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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Making his second tournament start, Suber is seeking to become the first open qualifier to win on Tour since Corey Conners in 2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As for Min-woo, he is seeking to become only the second player to successfully defend a Texas Children\u2019s Houston Open title since the legendary Vijay Singh in 2005.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Goydos sets the pace<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Alker had beaten Irishman Padraig Harrington in a playoff on Sunday to win the Cologuard Classic and is wihtin striking distance of another victory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Defending champion Miguel Angel Jimenez of Spain opened with a 1-under 70.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, nine-time Tour winner Brooks Koepka missed the cut after rounds of 75 and 69 left him well outside the cut line.<\/p>\n\n\n\n John Pak on a record run<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Second-Round Leaderboard (Houston Open)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n First round Leaderboard (Hoag Classic)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Second round Leaderboard (Club Car Championship<\/strong>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Gary Woodland picked up three straight birdies to take a three-stroke lead lead halfway through the Houston Open<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10978,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[44],"tags":[58],"class_list":["post-10977","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international","tag-golf"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\tPos.<\/strong><\/td> Player<\/strong><\/td> R1<\/strong><\/td> R2<\/strong><\/td> Total<\/strong><\/td><\/tr> 1<\/td> Gary Woodland<\/td> 64<\/td> 63<\/td> 127 (-13)<\/td> <\/td><\/tr> T2<\/td> Nicolai H\u00f8jgaard<\/td> 68<\/td> 62<\/td> 130 (-10)<\/td> <\/td><\/tr> T2<\/td> Jackson Suber<\/td> 67<\/td> 63<\/td> 130 (-10)<\/td> <\/td><\/tr> T4<\/td> Min Woo Lee<\/td> 68<\/td> 63<\/td> 131 (-9)<\/td> <\/td><\/tr> T4<\/td> Jason Day<\/td> 68<\/td> 63<\/td> 131 (-9)<\/td> <\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n <\/td> Player<\/strong><\/td> To Par<\/strong><\/td> Scores<\/strong><\/td><\/tr> 1<\/td> Paul Goydos<\/td> -9<\/td> 31-31 \u2013 62<\/td><\/tr> T2<\/td> Zach Johnson<\/td> -8<\/td> 30-33 \u2013 63<\/td><\/tr> <\/td> Brian Gay<\/td> -8<\/td> 31-32 \u2013 63<\/td><\/tr> T4<\/td> Freddie Jacobson<\/td> -7<\/td> 31-33 \u2013 64<\/td><\/tr> <\/td> Steven Alker<\/td> -7<\/td> 30-34 \u2013 64<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n Pos.<\/strong><\/td> Player<\/strong><\/td> R1<\/strong><\/td> R2<\/strong><\/td> Total<\/strong><\/td><\/tr> 1<\/td> John Pak<\/td> 61<\/td> 68<\/td> 129 (-15)<\/td><\/tr> 2<\/td> Davis Lamb<\/td> 69<\/td> 63<\/td> 132 (-12)<\/td><\/tr> T3<\/td> Joseph Bramlett<\/td> 67<\/td> 66<\/td> 133 (-11)<\/td><\/tr> <\/td> Blades Brown<\/td> 66<\/td> 67<\/td> 133 (-11)<\/td><\/tr> <\/td> Nick Infanti<\/td> 69<\/td> 64<\/td> 133 (-11)<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"