Luke Guthrie extends lead at the Cox Classic while breaking many tour records
The American Luke Guthrie stepped on the accelerator once again on Friday, during the second round of the Web.com Tour’s Cox Classic, at Champions Run, in Omaha.
Guthrie backed up his opening-round heroics with an eight-under par 63 to move to 17-under 125, three clear of his compatriot Tag Ridings. The overnight leader started in the same fashion as he did on day one – double bogeyed the opening hole.
“I was in a divot in the middle of the fairway. It was a nasty lie and I hit an even nastier shot out of it,” he said. “I had 170 yards to the pin but the ball flew about 130 and wound up in the hazard and didn’t get up-and-down”.
However, the remaining 17 holes also witnessed him repeat a similar performance compared to his opening round. He recorded three birdies on a five-hole stretch, starting from the second hole, prior to registering three pars in a row.
Thereafter, he was on fire and registered seven birdies on the back nine of the course to get into a commanding position on the leaderboard.
This was just an overview of his performance so far. However, there is something else which is threatening the record book since Guthrie turned professional this year. He has been going low, setting new records and giving a hint of another super star emerging
from the US soil.
With his seven-under par 29 on the back nine on Friday, he set the tournament record for the lowest score on the final nine. Also, his 17-under par score broke Ryan Hietala’s tournament record for the lowest score after the first two rounds.
In addition to that, his overall score of 125 also equalled the second lowest score after 36 holes in any tournament on the Web.com Tour.
During the first two rounds, he managed to score 22 birdies in total, which is also a tour record. Previously, it was held by Webb Simpson with 20 birdies at the Chattanooga Classic in 2008.
“That’s pretty nuts,” said Guthrie when told of his accomplishments. “When you tee it up on the first hole, you don’t think that you need to make 12 birdies today or 10 birdies today. I’ve just been trying to hit each shot the best I can”.
If he keeps his momentum intact, the time is not far away when he will be threatening the big names such as Luke Donald, Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy and Lee Westwood on top of the Official World Golf Rankings. He is a star in the making.
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