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Zurich Classic 2021: Finau, Champ Pairing Tied for Lead After Friday's 2nd Round
April 23, 2021
Two teams share the lead heading into the weekend at the 2021 Zurich Classic.
The duos of Tony Finau and Cameron Champ and Viktor Hovland and Kris Ventura both hit birdies on the final hole to finish 13-under par overall through 36 holes.
Hovland and Ventura were tied for first with a score of 10 under par at the conclusion of the first round. They did slow down today but still fared well with a 69 to finish right alongside Finau and Champ.
2021 Zurich Classic Leaderboard
T1. Tony Finau/Cameron Champ (-13)
T1. Viktor Hovland/Kris Ventura (-13)
T3. Henrik Stenson/Justin Rose (-11)
T3. Bubba Watson/Scottie Scheffler (-11)
T5. Richy Werenski/Peter Uihlein (-10)
T5. Louis Oosthuizen/Charl Schwartzel (-10)
T7. Marc Leishman/Cameron Smith (-9)
T7. Jason Kokrak/Pat Perez (-9)
Full leaderboard and stats available at PGATour.com.
Champ and Finau were consistent throughout the round with a 34 on the front and back nine. Their lone blemish was a bogey on the 12th hole that looked like it might cost them the lead. They made up for it on the final hole, starting with Champ's 320-foot tee shot that landed on the left side of the fairway.
Finau finished things off with a birdie putt three shots later.
The pairing of Hovland and Ventura looked to be in trouble early in the day. They started on the back nine and were one over par at the turn thanks to a double-bogey on the 16th hole.
Ventura's first shot on No. 16 landed in a fairway bunker. Hovland tried to reach the green from that spot, but his shot landed in the water. They turned things on down the stretch with four birdies over their final eight holes to get under par for the day.
Low scores were hard to come by in the second round. Champ and Finau tied Henrik Stenson and Justin Rose with a 68 for the best score of the day. Only five pairs finished under par.
One of those teams that didn't get under par for the day was Graeme McDowell and Matt Wallace. They did, however, provide the shot of the round when McDowell hit an ace on the par-three 17th hole.
McDowell and Wallace followed that up with a birdie on No. 18 to save their round and keep them in contention at eight under par. There is a lot of traffic at the top of the leaderboard, with 13 teams within five shots of first place.
On a difficult day to post low scores, Brice Garnett and Scott Stallings were one of the teams that had a round to forget. They fell 15 spots on Friday with a five-over 75 after being tied for first at the end of round one.
The back nine, in particular, caused Garnett and Stallings a lot of problems. They bogeyed four of the first five holes after making the turn and finished with a 40. It would have been worse if not for Stallings' birdie on No. 18.
Saturday's third round could see more low scores as the tournament goes back to the four-ball format that was used in the opening round.