FARRAGUT, Tenn. – Gary Woodland fired a 7-under 65 Friday to grab a two-stroke lead after two rounds of the Knoxville Sentinel Open. Woodland completed 36 holes at 11-under-par 133.
Brady Schnell also carded a 65 to move into second place at minus-9. He was joined there by PGA Tour veteran Kirk Triplett (68), William McGirt (68) and Brian Stuard (67).
John Daly, who entered round two tied for second, struggled to a 1-over 73 to slide into a share of 32nd at minus-4.
Woodland did little on the front nine after opening with a birdie. He parred seven consecutive holes from the second before stumbling to a bogey on the ninth at Fox Den Country Club.
‘I hit it close all day, but didn’t make anything on the front side,’ said Woodland, who Monday-qualified to earn a spot in the field. ‘I kept telling myself that if you knock on the door long enough, it will open.’
And he was right.
After making the turn in even-par for his round, Woodland poured in three straight birdie efforts from the 10th to jump to minus-7. He parred the 13th, then dropped in back-to-back birdie tries from the 14th.
Woodland moved to the top of the leaderboard with birdies on 17 and 18.
‘It’s been frustrating because I feel like I’ve been playing pretty good this year, but I haven’t scored very well,’ Woodland admitted. ‘We looked at my stats from this year to last year and all of the numbers were better, but the scores weren’t there. Finally, we got a score to go low Monday and now everything is going the right way.’
First-round leader Zack Miller posted a 2-under 70 and dropped into a tie for sixth at 8-under-par 136. He stands alongside Ken Duke (66), Andrew Svoboda (69), Jim Herman (67) and Skip Kendall (69).