Taylor Pendrith avoided the strong winds that caused a four-hour delay and affected many players on Friday at the Shriners Hospital Open. The Canadian only needed to play six holes and maintained his lead before the second round was stopped due to darkness.
Pendrith had a score of 10-under 61 on Thursday during a relatively calm morning. Now, he faces a long Saturday with 12 holes left to finish the second round and however many holes of the third round can be played before it gets dark.
He remains at 10 under, recording four pars, one birdie, and one bogey during his short day. He is leading by one shot over Rico Hoey, who made a 15-foot eagle putt on his last hole.
Kurt Kitayama, a resident of Las Vegas, played impressively with no bogeys, scoring 68 in winds close to 40 mph and in chilly temperatures that required players to wear sweaters and ski caps.
Kitayama is part of a group at 8-under 134, which includes Doug Ghim, J.J. Spaun, and Davis Thompson, all of whom finished the second round. It took Ghim eight holes to make his first par, but he ended up with a hard-fought score of 70.
“Just a lot of patient golf and knowing the value of a par was going to be a little bit higher than normal,” Ghim said.
On Friday, play was delayed for four hours due to gusts nearing 50 mph, which made it hard to compete and raised safety concerns. PGA Tour officials decided to keep spectators away from TPC Summerlin, and their tickets would be valid for Saturday.
Once the players were allowed to continue, it was still challenging to judge how far the ball would travel in the wind and cooler temperatures, and how much roll there would be on the ground.
Putting was also difficult, and Joseph Bramlett had a tough time. He faced a 10-foot birdie putt on No. 1, which was his 10th hole of the second round, but after five putts, he left the green with a triple bogey.
He also missed a 30-inch birdie putt on Thursday. Greyson Sigg worked hard for his score of 69.
“I felt like I shot 62 today to be honest, and I only shot 2 under,” Sigg said. “It was so cold this morning. I think we were fortunate they delayed it a little bit. Man, it was blowing from the first shot of the day and all the way to the end. It was a mental test out there today and I did a pretty good job of that.”
The best round of the day belonged to Pierceson Coody, who made eight birdies and scored 65 after starting with a 72. He is now at 5-under 137.
Pendrith watched most of this from his hotel room between naps. When he finally started playing late in the afternoon, the wind was still strong, and he felt the challenge.
“I think it died down a little bit for us, but still some really strong gusts that you kind of had to time your putts. Putting is really tough in the wind I thought,” he said. “Really hard day, and I know those guys in the morning had it a little harder.”
The worst of the wind was expected to pass, but strong winds were still likely for at least the first half of Saturday.
Also coming up was the 36-hole cut, which was sitting between 3-under par and 2-under par.
