"VAN" (Sports Desk - 18.05.2025) :: A birdie-birdie finish secured Victorian Richard Green a one-stroke lead at the halfway mark of the Regions Tradition at Greystone Golf and Country Club in Alabama.
Tasked with following a sublime 9-under 63 in Round 1 that matched the low round in tournament history, the Aussie left-hander struggled to convert birdie opportunities for much of Round 2 before a final flurry yielded a round of 4-under 68 and 13-under total through 36 holes.
That is a new 36-hole low since the tournament moved to Greystone in 2016 and gives the 54-year-old a one-shot advantage from Kiwi Steven Alker (67) who, in turn, has a three-stroke buffer from YE Yang (68), Chris DiMarco (65) and Alex Cjeka (69).
Green was 10-under for the championship when he birdied the par-3 10th to start day two but bogeys at 12 and 14 either side of a birdie on 13 brought him back to even par for the day.
Three straight birdies from the ninth hole saw Green return to the top of the leaderboard before taking another step back with a dropped shot at the par-4 sixth.
A silky approach to three feet set up a birdie at the par-4 eighth and then Green finally got a putt to fall on nine from 30 feet.
“It felt a little bit like probably what I should have got out of the day,” Green said of his closing birdies.
“I hit a lot of great iron shots and set up a lot of birdie chances and just missed them all.
“They’re a bit tricky, some of the reads today, so I was pleased to have finished well.”
A birdie at Quail Hollow Club’s toughest hole will see Kiwi Ryan Fox start Round 3 inside the top 10 as the Aussies fell back on day two of the PGA Championship in Charlotte.
Fox was one of only 11 players to make birdie at the par-4 18th on Friday, his second shot from 152 yards dancing around the cup before coming to rest just outside two feet from the hole.
It was the ideal way to cap off an even-par round of 71 for the 2019 Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia Order of Merit winner who enters the weekend in a tie for seventh.
Venezuelan Jhonattan Vegas maintained his two-shot lead with a round of 1-under 70, Fox one of 15 players separated by just two strokes on a day in which 13 of the 18 holes played over their par.
Tied for second after a 66 in Round 1, Cam Davis made just one birdie in his round of 3-over 74 to drop into a tie for 27th at 2-under, level with fellow Aussie Adam Scott who tumbled down the leaderboard late with a double-bogey on 18.
Making his PGA Championship debut, Elvis Smylie was 3-under for the tournament thanks to early birdies at one and three but, like Scott, made double on 18 along with a bogey on 17 for a round of 73 to make the cut on the number at 1-over.
After fighting back with four birdies early on the back nine, Min Woo Lee (72) dropped shots at both 17 and 18 to miss the cut, 2015 champion Jason Day (75), Cameron Smith (71) and Karl Vilips (75) falling well short of the cut-line.
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