June30 Buickhalfway
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Brett Quigley held a two-shot lead at the Buick Open just after the turn and his mind drifted to an easy stretch of Warwick Hills.
A couple holes later, a huge oak tree taught him a lesson.
Quigley scrambled to save par at No. 13 — the second-easiest hole — and that contributed to him losing the lead Friday and finishing the second round in a three-way tie with Jim Furyk and Kenny Perry at 10-under 134.
“I tried to force the issue,” Quigley acknowledged. “I knew if I could make four or five birdies, I might have a pretty good lead. As a result, I started thinking about results instead of staying in my process and got ahead of myself and came back to the field.”
Quigley (69) and Furyk (68) had solid rounds after starting the day among the leaders while Perry’s 9-under 63 lifted him from a tie for 73rd.
First-round leader Rocco Mediate, (71), Scott Verplank(69) and Brian Bateman (70) will start the weekend only one shot behind the leaders, a negligible difference on a course ripe for low scores.
Perry matched his low round of the season. His last 63 closed the Memorial Tournament presented by Morgan Stanley earlier this month, helping him finish third for his only top-10 finish since 2005. He was a season-best 11th last year at the Buick Open.
Perry’s wife went to the hospital Wednesday because of food poisoning and on Thursday, he plunked two fans — shattering a woman’s nose and hitting a man’s shoulder.
“I don’t know what to make of it,” he said. “It’s been an interesting week so far.”
Tiger Woods and Vijay SIngh are not playing the Buick Open for the first time since 2001, giving more players a shot at a $882,000 check.
Woods (with his wife and baby) and Singh (resting a sore elbow) have combined to win four of the previous five tournaments about 60 miles north of Detroit.
John Daly and Darren Clarke both made the cut. They may not be challenging the leaders, bit both players have had a torrid season and will be glad to just make it to the weekend.
Daly is at five under and in a tie for 29th and Clarke is three under and in a tie for 57th.
