(Reuters) – Americans Ryan Armour and Wyndham Clark were tied at the top of the Bermuda Championship leaderboard on Friday, playing the second round through rough and roaring winds that rattled flagsticks – and some competitors.
On the hunt for his first PGA Tour title, the 26-year-old Clark drained a 35-foot-long putt for an eagle at the par-five second. However, he stumbled with back-to-back bogeys on the seventh and eighth. He redeemed himself with three birdies on the back nine for a three-under-par 68.
Armour carded a one-under-par 70, with four birdies and three bogeys. He told reporters that the strong gusts of winds at the seaside Port Royal Golf Course nearly knocked him off his feet on the par-four 15th.
“On 15 there over ocean side, I had a chip behind the green and on my backswing I got blown and like I had the grass mark right on the toe of the club and I’m like, ‘Wow, I almost missed that chip shot’,” said Armour, who won the Sanderson Farms Championship in 2017. “So I was happy to get out of there with 4.”
Winds reached up to 30 mph at the tournament on Friday, the first PGA Tour event to have fans since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Rounding out the top contenders were Americans Kramer Hickok, who was one stroke back from the lead after carding a three-under-par 68, and Ollie Schniederjans (70) and Doc Redman (71), who were both two strokes back.
Elsewhere in the field, Fred Funk carded a one-over-par 72 to become only the fourth golfer to make the cut at a PGA Tour event aged 64 or older, after Jack Nicklaus, Sam Snead and Tom Watson.
The 64-year-old sealed his round with a chip-in birdie on his final hole, with son Taylor Funk (81) – who was in his grouping – wrapping his arm around the elder Funk’s shoulders amid the celebratory hoots and hollers.
(Reporting by Amy Tennery, editing by Pritha Sarkar)
