The Honda Classic, Luke Guthrie Leads by One.

Luke Guthrie / Getty Images

The Honda Classic second round was dominated by Luke Guthrie, shooting -7 under par, 63 to lead by one shot on the              PGA National Champion Course at Palm Beach. His tournament total of -9 under par is just one shot ahead of Michael Thompson, alone in second spot, who had a -5 under par second round of 65.

Luke said he had no idea about Rory’s situation;

” I had no clue, I was just kind of going about my business out there.”

Tied in third place at -7 under par are Boo Weekley and Graham DeLaet, Boo with a second round of -3 under par 67, and Graham with a  -2 under par round of 70.

There are six players tied in fifth place at -6 under par, they are; Lee Westwood, Geoff Ogilvy, Doug LaBelle 111, Justin Rose, Sean O’Hair and Chucky Three-Sticks.

Rory McIlroy was forced to withdraw due to pain in his wisdom tooth, there are some conflicting stories around about why he actually quit, he was -7 over par through eight holes of his second round at the time. The pain in the tooth statement came form Rory’s management company, make what you want with that. With Tiger Woods just making the cut on the number it represents another poor start to a tournament for the stars of Nike. It was Rory’s third missed cut in a row. Tiger felt he just did not hit the ball very well today;

” Well, I didn’t hit it anywhere near as good as I did Thursday, I didn’t have it today. I had it going early and then I would lose it.”

 

Overnight leader Camilo Villegas  shot a second round -7 over par, 77 a mighty difference of 13 strokes from his opening round of 64,  to miss the cut by a shot.

Other notables missing the cut were, Major winners Louis Oosthuizen and David Duval, followed by Mike Weir, Henrik Stenson and Paul Casey.

Honda Classic, Camilo Villegas,Surprise Leader,

Camilo Villegas / Chris Condon / Getty Images

Camilo Villegas is the surprising first round leader of the Honda Classic at the PGA National Champion Course,Palm Beach Gardens, with a round of -6 under par 64. It is  four years now since his back-to-back wins in the FedEx Cup Playoffs events, when he  rose to as high as No. 7 in the world. The  31-year-old Colombian then plunged  into a slump that  was so bad that over the last 18 months he lost his card last year. Camilo won The Honda Classic in 2010 at PGA National, so he at least has that to build on. But despite the good start, he wasn’t afraid to risk ruining the day on the last hole. Even his caddie asked what he was thinking of when he was addressing a shot on the last hole;

“My caddie said, where are you going to go with this one,. And I said, I’m looking straight at that flag. And I hit a great shot.”

Tiger Woods saved his round with a shot from out of the water on the par 4, sixth hole, taking his shoes off to enter the hazard, he finished the day at even par;

“I was 1 over at the time, and if that ball is not playable from where it’s at, where I crossed was pretty far back, looking at six, three over and all of a sudden I flip it, make par there and birdie the next.”

Charles Howell 111, Chucky three-sticks,  opened with a -3 under par, 67. He has just until the end of the month to go from No. 64 to the top 50 in the World Ranking to qualify for the Masters in his hometown of Augusta.

Branden Grace,  Rickie Fowler, Graham DeLaet  and Robert Streb, are all tied in second place at -5 under par for the opening round of this tournament.

 

Zurich Classic of New Orleans @ TPC Louisiana

  

Stan Badz/PGA TOUR

Zurich Classic of New Orleans, 3rd round at TPC  Louisiana, Jason Dufner had a nice -5 under par, 67 to lead the tournament by two shots, with a tournament total of -17. Tomorrow Jason will be trying to break his weekend jinx at TPC Louisiana, and having a two shot lead should make the last round a bit more comfortable for him.

Close behind is Canadian Graham DeLaet who shot a -6 under par 66 for a -15 under par total. He is one of five players who have shot in the 60s each of the first three rounds and he’s improved by one stroke each day.

South African Ernie Els, who is desperate to end a victory drought of more than two years, is tied for third along with John Rollins, both at 14 under par. John was tied for the lead three times on Saturday and ended up shooting 69 while Ernie had a 68.

Ryan Palmer made the biggest move of the day, he tied the course record with an -8 under par for 64. He is the third player to make a 64  this week, and that effort moves him up 25 spots into a tie for fifth, with Steve Stricker and Cameron Tringale. The trio are hovering just behind the leaders at 13 under par.

Luke Donald continues to rise up the board, having a third round 66 for -6 under par and a total of -12 under par for the tournament. He is joined on that score by Ken Duke, and the pair of them will need something really special tomorrow to move into contention for the trophy. Luke also needs to finish in solo 7th spot, or above to regain the World number one from Rory McIlroy.