Oct 3, 2008 - 11:11 PM
0 shoutsVERONA, New York (Ticker) -- Jeff Overton holds the clubhouse lead at the $6 million Turning Stone Championship.
Friday's second round was suspended due to darkness with 23 players left on the course. The second round will be resumed on Saturday morning at 8:45 a.m. EDT.
In front by one shot at the start of the day, Overton overcame a bogey on his first hole to card a 3-under-par 69. The American is at 8-under 136 through 36 holes, one stroke in front of Tag Ridings.
"I had a lot of good drives and put myself in good positions and was able to kind of keep things going from yesterday," Overton said. "I Didn't aim at a whole a lot of flags. Just wanted to hit some shots and work the ball into some holes, and was able to do that a couple times and made a couple birdies."
Ridings signed for a 4-under 68 to get to 7-under 137 with Australian Jason Day another shot back after a 69.
Albeit still early in the tournament, the 25-year-old Overton is halfway to his first career PGA Tour win.
Overton's best finish this year was a tie for ninth at the AT&T National. He has made the cut 45 times in 75 career events, posting six top-10 finishes - including a second-place effort in 2007.
After a bogey to start, Overton rebounded with three birdies on the front nine. He got back to even-par on the day with a birdie at No. 4 and he closed the front side with consecutive birdies at Nos. 8 and 9. He had just one more birdie coming in, but it was enough to maintain the lead.
"Hopefully I can make some more putts," Overton said. "If we can change that stat and hit 18 greens and get the putting stats down to under 30 putts in a round it would be great. But otherwise, I'm not going to change anything. Just keep plugging along."
Ridings carded six birdies and two bogeys on Friday. He finished his round with three birdies on his final five holes, including one at 18.
"I just putted well and hung in there," Ridings said. "I need to have a good weekend and see if I can get in contention on the last few holes on Sunday and have a chance at them. I'm kind of due for one, so let's hang in there."
Defending champion Steve Flesch, trying to salvage a season which sees him ranked 71st on the money list, is 11 shots off the lead following a 73. A four-time PGA Tour winner, Flesch finished sixth at the PGA Championship in August and was 15th at the Deutsche Bank Championship in his last start.
In trying to pick a winner, one may want to consider this recent trend - international players have won nine of the last 12 events on the PGA Tour, including all four in the FedEx Cup playoffs (Vijay Singh and Camilo Villegas). That bodes well for Day, as well as fellow Australians Mark Hensby (69) and Robert Allenby (68), who are tied for fourth at 5-under 139.
First prize is $1.08 million.
