Kim, Villegas Benefit Most From Gorgeous Second Round At Honda

Sports News - March 6th, 2010 - Written By Scott Mills

In far more pleasurable conditions than on Thursday, four golfers, including Anthony Kim, set a Honda Classic record on Firday by carding a 64 in the second round of the tournament. Camilo Villegas is tied with Kim atop the leaderboard after shooting a 66 for the second-straight day, but almost a seven golfers are within three strokes.

"Trust me, it's a tough golf course," Villegas told the Associated Press.

Vijay Singh is among the competitors chasing the lead after a round of 66, and Jerry Kelly's 65 put him two shots off the pace.

Just a day earlier, wind gusts made for a miserable day, and scorecards as balls were pulled in up to 30 MPH currents. But the bright sky in Palm Beach Gardens was a far less intimidating foe, and everyone seemed to benefit.

"I think we got the favorable wind today," Stephen Ames said. "Probably only about half a club of wind, which was nice at times. A lot different than it was yesterday."

There were four rounds of 64 on Friday, compared to just two in the previous three years.

Villegas carded such a good round by minimizing the impact of his mistakes, which were already few and far between. On 15, he dropped his tee shot into the water, but ended up nailing his first putt from 15-feet out. He said "there's not too many birdies out there", but managed four-straight after that bogey.

"It's been a long week but it's been a good one. Having the first Nationwide Tour event in Colombia is awesome," Villegas said, referring to the Nationwide Tour Pacific Rbailes Bogota Open the weekend before. It's a dream come true for my country. It's a dream come true for myself. It's great for Latin American golf and hopefully it's the beginning of some other countries hosting big events."

Like Villegas, Mike Weir also arrived just in time for the Honda after attending the Winter Olympics in Vancouver. He finished with a bogey-free round and is only three shots off the lead (135). Sportsbooks such as Bodog have all of the PGA Odds available for golf events such as these.

"Just a little chilly in the start and then it got better," Weir told the AP. "My game was pretty good. I hit most of the fairways and you know, scrambled a little bit out there, but you're going to do that on this golf course."