Report and scores from US PGA Tour

• Ryan Palmer halfway leader ahead of Jon Rahm in Farmers Insurance Open
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• SAN DIEGO (AP) -- Ryan Palmer is the 36-hole leader in the Farmers Insurance Open. Jon Rahm is right behind, poised to reach No. 1 in the world. And for the first time in 29 months, a PGA Tour event will feature Tiger Woods on the weekend.
  Palmer finished eagle-birdie on the North Course at Torrey Pines for a 5-under 67. That gave him a one-shot lead over Rahm, the defending champion who birdied two of his last three holes on the North for a 66.
  The biggest buzz, as usual, was for Woods. He kept his fairway-lined following in suspense over his closing stretch on the front nine Friday simply by trying to make the cut, and it came down to his very last hole, the ninth which he birdied to make the cut on the limit mark.
  A wild drive was saved by a perfect flop shot to escape with par on No. 6. Another superb chip on the reachable par-4 seventh set up a birdie, the first time all week he was under par. A chip that bounced hard and rolled off the back of the green led to bogey and left him one shot outside the cut line. From gnarly rough right of the fairway on the par-5 ninth, he hammered a 6-iron to the wrong side of the green, leaving him two putts from 75 feet to make birdie and get to the weekend.
  A beautiful lag for a tap-in birdie gave him a 71.
  "It was a grind. I fought hard," Woods said. "Typical. Just me going out there and fighting for whatever I can get. It's all good."
  There's a reason Woods has gone so long -- August 2015 at the Wyndham Championship -- without making a cut. This was only his second US PGA Tour event since then, the greatest reminder of back surgeries that effectively cost two full years of golf.
  He won the first battle -- two more days to go
  The next one is a bit more ominous. He still was 10 shots behind Palmer, who is going through a minor resurgence of his own. Palmer, who was at 11-under 133, spent the last 18 months on life at home after his wife was diagnosed with breast cancer. After her last dose of chemotherapy a year ago, followed by 35 radiation treatments, Jennifer Palmer has had nothing but clean scans.
  Then, Palmer had surgery on his left shoulder to clean out bone spurs and had not played since August until he headed to Honolulu two weeks ago.
  "A lot of distractions behind me," he said. "So we're definitely playing a little more free and clear."
  The biggest distraction on another gorgeous day at Torrey Pines was a pair of bogeys early. He kept his patience, chipped in for eagle at the turn, and then finished with a 
  The 23-year-old Spaniard won in a playoff last week in the California desert, moving him to No. 2 in the world. If he were to win this week, Rahm would go to No. 1.
  He didn't have his best stuff from tee-to-green. Rahm made enough key putts to keep him pointed in the right direction.
  "I was able to get up-and-down for par, and not making mistakes and taking advantage of the birdie putts," he said. "I probably shot the lowest I could shoot today."
  Palmer and Rahm will be in the final group with Luke List, who had a 66 on the South.
  And even with Woods lingering toward the bottom, there are plenty of big names lingering going into the weekend. Jason Day had a 64 and was four shots behind. Phil Mickelson, who hasn't fared all that on the South Course since the redo ahead of the 2008 U.S. Open, ran off a string of birdies on the front nine, salvaged a few mistakes with an eagle on No. 13 and finished with a birdie for a 68. He was five shots behind.
  Rahm was five shots behind going into the weekend last year and closed with a 65, holing a 50-foot eagle putt on the final hole. That was his first victory, and he has added three more worldwide. Few players have more confidence at Torrey Pines.
  Even when he wasn't sure where the ball was going off the tee, he didn't drop a shot.
  "Things are going well, you're playing good so you're trying to get a little higher, a little higher," he said.
  The cut was at 1-under 143, which was starting to look out of reach for Woods. He missed two drives well to the left -- by 65 yards on his opening hole, and deep into a hazard on his fourth hole, which led to double bogey to put him 2 over. He made the turn three shots out of the cut line, and then holed a 50-foot birdie putt to start his back nine.
  His short game carried him from there, setting up birdies on the par-5 fifth hole and the short seventh hole.
  The biggest adjustment to having been gone for so long is scoring. He was amazed to see so many players under par through two rounds.
  "These guys are all going low and I haven't done that in a long time," Woods said.

2018 Farmers Insurance Open

(The 11^th of 44 events in the US PGA Tour Season)

San Diego, Calif.                  Jan. 25-28, 2018              Purse: $6,900,000 ($1,242,000 to the winner)         

Torrey Pines Golf Course                                               500 FedExCup points to winner

South Course (Host)                                                       Par/Yards: 36-36—72/7,698

North Course                                                                   Par/Yards: 36-36—72/7,258

Second-Round Notes – Friday, January 26, 2018

Weather: Sunny. High of 62. Wind NW 10 mph.

36-hole cut: 77 players at 1-under 143 from a field of 155 professionals and one amateur.

Second-Round Leaderboard

Ryan Palmer          (S/N)          66-67 – 133 (-11)

Jon Rahm              (S/N)           68-66 – 134 (-10)

Luke List                (N/S)           69-66 – 135 (-9)

Tony Finau             (N/S)          65-70 – 135 (-9)

Alex Noren             (S/N)          70-66 – 136 (-8)

Other Asian scores

C.T. Pan                                      70-70 140 (-4)

Hideki Matsuyama                   72-69 141 (-3)

Si Woo Kim                                71-71 142 (-2)

Sung Kang                                  72-71 143 (-1)

Anirban Lahiri                           71-72 143 (-1)

Missed Cut

Sangmoon Bae                        68-76 144 (E)

Whee Kim                                70-74 144 (E)

Xinjun Zhang                           72-76 148 (+4)

K.J. Choi                                   69-80 149 (+5)

Zecheng Dou                           77-78 155 (+11

Ryan Palmer

Palmer started par-bogey-bogey on the North Course, but was 7-under over his last 15 holes, including eagles on Nos. 9 and 17. His total of 11-under 133 is the tournament’s best 36-hole start since Tiger Woods was 11-under entering the weekend in 2013.

This is the sixth time he is a leader/co-leader after 36 holes, and the first time since the 2017 Honda Classic.

Palmer began the 2017-18 season on a Major Medical Extension, with six events available to earn the necessary 29 points to equal No. 125 J.J. Henry's 365-point total from the 2017 FedExCup points list. In his second start of the season last week at the CareerBuilder Challenge, he finished T20 and earned 37.55 points, so he has retained full eligibility through the end of the season.

Second-Round Lead Notes

The last seven winners played the North Course in the second round. Ben Crane in 2010 was the last player to play the South Course on Friday and win the Farmers Insurance Open.

Since 2000, the only two players to convert a 36-hole lead/co-lead into victory at the Farmers Insurance Open have been Phil Mickelson (2000, 2001) and Tiger Woods (2008, 2013).

Since Woods turned his 36-hole lead into a victory in 2013, the last four winners have been at least four shots off the lead at the tournament’s midway point.

·       2017 – Jon Rahm (T21, trailed by 5)

·       2016 – Brandt Snedeker (T57, trailed by 8)

·       2015 – Jason Day (T6, trailed by 4)

·       2014 – Scott Stallings (T11, trailed by 5)

Through 11 events in the 2017-18 PGA TOUR Season, four players have converted a 36-hole lead into victory, most recently Austin Cook at The RSM Classic.

Jon Rahm

Rahm carded a bogey-free 66 on the North Course and is second at 10-under. It is the best 36-hole position by a defending champion since Tiger Woods in 2008, when he led by four and went on to win by eight.

Rahm is one of three past champions in the top 10, as he’s joined by three-time winner Phil Mickelson (T9/-6) and 2015 winner Jason Day (T6/-7).

The 6-under 66 was Rahm’s 10th straight round under-par, dating to the first round of the Sentry Tournament of Champions.

Since the start of the 2017 FedExCup Playoffs, he has six top-10s in his last seven starts.

Should Rahm go on to win, he would be the first player to successfully defend a PGA TOUR title since Jhonattan Vegas won the 2016 and 2017 RBC Canadian Open. The last player to win consecutive Farmers Insurance Opens was Tiger Woods (2005-2008).

With a win this week, he would supplant Dustin Johnson as the No. 1-ranked player in the Official World Golf Ranking.

Tiger Woods

After a 2-over 38 on his first nine (the back nine of the North Course), Woods birdied Nos. 1, 5 and 7 and moved to 1-under, which was inside the projected cut at the time. He bogeyed No. 8 to fall outside the cutline, but he earned a weekend tee time with a birdie on the par-5 ninth. He is T65 at 1-under 143.

Woods avoided missing the cut in consecutive starts. The only time he has missed the cut in consecutive starts as a pro was at the 2014 PGA Championship and at the 2015 Waste Management Phoenix Open. Overall, he has missed only 16 cuts in 315 PGA TOUR starts as a pro, including this week.

Woods owns the PGA TOUR record for most consecutive cuts made (142), a streak that started at the 1998 Farmers Insurance Open and ended after he made the cut at the 2005 Wells Fargo Championship.

The last time Woods made a cut was when he finished T10 at the 2015 Wyndham Championship. It has been 2 years, 5 months, 5 days since the second round of that tournament.

C.T. Pan

Starting from the 10th tee, Chinese Taipei’s C.T. Pan carded four birdies against two bogeys in his round of 2-under 70 to move up to T23 position on 4-under 140, seven shots behind halfway leader Ryan Palmer. In last year’s Farmers Insurance Open, Pan finished T2 which is his best finish to date on the PGA TOUR.

Pan converted birdie putts of 18 feet, three feet and nine feet on 10, 12 and 13 to start his second round but dropped a bogey on 11 after missing the green with his tee shot. He rolled in a 17-foot putt on the par 3 third hole before making a second bogey on the sixth hole.

This week’s Farmers Insurance Open is Pan’s seventh start in the 2017-18 PGA TOUR Season and his first event in 2018. He registered top-20 finishes at the CIMB Classic in Malaysia and RSM Classic but missed the cut at last week’s CareerBuilder Challenge.

Additional Player Notes

Jason Day’s bogey-free 64 on the North Course included four straight birdies on Nos. 15-18, his front nine. It is his lowest round in nine appearances at the Farmers Insurance Open, and it breaks a string of five straight rounds of even-par or worse at the tournament. Winner of the 2015 Farmers Insurance Open, Day is T6 at 7-under after missing the cut in 2016 and 2017.

Phil Mickelson, a three-time winner of the Farmers Insurance Open, carded a second-round 68 on the South Course and is T9 at 6-under. On Friday, he had 23 putts and the total distance of putts made was 166’ 5”.

Luke List is T3 after a second-round 66 on the South Course. It is tied for the best round on the South Course through two days, as Ted Potter Jr. and Ryan Palmer opened with rounds of 66 on Thursday. He is making his fourth start at the Farmers Insurance Open, and his only other made cut was in 2013 when he finished T68.

Tony Finau, who finished T4 at last year’s Farmers Insurance Open, is T3 at 9-under after shooting 70 on the South Course. He has three top-25 finishes in five starts this season, with his best being a runner-up finish at the Safeway Open. He is currently 12th in the FedExCup.

Seven past champions are in the field:

Player	Score	Course	Position
Jon Rahm	66-67 – 133 (-10)	S/N	2nd
Brandt Snedeker	72-71 – 143 (-1)	S/N	T65
Jason Day	73-64 – 137 (-7)	S/N	T6
Scott Stallings	75-71 – 146 (+2)	S/N	MC
Tiger Woods	72-71 – 143 (-1)	S/N	T65
Nick Watney	69-73 – 142 (-2)	S/N	T47
Phil Mickelson	70-68 – 138 (-6)	N/S	T9

Scoring Averages:       R1           R2            Cumulative

North Course                 71.308    71.513     71.410

South Course                71.615    72.667     72.141

Hardest/Easiest Holes (Second Round)

Hardest (South) – Par-4, No. 12 (4.449)

Easiest (South) – Par-5, No. 6 (4.526)

Hardest (North) – Par-4, No. 2 (4.321)

Easiest (North) – Par-5, No. 5 (4.397)

Bogey-free rounds:

R1 – Ryan Palmer (South – 66), Ted Potter Jr. (South – 66), Rory Sabbatini (North – 68), Nick Watney (South – 69), Peter Uihlein (North – 68)

R2 – Jason Day (North – 64), Cameron Smith (South – 68), Jon Rahm (North – 66), Kevin Streelman (North – 68), Beau Hossler (North – 68)

  

• SELECTED SCORES
• 139  Justin Rose 69 70 (T14)
• 142 Russell Knox 69 73 (T47)
• 143 Tiger Woods 72 71 (T65)
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• MISSED THE CUT AT 143
• 144 Padraig Harrington 72 72, Seamus Power 69 75
• 147 Martin Laird 74 73, Shane Lowry 69 78
• 149 Luke Donald 74 75

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