Toms posts second straight 62 to lead at Colonial

AP

FORT WORTH, Texas - David Toms shot his second straight 8-under 62 at Colonial on Friday, matching the PGA Tour record for the first 36 holes to open a seven-stroke lead.

Coming off a playoff loss Sunday to K.J. Choi in The Players Championship, the 44-year-old Toms tied the mark of 124 set by Pat Perez in the 2009 Bob Hope Classic. Perez had rounds of 61 and 63.

Unaffected by a 2 1/2 hour weather delay that interrupted his round, Toms had four birdies on the eight holes he completed after play resumed. For the second day in a row, Toms carded 31s on both nines.

The 62s are Toms' best scores since a career-best 61 at the Sony Open in Hawaii in January 2006 en route to the last of his 12 PGA Tour victories.

Steven Bowditch (64), Charlie Wi (67), Mark Wilson (66) and John Senden (66) all finished their rounds at 9 under par.

Wi, who opened with a 64 on Thursday, was the only one of the top 11 in the first round who played in the afternoon when more wind made conditions tougher.

"When I got to the golf course (Thursday), I saw so many low numbers and I figured if I shoot 2 or 3 under in the afternoon, that would be a good round. To shoot 64 was a bonus," he said.

The 39-year-old South Korean made that even better with a bogey-free second round, saving par at No. 11 with a 17-foot putt before holing out a birdie out of a greenside bunker the 12th.

Bowditch had been away from the PGA Tour for more than three seasons before the 27-year-old Australian returned this year after regaining his card by finishing 17th on the Nationwide Tour money list last season.

After playing one time each on the PGA Tour in 2003 and 2005, Bowditch made only two of 22 cuts in 2006. Then he didn't make it to the weekend rounds in any of his five events the following year.

Bowditch got his first career top-10 finish this year when he tied for ninth at Pebble Beach in February.

His only bogey Friday came on the 375-yard 17th hole when he drove into the left rough and hit his approach into a greenside bunker.

Bowditch was surprised to be done without any delays because there had been rain in the area all morning. But none fell early when the initial weather systems skirted around the Colonial neighbourhood.

"The whisper was, when we teed off at 9 o'clock, that we were only going to get nine holes in," Bowditch said. "That was basically what we were sort of looking at and getting your mind to a certain degree, ready for that."

Rory Sabbatini, the 2007 champion who lives in Fort Worth and plays Colonial often, was at 8 under. His second-round 64 matched Bowditch and Lucas Glover for the lowest for the earlier finishers.

Rickie Fowler matched Sabbatini's 8-under total with a second round 69.

David Hearn of Brantford, Ontario, was the only one of four Canadians to make the weekend cut after shooting even par 70.

Stephen Ames of Calgary shot a second round 74 which included a three birdies, two bogeys, a double bogey and a triple bogey.

Nick Taylor of Abbotsford, B.C., making his 2011 PGA Tour debut, also missed the cut after shooting 71 to leave him at 3-over par for the tournament.

Mike Weir of Bright's Grove, Ontario, shot a second round 77 to go with his opening round 72 to finish at 9-over par. Weir, playing for the first time in almost a month, had a triple bogey, six bogeys and two birdies including an 85-footer at the par-3 13th. It was the third longest putt on the PGA Tour this year, behind only Angel Cabrera's 103-foot putt in Phoenix and Alex Cejka's 96-footer at Riviera.