Normally the final event of the regular season is not that big of an affair, save for the players duking it out for their PGA Tour cards for the following season. This season might be an exception. Major winners Webb Simpson and Henrik Stenson are both in the top three after 36 holes and both looking for their first wins in 2017.
Simpson went out in 28 on Thursday before touching off a 63. He backed that up with a 64 on Friday and shares the lead with Ryan Armour. Simpson has a ridiculous 15 birdies and an eagle through two rounds and sits at 13 under.
This is not a huge surprise, however. Simpson has finished in the top 11 here at this event five times since 2010 including a win.
After an opening-round 63, @webbsimpson1 is picking up right where he left off. #QuickHits pic.twitter.com/M3PsBHT1MU
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) August 18, 2017
What might be a surprise is not that Stenson is playing well (he's been doing so for a month now), but that he's even playing at all. He normally doesn't play this event but needed to tee it up to assure that he would reach the required 15 events to keep his PGA Tour card for next year. Now he might go out and win the thing.
Stenson has just one bogey through 36 holes and has been lights out with his putter. When someone of Stenson's ball-striking ilk has the flat stick going, it's going to be trouble for the rest of the field.
He opened 62-66 to get to 12 under, one behind Wimpson and Armour.
"I didn't make as many putts as yesterday," Stenson told Golf Channel. "I still played a decent round. I gave myself a good number of chances. When I did miss ... I still managed to keep it on the green on the second shot. Only one dropped shot in two rounds says a lot about that.
"You get a lot of 8-, 9-irons and wedges into these greens, and they're pretty receptive. You can be pretty aggressive if you're feeling you have good numbers. We've produced a lot of birdie chances these first two days."
A lot of people have. The cut this week for the last regular season event was 3 under meaning if you shot 69-69 you were headed home. That's big boy stuff, but these two major champs are rolling right through it.
Both have gone winless in 2017. Stenson missed four straight cuts earlier in the season, but has sizzled of late with four straight top 20s. Simpson narrowly lost the Phoenix Open in February and hasn't missed a cut since May. He also has four top 20s since his last missed cut.
It would be a fun end to the season to see two elite scorers like these guys in a shoot out at a course that seems to be playing pretty easy.
"It's about going out there and continue making birdies and giving myself birdie chances," Stenson added. "It's a low-scoring golf course. If we can keep it going, hopefully be there on Sunday."