Alex Noren carded a second-round, bogey-free 66 for to reach 15-under and take a two-shot lead at the Butterfield Bermuda Championship before play was once again suspended due to darkness.
“Today was, I played similarly good,” he said of his round compared to the first. “Hit probably the same amount of greens, but just didn’t hit as close. Like yesterday was probably the best I played in, I mean, five years or 10 years, I don’t know. But today I hit it, the wedges came up 15 feet instead of five and had a bunch of tap-ins yesterday. The greens are, it’s quite a lot of slope and quite a lot of grain. The first three birdies I just kind of rolled in and then it was a little trickier, but I’m happy with 5 under.”
His 127 marks his low 36-hole total on Tour and sets the opening 36-hole scoring record at this event as well as his first 36-hole lead/co-lead. The Swede seeks his first victory in his 162nd career start.
Ryan Moore closed with a bogey-free 64 for a share of second place at 13-under alongside fellow American Ryan Brehm (65) and Japan’s Satoshi Kodaira (bogey-free, 65).
“My caddie and I were joking yesterday that it might have been the worst I’ve hit a golf ball in the last like three months, but I made putts,” said Moore. “When I did get out of position, I made a couple great par-saving putts and knocked in a couple 15-, 20-footers and that’s just all the difference. I controlled it well enough to not get myself in too much trouble, but man, I’ve been hitting it really, really nice the last few weeks and yesterday was actually a little bit of a shock, especially off the tee for me.
“So, you know, that honestly, weirdly gave me some confidence that it’s funny you do that sometimes and you shoot a good score and you realize, oh, don’t have to be perfect to shoot a good round of golf or to shoot 6, 7 under and it’s kind of what I’ve done the last couple days.
“I hit it a little nicer today, controlled the golf ball a little bit better yesterday, but again, putting was just solid. Made a couple saves when I needed to and knocked in a few of those 15-, 20-footers again. That’s just not what I’ve been making lately, so yeah, just got me right to a good position going into the week.”
Colombia’s Camilo Villegas who led after the third round last week at the World Wide Technology Championship moved into solo fifth place at 12-under after carding a bogey-free 63, his lowest score on Tour since the first round of the 2016 Genesis Invitational (63).
“The wind was consistent, which was good,” said Villegas. “Pretty much same direction the whole day, maybe switching a little bit there west-southwest to southwest. But yeah, this golf course is better when there’s a little bit of wind.
“I got off to a great start today birdieing the first two. A couple missed putts on 5 and then I missed 9, 10, 11, hit a bad shot, but you know what, I saved pars on those holes. Other than that, I just rolled some good putts coming in.”
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