The Honda Classic, Round 2

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Camilo Villegas is looking for his first victory since the 2008 TOUR Championship presented by Coca-Cola.

Live Report essentials

PGATOUR.COM's The Live Report has all the news and notes from The Honda Classic, and we'll be providing updates all day long for each round, so check back often. (All timestamps are Eastern Time.)

Mar. 5, 2010
By PGATOUR.COM Staff

WRAPPING UP ROUND 2 (6:13 p.m.): The wind was down today and the result was a course that played a full stroke easier on Friday. Several players took advantage of it, too, with four players matching the course record of 64.

One of those players was Anthony Kim, who heads to the weekend tied for the lead with Camilo Villegas at 8 under. They have company, though, with Vijay Singh one shot back, Jerry Kelly two back and Mike Weir headlining a group of five players three shots back. -- Brian Wacker

LITTLE KING IN THE HUNT (5:25 p.m.): The second round is winding down, but the weekend should set up nicely to say the least. That's because Camilo Villegas, Anthony Kim and Vijay Singh are the top three names on the leaderboard. Also, Arnold Palmer's grandson, Sam Saunders, is in the hunt at 4 under for the week, four shots back. On the day, Saunders is 3 under with four holes still to play. -- Brian Wacker

KIM TIES FOR LEAD (5:15 p.m.): Anthony Kim's 6-under 64 was certainly spectacular. It also speaks volumes about how attackable PGA National was today. Four players, including Kim, shot course-record 64s Friday. Only Kim's came in the afternoon wave, though.

Kim's round also showed what happens when he drives it straight and has his iron game clicking. The 24-year-old missed just two fairways and four greens in regulation Friday. For the second day in a row, he took just 26 putts, which is good for eighth-best in the field. That was made possible, in large part, by the fact that Kim's average approach shot distance to the pin was just 26 feet, 7 inches. -- Brian Wacker

Below is a look at Kim's scorecard from Friday. Click here to replay his round for Shot Tracker.

KELLY CLOSES STRONG (5:05 p.m.): Add Jerry Kelly's name to the list of contenders after Kelly closed out his round with three birdies over his final four holes to shoot a 65 that gets him to 6 under for the week and within two of the lead. -- Brian Wacker

KIM CHIPS IN (4:55 p.m.): Anthony Kim is now tied for the lead with Camilo Villegas as he finishes up his second round after chipping in for birdie on the par-4 eighth. It was the second birdie in a row and seventh of the day for Kim, who is 6 under on his round with only the par-4 ninth to play. -- Brian Wacker

PENALTY FOR MCDOWELL (4:48 p.m.): What looked like a terrific par save on No. 18 for Graeme McDowell looks like it will actually be a double bogey. With his ball resting in the water on the final hole, McDowell grounded his club, making contact with the water as he drew the club back. That could result in a two-stroke penalty. As a result, McDowell would drop to 5 under and three off the lead. -- Brian Wacker

WATER SAVE (4:35 p.m.): If Graeme McDowell goes on to win this tournament -- he's currently one back on the last hole of his second round -- his second shot on the 18th hole Friday might be a big reason why.

After finding the water to the right with his tee shot, McDowell decided to play his ball rather than take a drop since it was sitting up and just into the water. McDowell got back to the fairway, then lasered a fairway wood from 267 yards to the front edge of the green to set up what looks like will be an up-and-down for par. -- Brian Wacker

MR. CANADA (4:20 p.m.): Mike Weir's bogey-free 64 came just five days after he attended Canada's hockey victory over the United States at the Winter Olympics in Vancouver. His best finish at The Honda Classic came in 2002, where he was one behind 36-hole leader John Riegger before finishing in a tie for 11th at TPC Heron Bay. He has two top-20 finishes (T11 in 2002 and T19 in 2000) and three missed cuts in five previous starts at the Honda Classic. -- John Bush

HALFWAY LEADERS (4:08 p.m.): Holding the second-round lead hasn't been a good omen at the Honda Classic. Only twice in the past 13 years has the 36-hole leader won -- Jesper Parnevik in 2001 and Y.E. Yang in 2009. Over the past 22 years, only five second-round leaders have won -- Yang, Parnevik, Tim Herron (1996), Mark O'Meara (1995) and Steve Pate (1991). -- John Bush

KIM MOVING UP (3:45 p.m.): Another birdie has moved Anthony Kim to within two of Camilo Villegas with six holes left in his round. Kim has been bogey-free so far today and got off to a good start with birdies on Nos. 10 and 11 -- two of the hardest holes on the course -- before adding another at No. 13 and his latest on No. 3.

The big reason Kim is scoring so well? He's missed just two fairways and two greens all day and he's making his putts. Kim has just 18 putts through 12 holes with six one-putts among them. -- Brian Wacker

STAYING CLOSE (3:20 p.m.): Nathan Green still hasn't made a bogey this week -- he's the one player in the field without one -- and just made the turn in 1 under to pull within two of the lead of Camilo Villegas.

Graeme McDowell is also just two back after making his fourth birdie of the day, moving him to 4 under on the round through his first 12 holes.

This is just the second PGA TOUR event of the year for McDowell, who last July joined the TOUR as a special temporary member for the remainder of that year. He then went on to tie for 10th in the PGA Championship for his best ever finish in a major. McDowell, if you recall, was also among the early leaders at the FedEx St. Jude Classic before falling back in the middle rounds and then rallying with a final-round 63 to tie for seventh. -- Brian Wacker

CASEY STILL SMARTING (2:53 p.m.): Paul Casey matched the course record with a 64 Friday that featured five birdies in a six-hole stretch and just one bogey. But from the sound of it, he still seems to be bothered by a rib injury that sidelined him the second half of last season.

"I feel good, but it's not quite a hundred percent," Casey said. "My body is still getting stiff."

Because of that, Casey went to the range and hit balls Thursday until it was dark. Friday, he wore a heat jacket on the back nine. -- Brian Wacker

CONDITIONS TOUGHENING (2:27 p.m.): Sure enough, the scoring hasn't been nearly as good for the afternoon as it was in the morning. The scoring average for PGA National has climbed more than a half-stroke in the past couple of hours and is just a shade under 72.

Yesterday, the scoring average was 72.406. -- Brian Wacker

CHECKING IN WITH THE CHAMP (2:05 p.m.): It will be a short week for defending champion Y.E. Yang, who shot a second-round 70 Friday to finish his 36 holes at The Honda Classic in 9 over, which is obviously well outside the cut line. It should be noted, though, that Yang was also playing this week with a slight muscle tear in his back. -- Brian Wacker

FAST START FOR A.K. (1:44 p.m.): The 10th and 11th holes at PGA National are two of the toughest on the course (No. 10 is actually the most difficult so far this week). Well, for everyone except Anthony Kim apparently.

For the second day in a row, Kim birdied Nos. 10 and 11, and he's since added another birdie on No. 13 to get to 3 under through his first four holes today (he started on the back). That also has Kim just three shots off the lead very early in his second round. (Click here to follow his second round live with Shot Tracker.)

Earlier in the week, Kim admitted that he took his first coupe of years on the PGA TOUR for granted because money and success came so easily -- he won twice in his second year on TOUR. That resulted in a down year on and off the course for Kim in 2009. "My confidence was shot," he said.

The result, Kim said, was 40 shots the he gave away.

"I've changed my body and changed my attitude," Kim said. "When I'm playing good golf, I'm someone who's going to be there on a lot of weekends." -- Brian Wacker

CUT CHECK (1:27 p.m.): The cut line has been hovering at 3 over for most of the day and that has some notable players in danger of an early exit.

Right outside the cut is Rickie Fowler, who shot 72 for the second day in a row. Tim Clark is currently two off the line, but he's just six holes into his round. Unfortunately for Clark, though, he's already 2 over on those first six holes.

Robert Allenby also appears to be headed home early -- unless he turns things around -- at 6 over for the week and even through his first four holes today. -- Brian Wacker

WEIR, OTHERS GO LOW (1:06 p.m.): PGA National is definitely showing some vulnerability today. In addition to Camilo Villegas' second-straight 66 to grab the early 36-hole lead, three other players have put course-record tying 64s on the board.

Mike Weir is in the best position of those three with his 64 leaving him three back of Villegas, but Stephen Ames and Paul Casey are just five back after they each shot 64 this morning. Collectively, they had one bogey between them (Casey) and they hit all but 11 greens in regulation out of a possible 54 with Casey missing the fewest at two. -- Brian Wacker

Below is a look at Weir's scorecard from Friday. Click here to replay his round with Shot Tracker

VILLEGAS IN WITH 66 (12:45 p.m.): So much for jet lag. The last three weeks, Camilo Villegas has gone to Tucson, Phoenix, Colombia and Palm Beach Gardens. He's played 209 holes during that stretch...and made 55 birdies.

Sox of those birdies came Friday with Villegas shooting a 4-under 66 to take what is, for the moment, a three-shot lead at The Honda Classic. We're still only about halfway through the second round, but the odds of someone catching him today aren't very good on a difficult PGA National course.

Villegas hit just half his fairways in the second round, but showed spectacular iron play, hitting 16 of 18 greens in regulation. If last year was a building year, according to his mental coach Gio Valiante, this year has most certainly been a performance year so far with Villegas likely the 36-hole leader at The Honda Classic and a consolation match dismantling of Sergio Garcia in Arizona. All that's left is to win and Villegas is in position to do that. -- Brian Wacker

Below is a look at Villegas' scorecard from Friday. Click here to replay his round with Shot Tracker.

WILD SWINGS (12:30 p.m.): What a difference a day makes. Yesterday, Brad Faxon looked like he was on his way to making just his second cut of the season with a 1-under 69 in very difficult conditions. Today? Faxon shot an 80 with matching 40s on each side that included eight bogeys and one double bogey.

Faxon wasn't the only one to suffer that unfortunate fate. Jonathan Byrd, who shot 68 Thursday, had a 79 today.

On the flip side of that, Jeff Maggert, who opened with an 80, shot 70 today. Steve Flesch, meanwhile, had a 12-shot swing, shooting a 66 after a 78 on Thursday. That leaves Flesch at 4 over and just one off the current cut line. -- Brian Wacker

SCORING DIFFERENCES (12:05 p.m.): It's still early, and the wind will pick up in the afternoon, but the difference between yesterday's scoring and today's is more than a stroke right now (see the chart below). That's a big difference.

Yesterday, the scoring average in the morning was 72.10 (nearly two strokes more than the TOUR average of 70.49). The afternoon scoring average was 72.72.

Today's afternoon wave might have a tough time toward the end of the round, but right now PGA National is about as vulnerable as its ever been. -- Brian Wacker

Scoring averages - PGA National

Round	Front 9	Back 9	Total
1	35.448	36.958	72.406
2	35.282	36.063	71.347

CALMER CONDITIONS (11:50 a.m.): Temperatures are still cool here at The Honda Classic, but the wind is way down from yesterday when it was blowing at a steady 15-20 mph for most of the day. It's much calmer now at about 8 mph. As a result, a number of players have been able to score. Of the top 10 names on the leaderboard currently on the course, only one (Michael Connell) is over par. Collectively, the group is 29 under with Stephen Ames and Paul Casey having the best rounds at 6 under through 15 and 14 holes, respectively. -- Brian Wacker

EARLY MOVERS (11:30 a.m.): How good has Camilo Villegas been the last few weeks? Well, consider that since the World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship through his first 23 holes at The Honda Classic, Villegas has made 53 birdies. That's an average of nearly five birdies per round.

If he keeps putting up numbers like that this week, Villegas is going to win. Today, he's already 4 under through his first 13 holes, moving him to 8 under for the week and into the lead by three shots. (Click here to follow his round live with Shot Tracker.)

Villegas isn't the only one going low this morning, though. Matt Every is 4 under through 12 holes and one of the two players three back of Villegas (overnight co-leader Nathan Green is the other). Mike Weir and Paul Casey, meanwhile, are 4 and 6 under, respectively, and Stephen Ames is 6 under, while J.B. Holmes is 3 under. Don't expect as many low numbers this afternoon when the wind kicks up and greens are spiked up. -- Brian Wacker

Groups We're Watching

Tee time	Players
7:08 a.m. ET, No. 10		Oliver Wilson, James Driscoll, Charles Howell III Wilson played strong in majors and WGC events last year, but is still aiming for his first pro win after a first-round 66.
7:53 a.m. ET, No. 10		Angel Cabrera, Camilo Villegas, Mike Weir Villegas, perhaps the busiest pro the last couple weeks, is one shot back of the leaders, while Cabrera is tied for 19th.
12:42 p.m. ET, No. 1		Nathan Green, Vijay Singh, Padraig Harrington Green is a co-leader after the first round, and Singh, finally healthy, finished just two shots back.