five holes, buoyed by some good putting. An exceptional ball-striker, when his putter is hot, his name is usually up near the top of the leaderboard.
"Putted pretty nicely the last few days," said Conners. "Unfortunately made a couple bogeys coming in. I'm happy with where I'm at. I played pretty nicely again today. I've been putting quite well the last few days. Yeah, pretty happy about that.
"A lot of nice stuff happening, and feel good about things going into the weekend."