Brendon Todd birdies the sixth hole and waves to the gallery during the second round of the Humana Challenge at La Quinta Country Club. Wade Byars/The Desert Sun
LA QUINTA — Just last month, Nationwide Tour veteran Brendon Todd won the PGA qualifying school event here, and he's carried that momentum into the PGA season.
First, he shot steady 68s across the board at the Sony Open in Hawaii, good for 13th place.
This week he's stayed the course after two rounds of play in the desert at the Humana Challenge in partnership with the William J. Clinton Foundation.
The former University of Georgia star carded a 5-under 67 at La Quinta Country Club on Friday during the second round. He is 11-under for the tournament, just five shots off a trio at the top of the leader board.
“Knowing the greens it helped,” said the former Bulldog who won the Q-school with a final round of 4-under 68 at the Nicklaus Stadium Course at PGA West. “I'm putting better this week than I did at Q-school. Still putting with a little bit of influence to Indio and used that to guide me a little bit. I feel pretty comfortable on them.”
Todd, 26, joined the Nationwide Tour in 2008 and earned a spot on the PGA Tour in 2009. However, he made only five of 21 cuts and rejoined the Nationwide in 2010.
After earning his Tour card, he said he's started the season comfortable and confident and his rounds have showed that. In the first round at the Palmer Private Course, he carded 66. After opening with bogey on No. 10 on Friday, he made an eagle on No. 11 and finished with four birdies for 67.
“I had a great round again and played pretty solid tee to green,” said Todd, a four-time All-American. “The greens at La Quinta are the best of all three, firm and pure. And I got hot on the greens.
“I'm trying to do the same thing I've been doing for the past couple of months, try to get under par. If you do that out here, you're going to do pretty well.”
Todd added that the most significant changes in his game are control and confidence. He's working on different aspects of his game with a patient approach and his Q-school victory paved the way into 2012.
“What helped win Q-school was confidence and hitting the ball where I wanted to hit it,” he said. “I worked hard on my short game over the two years of struggling and it's paid off.”
