Birdie run helps Woodland take the lead

Gary Woodland picked up three straight birdies to take a three-stroke lead lead halfway through the Houston Open at Memorial Park Golf Course as overnight leader Paul Waring blew up with a one-over round to slip to tied 11th spot.

Woodland fired in a seven under-63 round to follow-up on his opening round of 64. At 13-under 127, it was his career-best 36-hole score on the Tour.

Waring, coming back after a difficult 2025 season, had carded a 63 in his opening round only to see his place at the top of the leaderboard vanish after a disastrous round. Still it was his first made cut since the 2025 RBC Canadian Open, where he finished tied-47.

For Woodland, who now leads with 15 birdies after two rounds of action, finished runner-up at the championships last year and is looking for his first Tour title since the 2019 U.S. Open.

He had undergone a surgery to remove a brain lesion in September 2023 and only returned to competition at the 2024 Sony Open in Hawaii.

Denmark’s Nicolai Hojgaard shot an 8-under 62 for the round of the week thus far, catapulting him into second at 10 under in a tie with Jackson Suber, who fired in a 63.

Defending champion Lee Min-woo and fellow Australian Jason Day posted rounds of 63 to share fourth place at 9 under while Michael Thorbjornsen (64) and Sam Stevens (65) are tied for sixth at 8 under.

Making his second tournament start, Suber is seeking to become the first open qualifier to win on Tour since Corey Conners in 2019.

As for Min-woo, he is seeking to become only the second player to successfully defend a Texas Children’s Houston Open title since the legendary Vijay Singh in 2005.

Goydos sets the pace

Meanwhile, on the Champions Tour, Paul Goydos opened the Hoag Classic with a 9-under-par 62 to set the pace at Newport Beach (California) Country Club.

The sixty-one-year-old Goydos ripped off nine birdies without a bogey in the opening round and is in good position to make a run at his first PGA Tour Champions title since 2017.

He holds a one-stroke lead over Zach Johnson and Brian Gay, while Sweden’s Freddie Jacobson and New Zealand’s Steven Alker are another shot back at 7-under 64.

Alker had beaten Irishman Padraig Harrington in a playoff on Sunday to win the Cologuard Classic and is wihtin striking distance of another victory.

Defending champion Miguel Angel Jimenez of Spain opened with a 1-under 70.

However, nine-time Tour winner Brooks Koepka missed the cut after rounds of 75 and 69 left him well outside the cut line.

John Pak on a record run

Pak, amassed a 15-under 129, to break the 36-hole tournament scoring record of 131 held to strnegthen his lead atop the Club Car Championship at The Landings Golf & Athletic Club.

He had opened with a career-low 11-under 61, breaking the single-round tournament scoring record and had converted his only other 36-hole lead into his first Korn Ferry Tour victory at the 2024 Compliance Solutions Championship.

Davis Lamb trails Pak by three strokes ahead of Korn Ferry Tour rookie Nick Infanti at 11-under after rounds of 69-64. Tied with Infanti are the duo of Joseph Bramlett and teenager Blades Brown.

Yuta Sugiura is a further stroke behind. The three-time winner on the Japan Golf Tour, holds the best 36-hole position of his Korn Ferry Tour career.

Jeff Overton (T18/-8) recorded a hole-in-one on the par-3 second with a 6-iron from 176 yards en route to a 4-under 68, marking his third career hole-in-one in a sanctioned event.

Nicolo Galletti (T46/-6), carded a 2-under 70 with an albatross on the par-5 sixth with a mini driver from 275 yards, becoming the first player on Tour this season to record an albatross.

Second-Round Leaderboard (Houston Open)

First round Leaderboard (Hoag Classic)

Second round Leaderboard (Club Car Championship)