Golf

2014 Zurich Classic: Ben Martin still in the lead through 36 holes

Ben Martin didn’t equal the 62 he shot in the first round, but he did play well enough to retain the top spot on the leaderboard.

by Mark Sandritter

Apr 26, 2014, 12:18 AM UTC

Chris Graythen

A day after setting a course record with a 10-under round of 62, there wasn’t much Ben Martin could do for an encore on Friday. He didn’t come close to challenging the course record again, finishing five strokes worse than he did on Thursday, but his 5-under round of 67 moved him to 15-under overall and was good enough to keep him in the lead.

Martin got off to an even better start on Friday than he did Thursday, which is saying something considering he opened the first round with back-to-back birdies. He went birdie-eagle to begin the day Friday and carded another birdie two holes later to improve to 4-under through four. Any thoughts of duplicating, or even improving on, his 62 quickly vanished, however, when he ran into trouble for the first time. An errant tee shot at the par-3 17th hole left him with a difficult up-and-down. He was unable to manage and bogeyed the hole, his first dropped shot of the tournament. Things got worse on the next hole as he blocked a tee shot right and into the water. He still had a chance to save par on the par-5, but missed the par putt and eventually three-putted for a double-bogey seven. To his credit, he rebounded on his second nine, carding four birdies and no bogeys to come in in 32. He recorded 15 birdies and an eagle on his first 36 holes.

Martin holds a three-stroke lead over Andrew Svoboda. Svoboda began the day in second place, two-strokes off the lead. He was two back heading into his final hole of the second round, but a bogey at his last dropped him to 12-under. The top of the leaderboard remains mostly unchanged with Seung-Yul Noh still in third place. Six players are 10-under or better through two rounds. Keegan Bradley shot a 66 and is six off the lead at 9-under.

Bo Van Pelt carded the round of the day, shooting a 9-under 63 to jump from a tie for 114th place to a tie for 12th place. His 63 is the second-best round ever shot at TPC Louisiana, trailing only the 62 Martin carded on Thursday. Van Pelt’s impressive round brought him to the right side of the cut line, but a few notable players were not able to do the same. The cut finished at 2-under with Ernie Els at 1-under, defending champion Billy Horschel at even and Rickie Fowler at 3-over all headed home early.

Here is a full look at the leaderboard through 36 holes:

Place	Player	Score	1st Round	2nd Round	Total
1	Ben Martin	-15	62	67	129
2	Andrew Svoboda	-12	64	68	132
T3	Seung-yul Noh	-11	65	68	133
T3	Robert Streb	-11	67	66	133
T5	Erik Compton	-10	66	68	134
T5	Peter Hanson	-10	65	69	134
T7	Charley Hoffman	-9	68	67	135
T7	Jeff Overton	-9	67	68	135
T7	Keegan Bradley	-9	69	66	135
T10	J.B. Holmes	-8	71	65	136
T10	Will Wilcox	-8	68	68	136
T12	Michael Thompson	-7	66	71	137
T12	Bo Van Pelt	-7	74	63	137
T12	Graham Delaet	-7	69	68	137
T12	David Duval	-7	68	69	137
T12	Retief Goosen	-7	72	65	137
T12	Tommy Gainey	-7	71	66	137
T12	J.J. Henry	-7	68	69	137
T12	Chad Collins	-7	66	71	137
T12	Mark Anderson	-7	72	65	137
T12	Kevin Kisner	-7	69	68	137
T22	Morgan Hoffmann	-6	70	68	138
T22	Daniel Summerhays	-6	72	66	138
T22	Justin Rose	-6	71	67	138
T22	Kyle Stanley	-6	71	67	138
T22	Alex Prugh	-6	70	68	138
T27	Robert Allenby	-5	71	68	139
T27	Kevin Chappell	-5	72	67	139
T27	Bud Cauley	-5	71	68	139
T27	Bronson La'Cassie	-5	70	69	139
T27	Brooks Koepka	-5	71	68	139
T27	Paul Casey	-5	71	68	139
T27	Stuart Appleby	-5	67	72	139
T27	D.H. Lee	-5	68	71	139
T35	John Rollins	-4	74	66	140
T35	Danny Lee	-4	71	69	140
T35	Sang-Moon Bae	-4	68	72	140
T35	Brendan Steele	-4	73	67	140
T35	Briny Baird	-4	71	69	140
T35	Martin Flores	-4	72	68	140
T35	John Senden	-4	70	70	140
T35	Sean O'Hair	-4	71	69	140
T35	Joe Durant	-4	69	71	140
T35	Troy Matteson	-4	72	68	140
T35	Troy Merritt	-4	71	69	140
T35	Tim Wilkinson	-4	70	70	140
T47	Tag Ridings	-3	71	70	141
T47	Scott McCarron	-3	70	71	141
T47	Andres Romero	-3	70	71	141
T47	Freddie Jacobson	-3	72	69	141
T47	Mark Calcavecchia	-3	71	70	141
T47	Vijay Singh	-3	70	71	141
T47	David Toms	-3	73	68	141
T47	Boo Weekley	-3	71	70	141
T47	D.A. Points	-3	73	68	141
T47	John Merrick	-3	69	72	141
T47	Wes Roach	-3	74	67	141
T47	Andrew Loupe	-3	71	70	141
T47	Shawn Stefani	-3	69	72	141
T47	Doug LaBelle II	-3	68	73	141
T47	Luke Guthrie	-3	70	71	141
T47	Rory Sabbatini	-3	69	72	141
T47	Charles Howell III	-3	68	73	141
T47	Ken Duke	-3	73	68	141
T47	Charlie Wi	-3	70	71	141
T47	Fabian Gomez	-3	72	69	141
T67	Josh Teater	-2	73	69	142
T67	Brice Garnett	-2	69	73	142
T67	David Hearn	-2	71	71	142
T67	Lucas Glover	-2	71	71	142
T67	Derek Ernst	-2	71	71	142
T67	Y.E. Yang	-2	72	70	142
T67	Cameron Tringale	-2	73	69	142
T67	Jim Renner	-2	75	67	142
T67	Padraig Harrington	-2	70	72	142
T67	Nick Watney	-2	69	73	142
T67	Geoff Ogilvy	-2	72	70	142
T67	Robert Garrigus	-2	73	69	142
T67	Greg Chalmers	-2	71	71	142
T67	Ricky Barnes	-2	70	72	142
T67	Max Homa	-2	71	71	142
T67	Kevin Tway	-2	70	72	142
T67	Scott Gardiner	-2	74	68	142
T67	Billy Hurley III	-2	71	71	142
*Cut line 2-under*
Cut	Ernie Els	-1	72	71	143
Cut	Ryan Palmer	-1	71	72	143
Cut	Lee Williams	-1	70	73	143
Cut	Edward Loar	-1	71	72	143
Cut	Nicholas Thompson	-1	72	71	143
Cut	Ted Potter, Jr.	-1	72	71	143
Cut	Will MacKenzie	-1	71	72	143
Cut	Jerry Kelly	E	71	73	144
Cut	Stephen Ames	E	74	70	144
Cut	Billy Horschel	E	74	70	144
Cut	Brian Davis	E	72	72	144
Cut	Heath Slocum	E	74	70	144
Cut	Scott Langley	E	70	74	144
Cut	Ken Looper	E	71	73	144
Cut	Jim Herman	E	74	70	144
Cut	Thorbjorn Olesen	E	75	69	144
Cut	William McGirt	E	74	70	144
Cut	Chad Campbell	E	70	74	144
Cut	Carl Pettersson	E	69	75	144
Cut	Harrison Frazar	E	74	70	144
Cut	Woody Austin	E	75	69	144
Cut	Ben Curtis	E	70	74	144
Cut	Rich Beem	E	72	72	144
Cut	John Mallinger	E	72	72	144
Cut	Richard Lee	E	71	73	144
Cut	Jamie Lovemark	E	75	69	144
Cut	Jonathan Byrd	1	74	71	145
Cut	Russell Knox	1	73	72	145
Cut	James Driscoll	1	76	69	145
Cut	Tyrone van Aswegen	1	73	72	145
Cut	Hudson Swafford	1	73	72	145
Cut	Kevin Foley	1	69	76	145
Cut	Mark Wilson	1	76	69	145
Cut	Mike Weir	1	74	71	145
Cut	Roberto Castro	1	69	76	145
Cut	Miguel Angel Carballo	1	75	70	145
Cut	Camilo Villegas	2	72	74	146
Cut	Trevor Immelman	2	74	72	146
Cut	Matt Bettencourt	2	76	70	146
Cut	Ben Crane	2	76	70	146
Cut	Garrett Osborn	2	78	68	146
Cut	Thomas Aiken	2	77	69	146
Cut	Dicky Pride	2	71	75	146
Cut	Cameron Beckman	2	69	77	146
Cut	Chris DiMarco	2	69	77	146
Cut	Chris Stroud	2	69	77	146
Cut	Benjamin Alvarado	2	73	73	146
Cut	James Hahn	3	79	68	147
Cut	Rickie Fowler	3	75	72	147
Cut	Spencer Levin	3	69	78	147
Cut	Daniel Chopra	3	76	71	147
Cut	John Peterson	3	76	71	147
Cut	Brad Fritsch	3	74	73	147
Cut	David Lingmerth	3	68	79	147
Cut	Martin Laird	3	70	77	147
Cut	Peter Malnati	3	74	73	147
Cut	Scott Stallings	4	74	74	148
Cut	Greg Owen	4	76	72	148
Cut	Alex Aragon	4	72	76	148
Cut	Neal Ajubita	4	79	69	148
Cut	Tim Petrovic	4	72	76	148
Cut	Kevin Stadler	4	74	74	148
Cut	Scott Verplank	5	73	76	149
Cut	George McNeill	5	75	74	149
Cut	Brady Watt	5	74	75	149
Cut	Patrick Reed	6	74	76	150
Cut	Steve Marino	6	75	75	150
Cut	David Bradshaw	7	75	76	151
Cut	Robert Gates	7	76	75	151
Cut	Dustin Morris	8	75	77	152
Cut	Tim Herron	11	79	76	155
WD	Matt Every	4	76	-	76