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Humana Challenge
For live updates during the Humana Challenge read Larry Bohannan's Desert Golf Blog and be sure to follow @mydesert_sports on Twitter, and also follow #humanachallenge.
For complete coverage of the Humana Challenge go to mydesert.com/humana
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LA QUINTA — Mark Wilson knows his 62 was a low score Friday, but he also knows it could have been crazy low.
“I thought about it,” Wilson said of an elusive 59. “But I was just trying to keep hitting good shots and roll the putts in. It kind of stalled there in the middle, but it was still a great round.”
Wilson's 10-under round on the Palmer Private Course at PGA West pushed him into a share of the lead with Ben Crane and David Toms after two rounds of the Humana Challenge in partnership with the William J. Clinton Foundation. All three are at 16-under 128 entering today's third round.
Crane continued to torch the par-5s at the tournament in a round of 63 on the Palmer Course. Toms rallied from a slow start for a 65 on the Nicklaus Private Course at PGA West.
Crane, Toms and Wilson led another day of torrid scoring at the Humana under ideal conditions that in some ways exceeded Thursday's opening round. Ryan Moore fired a 61 on the Nicklaus Private Course, tying the tournament record for the layout. Harris English shot 62 on the Nicklaus course, while Chris Kirk shot 63 on the course. In all, seven players shot 63 or better on the day.
Scoring was so low that first-round co-leader Camilo Villegas shot 63 on Thursday, managed a 68 on Friday and finds himself tied for fourth three shots out of the lead.
Wilson, who is a member at Ironwood Country Club in Palm Desert, raced to a quick start on his round with three birdies on his first three holes. He added three more birdies on his next seven holes before making eagle on the par-5 11th. That put Wilson at 8 under with seven holes to play on the same course where David Duval shot 59 on to win the Humana in 1999.
Adding to the idea of a 59 Friday was Wilson being paired with Harrison Frazar, who shot a 59 in a PGA Tour qualifying tournament at PGA West.
“After I was 8 under through 11, I don't know why the conversation went there, but we started talking to Harrison about his 59 over at the Nicklaus Tournament Course at Q School.
The 59 never materialized, as Wilson made four consecutive pars before adding birdies on the 16th and 18th holes for the lowest round of his PGA Tour career.
Wilson is familiar with the desert, since his in-laws live in Palm Desert and he has been made a member at Ironwood Country Club.
“I'm very honored to be a member over at Ironwood Country Club and we use this as our home base in the winter, I guess, for the West Coast, I should say,” Wilson said. “So January first, if I'm not in Kapalua (the Tournament of Champions), we come to the desert and I go practice at Ironwood and kind of get ready for the season. And it's always been very good to me.”
Crane's share of the lead comes from his domination of the par-5s through the first two days. On the nine par-5s he has played this week, he is 12-under with three eagles and six birdies.
Crane admits that his coaches told him over the winter that he just didn't play par-5s very well.
“I'm playing them more aggressively,” Crane said. “If I can't get the ball on the green, I'm trying to get the ball up and around the green somewhere. And (Thursday) I tried to shape a couple of shots into par-5s, which worked well for me.”
While Crane had much of his scoring success early in his round, Toms waited until late in his day to make a move up the leader board. Toms was just 3 under through 15 holes on the day, then finished birdie-eagle-birdie to jump into a share of the lead for the second day in a row.
“I turned just a so-so day into a pretty solid day,” Toms said.
The day could have been even better except for three putts that hit edges and lipped out, Toms said.
“The greens there at the Nicklaus Private weren't quite as smooth as they were at La Quinta yesterday,” he said. “Everybody in my group hit putts that looked like they were going in and they would just fall off the last minute. It was one of those things where you really need to seem to hit the middle of the hole to make them.”
With so many players going so low, and with one day of golf left before the 54-hole cut, Toms said it's not that important to look at leader boards yet.
“I looked at it a little bit today, just to see guys were going low again and they were,” Toms said. “It's interesting to see if guys keep up a certain pace. One low round doesn't mean that you are going to be able to continue to do it.”
