Wiebe moves out to a three-stroke lead
PUNTA CANA, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC – Mark Wiebe used an eagle-birdie run near the middle of his round to eventually forge a three-stroke lead over Scott Hoch after 36 holes of the Champions Tour’s Cap Cana Championship.Wiebe’s bogey-free 68 today put him at nine-under-par 135 after two rounds. However, if not for two missed birdie putts from three feet at both the par-3 4th hole and the par-5 12th hole, his lead could have been bigger. After starting his round by making seven straight pars, Wiebe holed out a wedge shot from 45 yards for an eagle on the par-4 8th hole. The eagle came after he had temporarily fallen out of the lead just 20 minutes earlier when Hoch holed his second shot from 85 yards for an eagle at the same hole.
Wiebe then added a five-foot birdie on the par-4 9th hole. After making seven more pars on his first seven holes on the back nine, Wiebe converted a 15-foot birdie at the par-4 17th hole and finished with a two-putt par on the closing hole. He’s bidding to win his second event on the Champions Tour and first since last fall’s SAS Championship near Raleigh, N.C.
“The eagle at No. 8 made up for my silly bogey there yesterday. Today I didn’t hit the ball great but I played nice golf for the second day in a row,” said Wiebe. “Anytime you hole out a shot for an eagle, there’s some luck involved but overall, I didn’t make any bogeys so my mind was in the right place.”
With less wind today at the Jack Nicklaus designed-Punta Espada course at Cap Cana, scoring conditions improved significantly. A total of 45 players broke par on Saturday compared to just 13 professionals yesterday. The overall field scoring average was 71.195 compared to 74.688 for Friday’s first round.
Hoch, a two-time winner on the Champions Tour already this year, carded a five-under 67 today. He made three birdies in his first five holes before registering the eagle at No. 8. After turning in 31, Hoch offset bogeys at the par-4 11th hole and the par-5 15th hole with a birdie two at No. 13 and a 25-foot birdie putt at No. 17.
“The eagle at No. 8 was nice and I’m glad to birdie No.13 both days. The golf gods here at Cap Cana don’t usually allow you to do that,” said Hoch. “I’m looking forward to tomorrow. I’d like to see it where the player that shoots two- or three-under will win.”
Jay Haas (69) and Eduardo Romero (68) are both four strokes back of Wiebe. One of Argentina’s leading players over the last 20 years, Romero is seeking to capture his first Champions Tour title since the 2006 JELD-WEN Tradition. “I’ve been four back and won before so I’m looking forward to tomorrow,” Romero said. “It would be great to represent all of the Latin American players with a victory here at Cap Cana.”
Japan’s Joe Ozaki made the most significant move of any player in the field, jumping up 39 spots into a T16 after posting a course-record 65. Ozaki birdied half his holes today but made bogeys at No. 10 and No. 17 to post the seven-under-par score.
Second-Round News & Notes: Mark Wiebe’s three-stroke lead matches the largest 36-hole advantage on the Champions Tour this year. Bernhard Langer led by three strokes after two rounds of the Toshiba Classic before eventually winning in a seven-hole playoff over Jay Haas in California. Only twice in the first seven official events of the year has a 36-hole leader gone on to win on the Champions Tour…Langer has some ground to make up if he hopes to become the quickest player ever to $1 million on the Champions Tour. He currently stands T16 through two rounds and will need to finish solo third or better tomorrow to eclipse the seven-figure mark in just seven events. Hale Irwin (1998) and Loren Roberts (2006) both went over $1 million in eight events, the Champions Tour’s all-time record.
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