Rio Grande, Puerto Rico (SportsNetwork.com) – Alex Cejka carded a bogey-free,
5-under 67 on Friday and he moved into the lead after two rounds of the Puerto
Rico Open.
Cejka, who had missed the cut in three of his previous six starts in 2015,
ended 36 holes at 7-under-par 137.
Brandon Hagy also shot 67 in round two and he is alone in second place at
minus-6. Emiliano Grillo is one stroke back at 5-under-par 139 after carding a
2-under 70 on Friday at Trump International Golf Club.
Glen Day posted a 4-under 68 and he climbed into a share of fourth place at
minus-3. He stands alongside Jonathan Byrd (71), Rod Pampling (71), Jon Curran
(71), Brendon de Jonge (70), Scott Pinckney (71) and defending champion
Chesson Hadley (70).
First-round leader Mark Hubbard struggled to a 2-over 74 and he fell into a
tie for 11th at 2-under-par 142.
Cejka opened round two with five straight pars from the 10th. He got on the
board as he birdied the par-5 15th. He birdied the next par-5, No. 18, en
route to making the turn at minus-4.
The German started his second nine with four pars in a row. He birdied the
par-5 fifth and came back with a birdie at the seventh.
Cejka capped his round with a birdie on the ninth.
“I’ve been coming here for a lot of years now, and I’ve been playing great in
the past. The results didn’t show it, but you know, the last two days I’ve
been playing good. My short game is great. I make a lot of putts when I need
to, and I’m in a great position right now,” said Cejka, who tied for 13th at
this event in 2009.
“I’ve been playing good in the past couple of months. It’s just something was
always missing. We’re going to change it this week. I’m really positive, I’m
playing good, and we’ll see what the next two days bring.”
Hagy, who is playing on a sponsors exemption, flew out of the gate with three
birdies in the first four holes. After three pars in a row from the fifth, he
notched back-to-back birdies at eight and nine.
The 23-year-old made it three in a row as he birdied the 10th. That burst
moved him to minus-7.
However, Hagy stumbled to bogeys at the 14th and 16th to slide two off the
lead. He moved back within one of Cejka with a birdie at the 18th.
“I played well today, controlled my ball, which you have to. It’s very windy
out there. And I just kind of tried to let it go and hit good golf shots, so
yeah, so it was a good day,” said Hagy, who is making his third PGA Tour
start.
NOTES: Cejka, who is winless on the PGA Tour, has had at least a piece of the
36-hole lead three previous times on the PGA Tour … The cut fell at 2-over-
par 146 with 75 players moving on to the weekend … Among those that missed
the cut were former Masters champion Trevor Immelman, Spencer Levin, Jarrod
Lyle along with former British Open champions Ben Curtis and Todd Hamilton.
