Jonathan Byrd shot his second successive five-under-par 66 and joined Jeff Sluman on top of the leaderboard after two rounds at the Chrysler Championship. Byrd and Sluman, who followed his course record 62 with a one-under 70, are tied at 10-under-par 132.
Tommy Armour III (64), Rod Pampling (65) and world
number one Vijay Singh (69) are tied at eight-under 134. Kent Jones (71), Kirk Triplett (71), Vaughan Taylor (65) and Sweden's Jesper Parnevik (67) are at seven-under 135.
Byrd went out in even par on the Westin Innisbrook Resort Copperhead Course, offsetting two birdies with two bogeys, then went bogey free over the back nine, while making five birdies.
Byrd, who had minor hip surgery earlier this year and missed six weeks, said he'd sat down with his coach and caddie to reassess his game. "I think winning is somewhat secondary for me this week," said Byrd, 26, a two-time winner on the PGA Tour.
"(They) just wanted to impress on me that my demeanour needed to get better; not that I was making a fool of myself, but when you get down ... and frustrated, you make it harder on yourself.
"Since then I've been focusing on getting through those periods where you have little funks during a round, and having more fun."
Sluman couldn't distance himself from the field, posting a round that had two birdies and a bogey.
- THE HERALD ON SUNDAY
