Camilo Villegas hung on to a share of the lead in Scottsdale, but the greatest jump belonged to Ian Poulter.
With a match play title in his pocket from last weekend and a day removed from nearly playing his way out of the tournament, Poulter posted a 63 at the Waste Management Phoenix Open on Friday, tying Nick Watney for the low round of the day.
It wasn’t enough to grab a spot atop the leaderboard after two rounds, but it left him just four back of Villegas and co-leader Mark Wilson. Rickie Fowler, Anthony Kim and Ryan Moore are all a stroke back of the lead at 10-under.
Matt Every, who was just a stroke off the pace after the first round, is currently three back. Every was the lone player to not finish his second round and he’ll be back Saturday morning to clean up a four-footer for birdie on the 18th.
“Right back in this golf tournament, just sitting chewing the fat with Pat Perez, thinking about what to do for dinner,” Poulter said in a tweet. “Sofa is looking good.”
Poulter put three bogeys on his card before getting birdies at the 15th and 17th in his first round to finish with a 71. There would be no bogeys in Friday’s round as Poulter heated up early to birdie three of his first five holes after starting his round at the 10th tee. Making the turn, Poulter found another gear with five birdies for a 30 on his second nine.
He’s tied with eight others at seven-under for the tournament.
“Physically I’m fine, but just mentally, obviously last week, 108 holes is going to take its toll, and certainly this week is just about trying to rest up as much as possible and just go out there, hitting the kind of shots I did last week, and I’ve done that today,” Poulter told PGATour.com.
Perez, who is Poulter’s host for the week, is sitting comfortably at nine-under with five other players. Perez went out in 32 and seeded a bogey in with eight pars on his second nine for a 68.
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