Coceres Leads as Play Suspended

SILVIS, Ill. -- Mother nature was the big winner Friday at the John Deere Classic.

There was a two-and-a-half-hour weather delay in the middle of the round and another set of storms caused action to be postponed for the evening at 7:15 p.m. (et).

The second round will resume at 8:00 a.m. Saturday morning.

‘We hope to resume at 8:00 a.m., finish round two, hopefully around 11:30, cut and re-pair and start again between 12:00 p.m. and 2:00 p.m. if possible and try to finish by 7:00 p.m.,’ said PGA Tour official Jamie Conkling. ‘Yeah, it looks like it could be hit and miss rain on Saturday, like all day today.’

First-round leader Jose Coceres maintained his edge over the field as he stands 11-under par through 11 holes. Vaughn Taylor completed his round of 2-under 69 to grab a share of second place at 10-under-par 131. He is joined there by Greg Chalmers, who has completed 13 holes.

Coceres was bogey-free through his opening round and got his second round going with birdies at the second and fourth to get to 11 under.

The Argentine ran off five straight pars at TPC at Deere Run, and then birdied the par-5 10th for the second straight round to get to minus-12. However, Coceres stumbled to his lone bogey of the tournament at the par-4 11th to drop his edge to one stroke.

‘It’s not easy for any player, but you just have to accept it,’ said Coceres of the weather delays. ‘That’s just the natural way of the weather, of nature. I feel that I’m doing everything very well, and me and my caddie are concentrating very well on working together.’

Taylor started on the 10th tee and picked up a birdie at that hole, but faltered to a bogey at the very next. He followed with a birdie at the 13th and a double bogey at the 14th.

The 28-year-old birdied the 18th to get back to even-par for his round. On the front side, Taylor birdied the second and fourth to get to minus-10. He parred his final five holes to close his round.

Chalmers, who ran off five straight birdies during his first round, picked up birdies at Nos. 3 and 8 to get to minus-9. He stumbled to a bogey at the ninth, but came back to birdie the very next hole. He then birdied the par-3 12th and parred the 13th before play was halted for the day.

‘I’ve played very nicely so far the last two days,’ Chalmers said. ‘It didn’t really bother me to tee off later. I really thought I’d get done this afternoon barring any weather. Obviously that hasn’t happened. I’m kind of hoping I come out tomorrow morning with some fresh greens and it will be similar conditions to the first day that I played.’

Lucas Glover, Patrick Sheehan, Jeff Brehaut, Stewart Cink, John E. Morgan and Joe Durant all finished their rounds and are tied for fourth place at 7-under-par 135. They are joined there by Ted Purdy and John Rollins, who are through 13 and 10 holes respectively.

Defending champion Vijay Singh fired a 4-under 67 to move to 6-under-par 136. He is joined there by Richard S. Johnson, Len Mattiace, Jim McGovern and Mark Wilson, who have each completed their rounds.

Hank Kuehne (13 holes), Kevin Sutherland (12), Scott Hoch (12), Todd Hamilton (11), Robert Gamez (10) and Jay Haas (9) are also at minus-6, but have yet to complete their rounds.

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