Crowne Plaza Invitational round two: Is this really the Colonial?

If it was a surprise to see Anthony Kim on top of the leaderboard Friday morning, it’s an absolute revelation to see Tim Clark lording it over his peers a day later. Everyone wondered when Clark would win his first PGA tournament after some immaculate stroke play took him to second place in last year’s Masters. But later that year he was hit by neck trouble that has plagued him ever since.

He sat out the PGA Tour this year until March and has subsequently largely struggled to stay inside the cut line. Yet here he is after a gruelling Friday of 27 holes with a game that looks as sharp as a pin.

His second round is testament to how the weather has affected the tournament, making accuracy off the tee an absolute must. Clark hit every fairway in the second round, and was rewarded by striking every green in regulation as a result. It meant he didn’t particularly have to have the hottest putter in town.

Mind you, he is as amazed as everyone where he is and doesn’t sound too confident of being able to sustain it over the stretch. What a bunch of crocks at the top: Arron Oberholser with his wonky back which has just been put through a 31-hole day, and Jim Furyk, recently afflicted with wrist trouble.

The stats paint a vivid picture of the effect of the heavy rain - nearly one and a half inches on Thursday alone. The cut looks like being under par for the first time in the Colonial’s 61-year history. Three of the top four - Clark, Furyk and Ben Curtis, having one of his periodic purple patches - are joint tournament leaders for accuracy off the tee and the fourth, Oberholser, is just 10th. Distance wise you can forget it, but what the top four also boast is excellent iron work and some of the best putting in town.

Furyk’s game looks particularly ominous for his rivals: seems he may have played himself back into red hot form.