Mickelson leads by a stroke at PGA Invitational in Fort Worth

by Scott Guthrie

The PGA Invitational at Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth hosted five of the top ten golfers in the world, the most that have attend Colonial since 2004. Unfortunately, only two of the five made the cut.

Phil Mickelson was one of the two that made the cut and is now sitting pretty at the top of the leaderboard at 7-under.

Mickelson shot a 2-under, 68, in round two which propelled him to a one stroke lead over first round leader Johnson Wagner as well as Brian Gay and Matt Kuchar.

One of the keys to Mickelson’s success over the first two rounds has been his short game, Mickelson has not carried a 3-wood this tournament in order to make room in his bag for an extra wedge.

3-wood or not, Mickelson set the tone with his putter on Friday. Mickelson had 11 one-putts in round two. Only four of those putts were longer than nine feet. And that extra wedge he has decided to use has paid off as well. He completed all six sand saves that he faced in round two.

Mickelson stumbled on the back nine, bogeying holes 14 and 16. However, he did not crumble. Mickelson pared 17 and finished the day with a birdie on 18.

First round leader Johnson Wagner dropped a stroke after the completion of Friday’s round. Although he birdied two holes on Friday, Wagner bogeyed 13 and double bogeyed 15 giving him a second round total of 71. He is in second place, one stroke behind Mickelson.

Brian Gay’s exceptional play continued in round two. Gay has now pieced together two bogey free rounds including five birdies in the second leg of the tournament. Gay currently sits at second just one stroke behind Mickelson.

Matt Kuchar only has one PGA Tour victory since his career began in 2000. Kuchar is currently in a three-way tie with Wagner and Gay for second place. A win at Colonial would give Kuchar his second ever win on the PGA Tour and his first win since 2002. He is still very much in the mix after shooting a 6-under, 64 on Friday.

Defending champion Rory Sabbatini missed the cut after shooting a combined score of 144 during the first two rounds.