Tony Finau (-9) signed off this morning at Memorial Park in Houston with a scorecard of 62 strokes, once again matching the course record (he had already done so when he won the previous edition of this Texas Children’s Houston Open), a result that shot him to the solo lead on a second day marked by the wind.
It blew hard, especially in the afternoon shift, where a more tense than usual Scottie Scheffler (-5) was playing. His gestures gave him away, almost from the start of the round. He was not comfortable, although in reality he was getting through another round under par without too many problems.
It’s true that he was missing more fairways and greens than usual, among other things due to the action of the wind, which at times and depending on the areas of the course, hit hard (on hole 4, for example, a well-struck drive from the Number One barely carried the ball to 250 meters; on the same hole, Bathia‘s drive was left at 235 meters). But as this man has brilliant shots falling out of his pockets and has so many resources, everything indicated that he was going to close another round in red numbers and, more importantly, getting close enough to Finau, even to go out with him in the star match on Saturday…
And suddenly, an unexpected short circuit occurred. Scheffler, who got on the 18th tee with a cumulative two under on the day, then missed the shot to green and immediately came close to holing for birdie from the bunker, leaving himself a par putt of a meter and a half… Even missing it would have extended to 29 the formidable and historic streak of consecutive rounds under par, but not only was he going to miss it, but he also did not hole the return, from just half a meter, to sign a round at par, with five birdies, three bogeys and this final double bogey on his card. No, he was not comfortable, quite the opposite, irritated, almost angry, and he paid for it with a strange last-minute concentration slip.
Let’s see, it’s just that, an accident, even though it has ended a memorable streak. But he’s going to need a good reset before going out to play tomorrow. It doesn’t seem that complicated to do: despite everything, his chances of victory are still there; after all, despite the bad taste in his mouth with which he will have gone to the hotel, he is second on the leaderboard.
Hours before the Texan’s slip, Finau had sealed his best performance of the year, squeezing the best playing conditions that the morning shift had, as the wind gradually picked up throughout the day. In the last third of his round, moreover, finishing on hole 9, the Utah man broke away with a recital of light and colours on the greens: he holed an eight-meter putt on hole 4, another nine-meter one on 6, another on 7, also from about nine meters… And on 8, par 5, he plugged in a chip for eagle from outside. Little more can be added.
Jorge Campillo (+4) has missed the cut with a round of 74 strokes in which no area of his game has really worked well. The Extremaduran missed up to ten greens, and was also not very inspired with the recoveries. Despite everything, and starting his round on hole 10, a fabulous eagle on hole 14, holing from the fairway and hitting close to two hundred meters from the flag, seemed to relaunch his options, but the reality of a lousy day for the Spanish player would end up prevailing.
The Belgian Thomas Detry (-6) signed the best result of the afternoon, a resplendent 64 in such windy conditions, but it was a rookie like the Argentine Alejandro Tosti (-7) who finally got closer to Finau, only two strokes away, signing off his excellent round of golf with a birdie on hole 9 (scorecard of 67 strokes). In any case, the tournament is very tight: leaving the leader aside, more than forty players are bunched up within a margin of six strokes. In addition, wind is also expected tomorrow and this course continues to prove itself as a very tough nut to crack, even more so in such conditions.
