Charley Hoffman and Ryan Palmer knocked in 10 birdies Saturday to maintain a second-round lead with a 10-under 62 at the QBE Shootout in Naples, Fla.
The modified alternate shot format utilized Saturday requires a pair of golfers to each tee off, select the best shot and then alternate taking strokes going forward to complete each hole.
The leading duo built off of a near-tournament scramble record of a 16-under 56 on Friday (one shy of the record of 55) to keep all challengers at bay.
They notched a bogey-free round to get to 26 under for the tourney, the lowest score through 36 holes in QBE Shootout history.
“We were giving ourselves birdie chances and we were knocking most of them in,” Hoffman said. “The reality is we were just doing our thing. Obviously we saw the low scores, but that means there’s birdies out there and we tried to attack them in and we did a pretty good job.”
On Sunday, the format switches again to four-ball.
Saturday produced low scores relative to format (though higher than Friday’s scramble) across the board.
“I’m surprised how low I’d say the field went,” Hoffman said. “Obviously sort of benign conditions, but you’ve still got to execute and hit golf shots around this place.”
The low round was turned in by the second-place pairing of Tom Hoge and Sahith Theegala, who finished with a 12-under 60 to land two strokes behind Hoffman and Palmer.
“Today we just kind of started off hot and never really looked back,” Theegala said. “I was just saying walking off the green it just felt really stress-free today.”
At 22 under in a tie for third place are two pairs of golfers, Jason Day and Billy Horschel (61) and Harris English and Matt Kuchar (62).
After finishing the first day two strokes back in second place, the duo of Max Homa and Kevin Kisner fell off the pace to shoot a 7-under 65, knocking them back into fifth place going into Sunday.
–Field Level Media