GREENSBORO, N.C. » Tommy Gainey is struggling with his tee shots. He’s having a tough time with his irons. He’s fighting a nagging wrist injury.
And he’s got one of the best two-round scores in Wyndham Championship history.
Gainey shot a 65 on Friday to move to 12-under 128 and take a three-stroke lead after two rounds of the final event before the start of golf’s postseason.
Gainey, who shared the first-round lead with Jeff Quinney, had six birdies and has the second-best 36-hole score in the history of the tournament.
Ernie Els (66), Webb Simpson (65), Stuart Appleby (67) and Daniel Summerhays (65) were at 131. Jim Furyk (67), Alexandre Rocha (66), Paul Casey (67) and Retief Goosen (65) were four strokes back at 132.
After recording five birdies and an eagle a day earlier during his career-best-tying 63, Gainey said he was “going to light it up” against the fresh greens he would face Friday morning.
It didn’t happen quite like that, but he did turn in another solid round that kept him in contention for his first PGA Tour win.
Starting on the back nine, the South Carolina native had his first bogey of the tournament on the par-4 No. 11.
Then, he warmed up.
He birdied four of his final nine holes and closed his round with consecutive birdies, rolling in a 13-foot putt on No. 9 to finish.
A left wrist he sprained while hitting out of the rough last month at the RBC Canadian Open has made it tougher to keep his tee shots in the fairways and hampered his work with the irons.
“I hit it worse today than I did yesterday off the tee. I hit my irons worse than I did yesterday,” Gainey said.
“It’s just hard to make birdies when you keep putting yourself … in the rough. … The harder you swing at it to get it out, just the more shock that goes into the wrist.”
Still, only Carl Pettersson’s 125 in 2008 was better than Gainey’s score through 36 holes at the Donald Ross-designed, par-70 Sedgefield Country Club course.
“I haven’t really accomplished anything in two days,” Gainey said.
“The only thing I’ve accomplished is, I’ve set myself up in good shape going into the weekend. But, still, there’s a lot that can happen in one day … but two days, that’s like an eternity in a golf tournament. I’m trying to do the same thing I did these first two days tomorrow.”
Will MacKenzie began the day four strokes off the pace, but moved up the leaderboard with eagles on both of the course’s par 5s, Nos. 5 and 15, during his 65. The one-time prodigy from Greenville, N.C., is trying to reclaim his PGA Tour card after losing it last year, and the Wyndham represents one of his last chances to do that.
“For me to get my Tour card back some possible way, through (the) Nationwide Tour or just have a freak week, obviously I’m going to have to have a humongous week,” MacKenzie said. “I can’t be that top-25 guy and string it together. I’ve only got here and maybe another event, if I’m lucky, so I’m going to have to win or come in second.”
Couples up one at major
Fred Couples shot a 5-under 66 to take a one-stroke lead after the second round of the Senior Players Championship, the Champions Tour’s final major of the season, in Harrison, N.Y.
Couples is at 8 under for the tournament and trying for his fifth Champions Tour victory. Playing in his first event since undergoing non-traditional back treatment six weeks ago in Germany, Couples has put together two solid rounds at Westchester Country Club’s tree-lined West Course.
Peter Senior remains in second at 7 under after a second-round 69. Corey Pavin is third at 6 under, with a second-round 69 aided by his ability to consistently reach fairways.
Choi shoots 65 at Safeway
Na Yeon Choi double-bogeyed the par-4 final hole at Pumpkin Ridge, but her 6-under 65 held up for the first-round lead at the LPGA Safeway Classic in North Plains, Ore.
Choi was a runner-up when Ai Miyazato of Japan won last year’s Safeway Classic, besting Cristie Kerr and Choi by two shots on the Ghost Creek course nestled in farmland west of Portland.
Grace Park, who has withdrawn or been cut in 38 of her last 67 tournaments, was two strokes back with a 67 after the first round.
Punahou product Michelle Wie shot a 3-over 74, and Big Island native Kimberly Kim carded a 4-over 75.
Lara leads Czech Open
Jose Manuel Lara shot a 4-under 68 to move into first place at the Czech Open after rain cut short the second round in Celadna, Czech Republic.
Play was suspended because of a thunderstorm with nine groups of players needing to complete their second rounds today.
