de Jonge in Front at Valspar Championship


Brendon de Jonge carded his second round in the 60s to take the halfway lead at the Valspar Championship. The $5.9 million PGA Tour event began Thursday on the traditionally difficult Copperhead course at Innisbrook Resort in Palm Harbor, Fla.

After opening with a 4-under 67, the 34-year-old native of Zimbabwe carded a 69 to reach 6-under 136, a stroke ahead of Americans Jordan Spieth (67), Ryan Moore (70), Derek Ernst (70) and Kevin Streelman (69), and Sweden's Henrik Stenson (70).

Stenson, at No. 3 in the world, is the highest-ranked player in the field. Spieth's 67 tied Ken Duke for the low round of the day.

de Jonge recorded four birdies and two bogeys for his 2-under outing Friday, which began in the morning. "Very pleased," de Jonge told PGATour.com. "Feel like my game is in good shape at the moment. Putting four rounds together."

de Jonge echoed the thoughts of the field when he noted of the beguiling Copperhead, "It's just a fickle course. You don't want to get too exotic. If the wind blows, it's tough. Blowing all afternoon. We definitely got a break. We had nine holes out there. Interested to see what happens."

Trailing de Jonge by two are Americans Ricky Barnes (72), Sean O'Hair (72) and Lucas Glover (69), and England's Ian Poulter (70). O'Hair started the day only a stroke back of 18-hole leader Brian Davis, but the four-time Tour winner had four birdies, three bogeys and a double on the par-4 16th.

Tied for 11th at 139 on the Copperhead course - which was more difficult as the winds increased during the day - are Americans Michael Putnam (69), Jason Bohn (69) and Justin Thomas (72), and Fiji's Vijay Singh (70).

Sharing 15th at 140 are Matt Kuchar, Luke Donald, Alex Cejka, Cameron Tringale, Billy Hurley III, Nick Taylor, Patrick Reed, Duke, Brendon Todd, Charles Howell III, Shawn Stefani and Russell Knox.

Will Wilcox was also at 2-under but wasn't able to finish the 18th hole due to darkness. He'll finish up Saturday morning before the start of the second round.

After firing a 6-under 65 Thursday, Davis dropped into a tie for 27th at 141 with 16 others following a 76.

The 36-hole cut was set at 1-over 143. Not qualifying for the weekend is defending champion Australia's John Senden, who posted rounds of 74 and 71. Also heading home are major champions David Toms, Justin Rose, Adam Scott, Ernie Els, Justin Leonard, Louis Oosthuizen, Padraig Harrington, Trevor Immelman and John Daly.

Jonathan Byrd had the shot of the day when he aced the 211-yard 15th hole. "I had good vision of what I wanted to do," said Byrd, who shot a 1-under 70. "(It) landed about 2 feet short of the hole and it went right in. That was my 10th." Despite his hole-in-one heroics, Byrd missed the cut by a stroke after opening with a 74.

The oddest moment on Friday came when a good-sized alligator decided to switch watering holes in the middle of the day, halting the progress of a threesome involving Charley Hoffman, Senden and Woody Austin.

As Hoffman told PGATour.com, "We were all walking and my caddie stopped. I said, 'What are you stopping for?' . . . Rarely do they just walk across the middle of a fairway and halt play, that's for sure."

For updated scores, visit http://www.pgatour.com/tournaments/valspar-championship/leaderboard.html.