McDowell surges into Mayakoba lead with 63, Varner cards record 62
On the back of a stretch of seven birdies in eight holes on Friday, Graeme McDowell surged into the lead after the second round of the OHL Classic at Mayakoba.
The mid-round stretch, which also included McDowell’s only bogey of the day after he turned from the back on the first hole, was part of an 8-under 63 at El Camaleon Golf Club that has him on 12-under 130 and a shot clear of Derek Fathauer (66).
McDowell, who would typically be playing in the European Tour’s season-ending Final Series this time of year, had a deflating year. He has just one worldwide top-10 finish in 25 starts, at the Dubai Desert Classic in February. Rather than playing for a lost cause in chase of the Race to Dubai, the 2010 U.S. Open champion committed to the OHL Classic, one of the weakest full-field events on the PGA Tour schedule, this week and The RSM Classic next week.
After an opening double bogey on Thursday, McDowell has been practically untouchable. The Ulsterman said he has approached this week differently than he has most tournaments this season, trying to take the pressure to win off himself.
“Came into these two weeks with a pretty relaxed attitude,” he said. “The last couple days, so far, the attitude’s been good. I’ve just been out there trying to play golf and enjoy myself.”
Si Woo Kim and Harold Varner III share third at 10-under total, with Varner tying the tournament course record with 9-under 62 on Friday. Varner closed with four birdies in the final five holes. Varner, who played his way onto the PGA Tour this season by finishing 25th on the Web.com Tour’s regular season money list, said the putter finally caught up to his ballstriking.
“I’ve been hitting it pretty well the last two weeks, in Missisippi and here, so just want to give myself opportunities and obviously I did and capitalized on it,” Varner said.
Varner has a few reasons to feel good about his chances this weekend. For one, Harris English also shot 62 here in 2013 en route to winning the PGA Tour’s lone event in Mexico. The other is that the latest Web.com Tour graduating class has already won three times in five events this season: Emiliano Grillo at the Frys.com Open, Smylie Kaufman in Las Vegas and Peter Malnati on Monday at the Sanderson Farms Championship.
At the season-opening Frys.com Open in California, Varner had a chance heading into Sunday to win before a final-round 79 derailed his chances. He assured reporters that won’t happen this time.
“Oh, I’m going to play better, that’s pretty simple,” he said. “I’m going to play really good.”
Ryan Ballengee is a Yahoo Sports contributor. Find him on Facebook and Twitter.
