Brendon Todd, seeking to become the first player since Tiger Woods to win three straight events on the PGA Tour, stayed in the hunt, four strokes behind halfway leader Tyler Duncan at the RSM Classic at Sea Island in Georgia on Friday.
American Todd, playing on the Plantation course, carded a six-under-par 66 after shooting the same score on the par-70 Seaside course on Thursday.
At 10-under 132, he goes into the weekend equal seventh behind American leader Duncan, who dismantled the Seaside course with a 61 that included an eagle from 105 yards at the par-four eighth.
Duncan heads Colombian Sebastian Munoz, Australian Rhein Gibson and American DJ Trahan by two shots.
The 34-year-old Todd was ranked 525th in the world until he won the Bermuda Championship three weeks ago for his first tour triumph, and he proved himself to be no flash in the pan by following up with victory at the Mayakoba Classic on Monday.
Not since Woods in 2006 has anyone won three successive PGA Tour events, though Dustin Johnson (2017) and Rory McIlroy (2014) have since won three starts in a row, and Woods won five consecutive starts from late 2007 through early 2008.
However, Todd is starting to run on empty as the mental exertion of the past few weeks manifests itself.
“It’s been a little bit difficult this week,” he told Golf Channel. “I felt really good the last two [tournaments]. I’m just trying to get some sleep this week and come out ready to fire.”
Despite his sudden burst of form, Todd was evidently not considered by Woods when the latter this week named Rickie Fowler to replace the injured Brooks Koepka on the American team for next month's Presidents Cup in Australia.
“He [Woods] never contacted me and I don’t blame him,” Todd said, acknowledging that his body of work over the course of the year was not enough to merit consideration.
He has, however, started to think about the possibility of making the US team for next year’s Ryder Cup against Europe.
Asked what assets he could bring to the team, Todd said: “Consistency and a great putter. That’s the hallmark of my game. Hopefully I can go out next year and earn those points.”
Ireland’s Séamus Power finished with back-to-back birdies on the Seaside Course to card a five-under 65.
It wasn’t enough to make the cut after his opening three-over 75 on the Plantation as the Waterford golfer finished two shots outside the mark on two under, his third missed cut in five events this season.
LEADERBOARD
(USA unless stated, Seaside par 70, Plantation par 72):
128 Tyler Duncan 67 61
130 Rhein Gibson (Aus) 66 64, Sebastian Munoz (Col) 67 63, DJ Trahan 67 63
131 Fabian Gomez (Arg) 68 63, Ricky Barnes 68 63
132 Henrik Norlander (Swe) 67 65, Scott Brown 65 67, Brendon Todd 66 66, Kyoung-hoon Lee (Kor) 64 68
133 Denny McCarthy 71 62, Kyle Stanley 69 64, Brian Harman 67 66, Will Gordon 68 65, Webb Simpson 65 68, Doc Redman 66 67, Alex Noren (Swe) 68 65
134 Tim Herron 70 64, Kyle Reifers 71 63, Tim Wilkinson (Nzl) 68 66, Alex Cejka (Ger) 67 67, Nick Watney 67 67, Mark Anderson 66 68
135 Davis Riley 68 67, Shawn Stefani 71 64, Vaughn Taylor 68 67, Hank Lebioda 67 68, Mark Hubbard 68 67, Ryan Armour 70 65, Dylan Frittelli (Rsa) 68 67, Matthew NeSmith 68 67, David Hearn (Can) 66 69, Cameron Tringale 64 71
136 Scottie Scheffler 70 66, Matt Jones (Aus) 70 66, Chesson Hadley 71 65, David Lingmerth (Swe) 69 67, Luke List 67 69, Brian Stuard 70 66, JT Poston 66 70, Stewart Cink 69 67, Michael Thompson 71 65, Bill Haas 68 68, Mackenzie Hughes (Can) 66 70, Keith Mitchell 70 66, Troy Merritt 68 68
137 Talor Gooch 69 68, Maverick McNealy 71 66, Rory Sabbatini (Svk) 67 70, Harry Higgs 70 67, Austin Cook 71 66, Ryan Brehm 68 69, Jim Herman 72 65, Chase Seiffert 68 69, Peter Uihlein 69 68, Scott Stallings 67 70, Adam Long 71 66, Brandon Hagy 71 66
138 Wes Roach 72 66, Ben Crane 68 70, Zach Johnson 69 69, Patton Kizzire 69 69, Adam Hadwin (Can) 71 67, Luke Donald (Eng) 70 68, Doug Ghim 68 70, Anirban Lahiri (Ind) 71 67, Satoshi Kodaira (Jpn) 68 70, Kramer Hickok 68 70, Vincent Whaley 67 71, Tyler McCumber 70 68, Bol Hoag 68 70, Jim Furyk 69 69, Rob Oppenheim 69 69, Scott Harrington 65 73, Davis Thompson 68 70, Russell Knox (Sco) 71 67
MIDDED CUT
139 Chris Kirk 71 68, Cameron Percy (Aus) 73 66, Joel Dahmen 71 68, Brendan Steele 71 68, Ben Martin 74 65, Patrick Rodgers 68 71, JJ Spaun 74 65, Nick Taylor (Can) 67 72, Chris Stroud 71 68, Freddie Jacobson (Swe) 69 70, Vince Covello 71 68, Brice Garnett 70 69, Lanto Griffin 74 65
140 Kristoffer Ventura (Nor) 75 65, Chad Campbell 70 70, Xinjun Zhang (Chn) 71 69, Martin Laird (Sco) 70 70, Si Woo Kim (Kor) 72 68, Séamus Power (Irl) 75 65, Harris English 71 69, Aaron Baddeley (Aus) 73 67, Aaron Wise 70 70, Kevin Kisner 73 67, Tom Hoge 70 70, Charles Howell III 68 72, Bronson Burgoon 70 70
141 Adam Schenk 72 69, Greyson Sigg 73 68, Ben Taylor (Eng) 74 67, Billy Horschel 74 67, Matt Kuchar 72 69, Jason Dufner 72 69, Andrew Landry 71 70, Roberto Castro 68 73, Nelson Lauta Ledesma (Arg) 71 70, Johnson Wagner 67 74, Jonathan Byrd 72 69
142 Rafael Campos (Dom) 72 70, Arjun Atwal (Ind) 71 71, Sam Ryder 71 71, Akshay Bhatia 71 71, Josh Teater 73 69, Tommy Gainey 73 69, Cole Miller 70 72, John Merrick 68 74, Hudson Swafford 71 71, Brian Gay 69 73, Davis Love III 68 74, Dru Love 73 69, James Hahn 68 74, Boo Weekley 70 72
143 Christopher Baker 72 71, Russell Henley 75 68, Dominic Bozzelli 72 71, Michael Gellerman 75 68, JJ Henry 71 72, Michael Gligic (Can) 72 71, Robert Streb 73 70
144 Kevin Chappell 73 71, Kevin Streelman 71 73, Robert Garrigus 73 71, Zack Sucher 71 73
145 Robby Shelton 74 71, Beau Hossler 74 71, Kyung Ju Choi (Kor) 69 76, Zac Blair 72 73
146 DA Points 73 73, Henry Chung 71 75
147 Peter Malnati 74 73, Matt Atkins 72 75
148 Cameron Davis (Aus) 76 72, Derek Ernst 73 75
149 Sang-moon Bae (Kor) 72 77
150 Joseph Bramlett 70 80
151 Sepp Straka (Aut) 69 82
152 Sebastian Cappelen (Den) 75 77, Ted Potter Jr 74 78
153 Tim Weinhart 73 80
