Corey Conners finished the first round of the Valero Texas Open with an eight-under 64 Friday morning, but struggled at the beginning of the second round when he put up a two bogeys, a double bogey and two birdies.
After making the turn at two over, Conners had two birdies on his second nine to finish with an even par 72.
“I was really happy how I finished up round one this morning,” said Conners.
“Things were really challenging beginning the second round. I did a lot of good things, made a couple sloppy errors out there, but after that, battled really hard and overall, happy with the day of golf,” he said.
At eight under, Conners goes into the weekend tied for second, three shots behind leader Patrick Rodgers with second round play suspended for the evening.
“Particularly in the first round, my short game was great. I hit a number of really nice pitches and was able to roll in some putts,” said Conners.
“Second round, I felt like I hit it pretty well, maybe a few more missed tee balls and iron shots in the second round, but the wind was pretty tricky starting out this morning,” he said.
“A lot of good things, I felt like I missed it in the right spots, tried to avoid the areas out here that are very challenging and can give you trouble, so was able to do that. Yeah, control my misses and overall everything was great,” added Conners.
Conners is on familiar turf going into the weekend at TPC San Antonio, where he won this event in 2019.
“I think it’s really demanding from tee to green, some really challenging approach shots and it’s tricky around the greens,” said Conners.
“Especially after winning, I have a really high comfort level with this place and feel like I see the shots well and certainly know where you can miss it in certain situations. That seemed to be helpful,” he said.
Nick Taylor was one under through 17 holes when play was called. At four under to that point, he was tied for 16th.
The complete leaderboard is here.
PGA Tour Latinoamerica
Joey Savoie of Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Que., shot a two-under 69 at JHSF Aberto do Brasil, where he’s tied for third.
Max Sekulic of Rycroft, Alta., and Stuart Macdonald are both tied for 18th at five under.
The complete eaderboard is here.
Korn Ferry Tour
Roger Sloan fired a bogey-free, eight-under 64 in Friday’s second round of the Astara Chile Classic.
Sloan is tied for 11th at nine under, five shots off the lead.
The entire leaderboard is here.
LIV Golf
Sebastian Munoz had just one bogey as he fired an eight-under 62 to take a two-shot lead over Richard Bland at Orange County National in Orlando on Friday.
In team play, the Smash team of Brooks Koepka, Chase Koepka, Matthew Wolff and Jason Kokrak took a one-shot lead over Torque.
For all the scores, click here.
