Pure Insurance Championship concludes on Sun Sep 25th at Spyglass Hill at Pebble Beach (PGA photo)
By Jeremy Harness
PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. – Saturday’s second round got off to a slow start, as foggy conditions caused a three-hour delay, forcing roughly half of the field to not be able to finish their rounds, meaning that those groups will resume play early Sunday morning, barring any more fog.
Timothy O’Neal, Steve Flesch and Chris DiMarco closed their first round on Friday tied for the lead, as each player shot a six-under 66.
However, it was Paul Stankowski who overtook all of them on Saturday, as he shot a five-under 67 at Spyglass Hill to vault into a tie for the lead. Since he was one of the few players who was able to finish, he’ll get few more hours of rest, as he would have to wait until the entire field has concluded its second round, which is not expected to happen until Sunday afternoon.
Stankowski birdied the first two holes of the day and then added another birdie at the par-5 seventh. He added two more birdies on the back nine without a single blemish on his scorecard. In addition, he hit all 14 of his fairways while hitting 12 of his 18 greens.
Ken Duke, who was one of the last players to keep his PGA Tour card by earnings alone – the PGA Tour discontinued this following the 2017-18 season – went on a tear on the back nine at Pebble Beach with three birdies, including a birdie at the par-five 18th to tie Stankowski at the top, shortly after the horn went off to announce the completion of play.
For clarification, when the horn is sounded, a player has the option of either finishing the hole (s)he is on, or simply marking his or her ball and going back to that spot the following morning.
Lee Janzen was briefly tied for the lead after birdieing his 15th and 16th holes at Spyglass, but a damaging double-bogey on his 17th hole, the par-four eighth, dropped him out of the lead and into a three-way tie for third.
Flesch finished his second round one shot behind Stankowski, as his one-under round of 71 placed him in a tie for second with Steven Alker.
Cal grad Charlie Wi matched Stankowski for the low round of the day, as he shot a bogey-free round of 67, including an eagle at the par-five seventh. He is in a tie for third at six-under overall with Brett Quigley.
Play was officially been suspended at around 7pm PDT, and play will commence at 7:30am PST in order for the second round to be completed, with the intention of allowing enough time for the third and final round to be completed.
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