Canadian Mike Weir fired a 7-under-par 65 on Saturday to take a one-shot lead at the Dick’s Sporting Goods Open in Endicott, N.Y.
Padraig Harrington of Ireland shot 67 to sit in second place, one shot back. Fijian Vijay Singh (70) and Ernie Els of South Africa (68) are T3, two shots back.
Jim Furyk (71), Gene Sauers (67) and Tom Pernice Jr. (68) are four shots back in a tie for fifth.
Weir had a dubious start, carding a bogey on the par-4 second hole. He then missed a 4-foot putt for birdie on the third. But he proceeded to record four straight birdies on the front nine before carding another four coming in.
“Yeah, it was a bit of a slow start,” Weir said. “Just kind of settled things down a little bit and then proceeded to hit a bunch of really good shots. I was in a nice groove there for the next seven, eight holes. … Hopefully I can get off to a nice start tomorrow and keep that momentum.”
Harrington, on the other hand, was working on a clean round until a bogey on the par-3 17th hole. He ended his second round with six birdies.
“The happiest thing today was I rolled everything at the hole,” Harrington said. “I think that’s the most important thing out here. At times you can struggle a bit with your confidence in the putting and I had a day today where they didn’t all drop, but I rolled the ball beautifully today. I wish I did that every day.”
–Field Level Media