Travelers Championship round two: Williamson screws together a hot round

Odd to think of golf as a game where it helps to bring along a mechanic. The way clubs are developing though, players might even think of doing a degree course in engineering themselves. Jay Williamson didn’t quite need that level of expertise to fix his driver Friday, but he’s sure glad his playing partner had a handy mini-wrench to apply to a loose screw. It enabled him to hit a worthy round of four under to share the lead at the half way stage.

Interesting to see who else scored the best rounds Friday. They don’t quite qualify for free bus passes, but the likes of Fred Funk and Corey Pavin are no spring chickens either. I read that there’s 59 PGA wins and three majors sprinkled among the players down to Kenny Perry.

One thing they are old hands at is surviving Friday’s difficult conditions - wind, rain, cold, you name it. The rough became a real menace and the greens slowed up significantly. Most noteworthy round was that of Olin Browne with his two back-to-back eagles.

Williamson only managed four birdies, but made them count to the max by staying bogey free. The key to that was hitting every fairway. Others weren’t so tidy off the tee, but compensated with superior putting.

Heaven knows what the weather is going to do from here, but a slightly more moderate wind is forecast with a small chance of rain on the Sunday. So hopefully we can look forward to some movement Saturday after yet again failing to progress beyond Thursday’s total in round two. Whether it’ll be David Toms who leads the advance as the market believes is another matter: he’s still to prove he can keep up the momentum through the weekend.

If things to dry up there are still plenty of players within striking distance, right down to Vijay Singh at one under. Yes, even Padraig Harrington is still miraculously in with a shout after barely avoiding his third missed cut in a row.