Notebook, Round 2: Turning Stone Championship

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Aug. 6, 2010
By Mark Stevens

Weather: Partly cloudy and breezy with temperatures reaching 75 degrees. Winds WNW 20-30 mph. Peak gust reached 37 mph.

A total of 72 players made the cut, which came at 2-under 142. Below are the cuts from the first three years of this event.

2009: 1-under 143
2008: 4-over 148
2007: 4-under 140

Alex Cejka moved to 10-under 134 after the second-round to take a one shot lead over Chris Tidland and Rory Sabbatini.

Cejka is making his third start at the Turning Stone Resort Championship. He finished 53rd in 2007 and T59 in 2009. In his previous eight rounds at Atunyote Golf Club, Cejka recorded only two rounds in the 60s. He opened this week with a 66 and 68.

Cejka is making the 228th start of his TOUR career. He has two runner-up finishes and one third-place finish in his career.

Cejka has held three second-round leads/co-leads on the PGA TOUR:

Tournament Position after Round 2 Finish
2004 Michelin Championship T1 T32
2009 THE PLAYERS Championship 1 T9
2010 AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am T1 T10

The second-round leader/co-leader has won 12 of 32 times on TOUR this season. The last second-round leader to win was Matt Bettencourt at the Reno-Tahoe Open.

Tidland is looking for his third career top-10 finish on TOUR in his 78th start. The 2009 Nationwide Tour graduate had five missed cuts and one WD in his last six starts on TOUR coming into this week.

Tidland's best finish on TOUR this year was T9 at the Honda Classic. His best finish overall on TOUR is T6 at the 2007 AT&T Classic.

Tidland matched his career-best opening 36-hole score with a 135. His two other 135s were recorded in 2001 at the Buick Invitational and Zurich Classic of New Orleans.

Tidland finished T18 in his only other appearance at the Turning Stone Resort Championship in 2007.

Rory Sabbatini is making his first start on the PGA TOUR since he missed the cut at the U.S. Open in June.

Sabbatini has one top-10 in 18 starts on TOUR coming into this week. Sabbatini has recorded at least three top-10s each season since 2000. In his first season on TOUR in 1999, he had two top-10s.

Sabbatini finished T12 at Turning Stone last year in his only other start here.

John Mallinger (T4) recorded four top 10s in each of his first three years on TOUR (2007-2009). He has not recorded a top 10 so far this season.

Omar Uresti (T4), who finished T15 at PGA TOUR Qualifying School last year, has made nine cuts in 21 starts this year. Uresti's best finish this year is T8 at the Sony Open in Hawaii.

Steve Elkington (T4) has now made 13 of 18 cuts on TOUR this season, a year after making 11 cuts and missing 11 cuts. Elkington is looking for his eighth top-25 finish of the season. His only top 10 was a T7 at the Puerto Rico Open.

International players have won 11 of the last 15 events on TOUR. International players account for 17 wins on TOUR this year. An American has won the first three years at the Turning Stone Resort Championship.

On Thursday, play was suspended at 8:37 a.m. due to dangerous weather conditions. Play resumed at 11:20 a.m. for a total delay of two hours and 43 minutes. Play was suspended due to darkness at 8:02 p.m. on Thursday with 24 players still on the course. The remaining players completed their first round at 7:40 a.m. on Friday. The second round started as scheduled at 7:10 a.m. on Friday.

Monday qualifier Billy Hurley III is playing in his first TOUR event since the 2007 Arnold Palmer Invitational (MC) and eighth TOUR event overall. He made his first cut since the 2006 John Deere Classic. He had six starts in 2006 and made two cuts.

Scoring averages at the par-72 Atunyote Golf Club:
  Front 9 Back 9 Total Cumulative
Thursday 34.773 36.182 70.955 ---
Friday 35.491 36.400 71.892 71.424

Bogey-free rounds at the par-72 Atunyote Golf Club:

Thursday: Rory Sabbatini (65), Omar Uresti (65), Alex Cejka (66), Brian Davis (66), Brad Faxon (66), Steve Elkington (66), Robert Garrigus (68), Todd Hamilton (68), Brent Delahoussaye (69), Jerry Kelly (70).

Friday: Dean Wilson (67), Jay Williamson (70), Josh Teater (67), Brett Quigley (71), Stephen Ames (68), Aron Price (69) D.A. Points (68), Brenden Pappas (66), Rich Barcelo (69), Tom Gillis (70).

The par-4 13th hole is playing the most difficult through the first two rounds, yielding a 4.363 stroke average. The par-5 5th hole is the easiest with a 4.542 stroke average.

Jerod Turner (illness) and Kris Blanks (back) withdrew following the first round.

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