Pacific Palisades, CA (SportsNetwork.com) – Retief Goosen birdied his final
hole on Friday and that gave him a 1-stroke lead with the second round of the
Northern Trust Open suspended due to darkness.
Goosen, a seven-time PGA Tour winner, finished 36 holes at 6-under-par 136
after a second-round 70. His last PGA Tour win was at the 2009 Valspar
Championship.
Graham DeLaet matched the low round of the day with his 4-under 67. That
helped him jump into a tie for second place at minus-5. He was joined there by
Ryan Moore (68) and Justin Thomas (69).
Former U.S. Open and Masters champion Angel Cabrera carded a 3-under 68 to
improve into fifth place at 4-under-par 138.
Defending champion Bubba Watson, Paul Casey and J.B. Holmes all shot 69 in
round two at Riviera Country Club. They share sixth place at minus-3 with
Jordan Spieth (70) and first-round co-leader Derek Fathauer (73).
Goosen and Fathauer shared the lead after 18 holes with Vijay Singh, Nick
Watney, James Hahn and Daniel Summerhays. Those four all stumbled to 3-over
74s to slide into a tie for 11th at 2-under-par 140.
Alex Prugh was the lone player not to finish on Friday. He will have a long
birdie putt on the par-4 ninth when he returns to the course at 10 a.m. ET on
Saturday morning. The third round will follow at 10:45 a.m.
Goosen started on the back nine and stumbled to a bogey at the 10th. After
three pars in a row, he rolled in an 11-footer for birdie at the 11th.
The South African found a bunker off the tee at the par-4 15th and that led to
another bogey, which dropped him back to minus-4. He ran off seven consecutive
pars from the 16th.
Goosen moved back into a share of the lead at 5-under as he rolled in a 23-
footer for birdie on the fifth. He parred the next three before closing with a
31-foot birdie putt at No. 9.
“That was a bit of a bonus. I got a good read from Vijay’s putt, he was
putting on the same line as mine … it wasn’t a very good shot in there with
a sand wedge into the green. Anytime you make birdie on that hole, it’s good,”
Goosen said of the ninth. “I didn’t hit the ball as good today, but I got it
up and down quite a few times.”
Of the top four players on the leaderboard, Moore was the only one to play in
the morning wave on Friday. He opened with a 2-putt birdie at the par-5 first
and moved to minus-4 with a 6-foot birdie effort at the eighth.
Around the turn, Moore stuffed his short approach at the 10th to three feet
and he knocked that in for birdie. Moore climbed to 6-under as he birdied the
16th, but he missed a 5-foot par putt at the last to slip to minus-5.
DeLaet birdied the 10th and followed with four pars in a row. After faltering
to a bogey at the 15th, DeLaet converted back-to-back birdies at 16 and 17 to
get to 3-under.
The Canadian 2-putted for birdie on the first. He got to minus-5 with a long
birdie effort at the fourth. DeLaet closed with five straight pars to end
there.
“This is a tough golf course. (Six)-under leading after two rounds is pretty
impressive. I wish all weeks were like this,” said DeLaet. “It was just kind
of a grind. I made a lot of par saves today and I’m going to need to start
striking the ball a little bit better on the weekend to keep it going, but it
was nice to have the putter rolling.”
Thomas, who played at Riviera in the NCAA Championship while at Alabama,
started on the back side in round two. He carded two bogeys, two birdies and
five pars to play his opening nine in even-par.
On the front nine, Thomas quickly jumped into the lead at 6-under as he made
an 8-footer for eagle at No. 1 and followed with a 3-foot birdie putt at the
second. Thomas tripped to a bogey at the fifth, then parred the final four
holes.
NOTES: Goosen owned the 36-hole lead for the 10th time in his PGA Tour career
… He won just two of the previous nine times he was in that position … The
three players – David Lingmerth, Jim Herman, Drew Scott – that completed their
first rounds earlier Friday all missed the cut … The cut line will fall at
3-over-par 145 with 75 players moving on to the weekend … Among the others
missing the cut were Lucas Glover, two-time winner Fred Couples, 2010 runner-
up Luke Donald, Davis Love III, Webb Simpson, Kenny Perry, Ryo Ishikawa and
2012 winner Bill Haas.
