Varner Bounces Back from Triple Bogey to Take 2nd Round Lead at Schwab

By Diamond Dave

Harold Varner built on his opening round 63 with a second-round score of 66 to take the lead into the weekend at the Charles Schwab Challenge at the Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas.

Varner’s 66 on Friday put him at 11-under for the tournament. It was a crazy round for Varner, who is looking for his first PGA Tour win. His round started off with a triple-bogey at the 10th hole, as he started on the back nine, but then he went on to birdie three of his next six holes to get back to even for the day. After a bogey on 18, Varner finished with birdies on 4 of his last 5 holes to get to 4-under on the round and 11-under for the tournament.

“I've grown up a lot off the course, so it makes it easy to make good decisions that prepare you a little bit better for on-the-course stuff,” Varner said, according to the PGA Tour. “Yeah, I'm a lot better golfer. I don't really get rattled as much.”

Breathing down his neck is 3-time major champion Jordan Spieth, who carded a 5-under round of 65 to move to 10-under for the tournament. It was a crazy round for Spieth too. He four-putted the par-4 third hole for a double bogey and followed that up with a bogey on the 4th hole. But Spieth rallied with birdies two of his last 2 of his last 5 holes to finish 5-under.

“There wasn't a huge swing of emotions,” said Spieth, reported the PGA Tour. “I stayed calm. I was just trying to hit each shot where it needed to go to make the best score on that hole, and 5 was huge. 5 was really big, to feel like I kind of salvaged the Horrible Horseshoe and came out of it with actually some momentum.”

Bryson DeChambeau is tied with Spieth at 10-under after shooting a 5-under 65 on Friday.

Rory McIlroy had the round of the day, shooting 7-under par 63 to move to 9-under for the tournament. McIlroy is tied with Colin Morikawa and Xander Schauffele at 9-under. Justin Thomas, Branden Grace, Gary Woodland, and first round co-leader Justin Rose are all three shots back at 8-under. Tom Lehman made the cut at 2-under, which is right at the cut line.

Some pretty big names will be going home for the weekend, including Matt Kuchar and Sergio Garcia. who all finished at 1-under. Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson, Rickie Fowler, Jon Rahm, Jason Day, Webb Simpson, and defending champion Kevin Na are also among those who missed the cut.

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