Going into the weekend at the Valspar Championship Adam Schenk was at seven-under 135, one shot ahead of Kramer Hickok; Tommy Fleetwood, Jordan Spieth, Cody Gribble and Davis Riley are two behind Schenk after the first two rounds
Last Updated: 18/03/23 12:13am
Adam Schenk scored a two-under 69 to hold a one-shot lead after the first two rounds at the Valspar Championship on Friday.
Schenk had four birdies, all but one of them from inside 10 feet, and finished with a bogey from the bunker short of the 18th on the Copperhead course at Innisbrook.
After the 20-foot putt he made for par on the par-3 eighth, the 10-footer for par he made on the 10th and the long up-and-down for par on the par-5 11th, that didn’t bother him.
Adam Schenk hits out of the bunker (AP Photo/Mike Carlson)
“I feel like a lot of times you … maybe shoot 2 under and you’re like, ‘It could have been 6 or 7.’ But it really couldn’t have been a ton better with the amount of putts I made,” he said.
He was at 7-under 135, one shot ahead of Kramer Hickok, who had a 68.
Schenk is playing for his 10th consecutive week on the PGA Tour.
There’s even more focus to his work this year because his wife is expecting their first child, a boy, in just over a month.
“Trying to make as many points as I can to take as much time off as I can and spend time with him and my wife, which will be very special,” Schenk said.
Fleetwood plays out of a bunker (AP Photo/Mike Carlson)
He started his year in Honolulu at the Sony Open and hasn’t had a week off since then, going to California and Arizona, and every stop on the Florida swing. He had made the cut in all but two of them and is No. 72 in the FedEx Cup.
The missed cut last week at The Players Championship might have helped.
“I was home for 3 1/2 days and didn’t touch a club,” Schenk said. “I would have practised, but the weather was so bad in Indiana, I really couldn’t. So flew into Valspar Tuesday afternoon and got a little practice in and then played nine holes and then teed up in the pro-am and away we went.”
Tommy Fleetwood was two shots behind the leader (AP Photo/Mike Carlson)
Jordan Spieth will be a big part of the weekend, wasting a great round of driving with some suspect short irons. He still posted a 70 and was only two shots behind.
Tommy Fleetwood had a 69 and joined Spieth in the group two shots behind along with Cody Gribble (65) and Davis Riley (68), who lost in a playoff to Sam Burns at Innisbrook last year.
Burns, the two-time defending champion, is trying to become the first player to win the same tournament three straight years since Steve Stricker at the John Deere Classic (2009-11). He had a 73 and was seven shots behind.
Justin Thomas had a 70 and was in the group at 3-under 139.
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