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Austin Smotherman shot 9-under 62 with 10 birdies to take a one-shot lead over Kevin Roy at the halfway point of the Bank of Utah Championship. Smotherman sits at 17-under 125 at Black Desert Resort, while Doug Ghim and Kevin Streelman are two shots back. Jackson Koivun birdied the final hole to secure a place in the weekend field.
IVINS, Utah — Austin Smotherman made 10 birdies Friday to match the lowest round of his PGA Tour career, a 9-under 62 on Friday that gave him a one-shot lead in a Bank of Utah Championship where making birdies is the only way to make up ground.
Kevin Roy opened with a pair of 63s and broke by five shots his best 36-hole score. In perfect conditions at the Black Desert Resort, that left him one shot behind Smotherman. Smotherman, playing in his 100th PGA Tour event and still looking for his first victory, made all but two of his 10 birdies from inside 10 feet.
His longest was a 20-footer on the par-3 17th, part of a birdie-birdie-birdie finish that gave his second 36-hole lead of the year at 17-under 125. He also led after 36 holes at the Cognizant Classic, where he tied for second.
“It was just very steady — a lot of greens, a lot of fairways, a couple tight wedges,” Smotherman said. “It’s what you’ve got to do to shoot 9 under. ” He also shot 62 at the Cognizant Classic in February and the Bermuda Open four years ago. Doug Ghim had another bogey-free round, this one a 62 that left him two shots behind along with Kevin Streelman, who had a 65.
Nick Taylor of Abbotsford, B.C. , A.J. Ewart of Coquitlam, B.C. , and Sudarshan Yellamaraju of Mississauga, Ont.
, each did enough on the day to sit seven shots back of the lead. Adam Svensson of Surrey, B.C. , just made the cut with a 69 that had him at 6 under. The late drama came from Jackson Koivun, the 21-year-old who finished at Auburn in June and was unbeaten in the Presidents Cup last week at Medinah.
Koivun was outside the projected cut line for much of the afternoon and came to the par-5 18th needing birdie to assure playing the weekend. His drive found the bunker down the left side, slightly down because of the rake grooves. He still went with a 5-wood with lava rock down the left side. He cleared that and stayed short of more trouble, then hit a pitch-and-run to 6 feet for birdie and 67.
That allowed Koivun to make the cut on the number at 6-under 136. Among those who missed the cut was Utah native Tony Finau. The Bank of Utah Championship is the second of eight tournaments that are part of the FedEx Cup Fall, where the top 100 in the standings at the end of the year keep full cards for next year. The top 60 are assured of getting into $20 million signature events at Pebble Beach and Riviera.
Roy is at No. 87 and would love nothing more than a good week to not worry about it.
“I think first and foremost keep a job,” Roy said with a laugh. “No, really, just keep going out and just trying to play one shot at a time and see where we stack up at the end. Obviously it would be really nice to kind of feel pretty darn comfortable with say four events to go, but looking forward to the 36 holes coming up.
” He’s going to Japan next week for the Baycurrent Classic and then will figure out the rest of the year. Streelman turns 48 next month and was playing on a major medical exemption he says expired at the last tournament. That made him among the last to get in, and he should get in a couple more of the fall tournaments. That’s about as far ahead as Streelman is looking.
“I feel like I have nothing to lose, really,” Streelman said. “This is my almost 20th year doing this and pushing 500 starts and my family’s coming in this weekend. I just feel I’m going to try and attack and have fun, and if things go well, great. If they don’t, it’s OK, too.
So it’s looking like I’ll get in a number of the fall events and just going to do my best for this season.
“See where the cards stack and then take it from there. ” ___ See AP’s full golf coverage here The Associated Press
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