LA QUINTA, Calif. – After seeing Patrick Rodgers shoot a second-round 68, Stanford will take a 14-shot lead into Wednesday’s final round of the Prestige at PGA West.
Rodgers, the clubhouse leader, stands at 9-under after blazing through PGA West’s Greg Norman Course on Tuesday. Rodgers had bookend bogeys, but in between, dropped five birdies to finish with a 3-under for his 10th straight round shooting par or better.
“Our guys hung in there today and extended our lead, which was the goal going into round two,” Knowles Family Director of Men’s Golf Conrad Ray said. “The hole locations were more challenging and the birdies were a little harder to come by. Tomorrow will be good training for our guys to play with a lead, and we hope to come out on top.”
Stanford (269-280) sports a 19-under 549 and leads second-place Washington’s 563. Washington had a day-two best 277 among the 12-team field.
. @StanfordMGolf has tallied 4.30 birdies/round through the first two rounds, topping Phil Mickelson's 2013 @PGATOUR leading 4.22 #GoLow
— ByTheMinStanfordGolf (@ByTheMinSMGolf) February 19, 2014
After Monday’s opening round, Ray said that the team needed to continue executing its game plan, and the Cardinal did just that.
At the par-71, 7,070-yard course, Cameron Wilson birdied nine, 10 and 12 while finishing at 1-under. David Boote also finished at 1-under.
Sweet par three precision demonstrated here from @davidboote123 http://t.co/t2CkQkfduM He held the finish a la @LukeDonald #boom
— ByTheMinStanfordGolf (@ByTheMinSMGolf) February 18, 2014
Jim Liu moved up 23 spots into a tie for 14th after a front-nine 34 was followed by a back-nine 33. Liu finished 4-under on the day at 67, seven strokes better than his opening round.
Maverick McNealy, who fired a 65 to open the event, shot a 1-over 72 along with Viraat Badhwar. McNealy is tied for second overall at 5-under.
Dominick Franks was 1-under through nine and finished with a 4-over 75.
Patrick Grimes took five shots off his scorecard from Monday, finishing at 3-over. Keegan English was four shots better after recording a 78. English was even on the front nine.
Action resumes Wednesday at 7:15 a.m. (PT).