Marc Leishman could hear music near the 18th green at Tiburon Golf Course, and when teammate Jason Day rolled in a 20-footer for birdie, he turned his putter horizontal and strummed it like a guitar. It was that kind of day. The Australians were in perfect harmony. Here are three things you need to know after Saturday’s second round of the QBE Shootout in Naples, Fla.
Marc Leishman and Jason Day lead
You’d be jamming too if you were dunking like Leishman. Twice during Friday’s first round, he holed chips for eagle. Then, on the 396-yard, par-4 7th on Saturday, he spun his ball back and in from the fairway for another eagle, and he and Day shot an eight-under 64 for a 24-under total and a three-stroke lead.
In all, the Australian duo made six birdies, one eagle and no bogeys in Saturday’s modified alternate shot format.
“Man, it was — we did a lot of good things today,” Day said. “I mean, anytime out of position or whatnot, we got up and down or kept our momentum going forward, which was nice. It was nice to be able to go bogey-free in that kind of format. Unfortunately, I missed a few too many easy putts out there, but it was nice to be able to capitalize on the 18th. And Leish once again holing out, on 7, amazing. In that kind of format, it’s nice to have eagles; it moves the needle a long way, especially when you’re playing that way.”
Sam Burns and Billy Horschel tied for second
Three teams — Billy Horschel and Sam Burns; defending champions Matt Kuchar and Harris English; and Kevin Na and Jason Kokrak — are tied for second and three off the lead.
Horschel and Burns shot the day’s low round, with a 10-under 62. It comes one day after the team made the only bogey during Friday’s scramble format.
“We ham-and-egged it pretty well, or as my wife said, we should start the peanut butter and jelly because she doesn’t — what’s the difference between ham-and-egg and peanut butter and jelly? Peanut butter and jelly’s a lot better than ham and egg sometimes,” Horschel said. “We have a great sense that we’re going to pick each other up. We’re not afraid of the moment. He’s a really good ball-striker, which is huge, and he’s a solid putter. So when you’ve got those two things working for you, I feel like I’m a happy man when I’ve got a partner like that.”
Bubba Watson and Lexi Thompson are five back
Four behind the leaders is the team of Graeme McDowell and Corey Conners, and the team of Bubba Watson and Lexi Thompson (the only woman in the field) are five back.
“Yeah, I think tomorrow you’re looking at 10-under,” Watson said of Sunday’s four-ball format. “If you can somehow get to 10-under, that means great playing. By both of us not birdieing the same holes, that would be huge for us. I think that’s a big step for us. Anything better than that would be amazing, 10-under would be amazing, and that really should be our goal is try to get to double digits and see where that falls. Hopefully everybody else misses their putts, and we keep sneaking up that leaderboard.”
