Burns takes lead at halfway point of Safeway Open at Silverado Resort
Sam Burns was tied for second place, one shot off the lead, after opening the Safeway Open on Thursday in Napa by shooting an 8-under-par 64.
On Friday, he took the solo lead, firing a 65 to move to 15-under 129 after 36 holes, the halfway point, of the PGA Tour’s 2020–21 season-opening event at Silverado Resort and Spa.
Burns is just three shots off the tournament scoring record of 18-under, set by Brendan Steele when he won the Safeway Open title in 2016.
Burns overcame a double-bogey on No. 11, the second hole of his round, and went on a birdie spree the rest of the way, as he had birdies on Nos. 12, 13, 14, 16, 18, 1, 4, 5 and 9 on the North Course, a par-72, 7,116-yard layout.
“I think it woke me up, I guess. It was early, cold. It was kind of like it picked me up, like hey, let’s go,” Burns said of his reaction to the double bogey on the par-3, 160-yard 11th hole. “I just kind of stuck with it and the golf course opened up for me the rest of the day.”
Burns will take a two-shot lead into Saturday’s third round.
Harry Higgs double-eagled his final hole, the par-5, 564-yard ninth hole, to shoot 62, the low score of the day, and vault into second-place at 13-under 131 for the tournament. It was the first double eagle of the season.
Cameron Percy, Russell Knox and D.J. Trahan are tied for third, each at 12-under 132. Percy shot 68, Knox had a 69 and Trahan carded a 65.
Knox was the first-round leader as he opened with a 63. He completed the second round with consecutive birdies on his last two holes, Nos. 8 and 9.
“I haven’t shot a first round as good as that in a long time,” said Knox. “I hit the ball well today. I played fairly conservative into some holes. I was kind of in between yardages, but I felt like I played well. I could have shot a lower score than I did. I didn’t really hole the putts today, but to finish birdie-birdie 3-under was very satisfying.”
The 36-hole cut was at 5-under 139, with 73 players advancing to the weekend.
It’s the lowest cut in relation to par at the Safeway Open.
The third round begins at 8:10 a.m., with all players starting from the №1 tee.
Burns and Higgs are in the final group and start at 2:05 p.m.
Burns is making his 61st career PGA Tour start. This is the first time he has held a lead/co-lead after any round on Tour. It’s also his lowest opening 36-hole total.
“I think for me, I’m just going to go out (Saturday) and focus on what I can control. For me, that’s on my mind and that’s picking good targets and hitting shots,” said Burns.
“I’m just going to try to keep improving, keep getting better, trying to go off of my stats from last year and see where I can get better, and see what happens.”
Temperatures were in the 60s and 70s, with partly cloudy skies that were again hazy and smoky, with very little wind.
Conditions were in place for scoring, with the soft greens, low rough and not much in the way of wind.
“Usually there’s some breeze, but this week so far, no wind whatsoever and the rough is not too tough,” said Johnny Miller, the tournament host and a World Golf Hall of Fame member. “You cannot get any better conditions for low scoring than these, which is fine. There’s nothing wrong with that. I don’t mind the guys shooting well.”
Higgs holed a 4-iron from the fairway, from 231 yards on his second shot for double eagle on №9 to end his round. It’s his lowest round on Tour.
“I hit my 4-iron solid, it drew a little bit, landed short, rolled in the hole. What a wonderful way to end the day,” said Higgs. “What a great way to finish. I finally hit one like on the button solid. It gives me a nice little boost going into the weekend.”
Higgs is one of four rookies on Tour to qualify for the 2020 BMW Championship, one of the FedExCup playoff events, and finished the season №55 in the FedExCup standings.
Phil Mickelson shot 67 and made the cut, moving on to the weekend.
Jordan Spieth, Sergio Garcia, Brandt Snedeker and Shane Lowry each missed the cut.
The toughest hole in Round 1 was the par-4 third hole (4.167).
The toughest hole in Round 2 was the par-4 12th hole (4.141).
Jim Furyk was tied for 34th after rounds of 72 and 66 and heads to the weekend on a course that he likes.
“I probably should have played this one a little more often in my career,” said Furyk. “I came here last year for the first time and enjoyed the course. Last year was a little different. It was a little firmer, a little more baked out, tougher to hit fairways, tougher to hit greens. And last year from kind of morning to afternoon, there was big swings in scoring, just from it had moisture on it in the morning. But the dry, hot air here would get it baked out in the afternoon.
“Now with kind of the cloud cover and such, it’s holding that moisture in the afternoon, still able to shoot some good numbers.”
The tournament is presented by Chevron. It’s the first of 50 official FedExCup tournaments during the Tour’s 2020–21 schedule.
Saturday’s weather forecast, according to the Tour, is to “expect hazy filtered sunshine with temperatures warming into the mid-80s. Calm to light and variable winds during the morning will become southwesterly in the afternoon.”
