American Bill Haas joined England&aposs Justin Rose in a share of the Arnold Palmer Invitational lead at Bay Hill, while Matt Jones is the best of the Australians. Haas flew up the leaderboard with a six-under 66 that featured four birdies and an eagle at the par-five 16th. Rose managed to birdie the 16th and three other holes, but also bogeyed twice, carding a two-under 70 to be nine-under overall. Outright third is American John Huh, who remained in the mix at eight under after a round of 69 that included four birdies. American trio Ken Duke, JJ Henry and Jimmy Walker are tied for fourth on six under – three shots behind the leaders – with Henry the best performed of the group on Friday with a five-under 67. Tiger Woods remains in the top 10 on the leaderboard after his second round of two under saw him to five-under overall and a tie for seventh. He is level with Fijian veteran Vijay Singh and American Mark Wilson – who both shot four under. Rounding out the top 10 is a group of seven – including American Rickie Fowler – on four under. Fowler made up for his lethargic start to the week – he shot one over on Thursday – with a 67 to be in contention heading to the weekend. Level with the American youngster are Spain&aposs Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano, Canada&aposs Brad Fritsch, South Korea&aposs Bae Sang-Moon and Americans Luke Guthrie, Bob Estes and John Rollins. The other big names in the field include Sergio Garcia, who is tied for 17th on three under, while big-hitting Bubba Watson improved three shots on his first round with a one-under 71 on Friday to be one over for 36 holes. Francesco Molinari of Italy also fought back on Friday to make the cut – he is tied for 57th on two over – level with Japan&aposs Ryo Ishikawa, England&aposs Lee Westwood and Northern Ireland&aposs Graeme McDowell. Jones is the best placed of the Australian players at three under, while compatriots John Senden (-1), Jason Day (+1) and Robert Allenby (+3) also made the halfway cut. Notable players to miss the cut included Australia&aposs Geoff Ogilvy and Americans Phil Mickelson and Brandt Snedeker.
Author: Omnisport