Second-Round Leaderboard
Freedom 55 Financial Championship
| Pos. | Name |
Scores |
Current Order of Merit Position |
Projected Order of Merit Position |
Amount Behind OOM No. 5 ($67,935) |
|
T1 |
Corey Pereira (U.S.) | 65-65–130 (-10) |
2 |
4 |
N/A |
|
T1 |
Jonathan Garrick (U.S.) | 63-67–130 (-10) |
39 |
7 |
$50,856 |
|
T3 |
Drew Weaver (U.S.) | 70-61–131 (-9) |
22 |
17 |
39,325 |
|
T3 |
Lorens Chan (U.S.) | 66-65–131 (-9) |
40 |
28 |
$50,865 |
|
T3 |
Danny Walker (U.S.) | 63-68–131 (-9) |
51 |
32 |
$55,645 |
|
6 |
Ian Holt (U.S.) | 66-66–132 (-8) |
14 |
11 |
$26,086 |
|
T7 |
Timothy Madigan (U.S.) | 69-64–133 (-7) |
27 |
25 |
$43,985 |
|
T7 |
Carter Jenkins (U.S.) | 69-64–133 (-7) |
36 |
31 |
N/A |
|
T7 |
George Cunningham (U.S.) | 67-66–133 (-7) |
3 |
4 |
N/A |
|
T7 |
Michael Gligic (CAN) | 64-69–133 (-7) |
15 |
15 |
$28,501 |
Full leaderboard: https://www.pgatour.com/canada/en_us/leaderboard.html
Garrick shares lead with red-hot Pereira at Freedom 55 Financial Championship
London, ON, Canada—For the third time in four events, Corey Pereira has a hold of the lead on the Mackenzie Tour, this time drawing even with Jonathan Garrick after his second 65 in as many days at the Freedom 55 Financial Championship.
“It wasn’t really anything special until the last few holes,” said the University of Washington alum. “I felt like I left a few out there and made some mistakes, but that’s just how golf is sometimes, you make some mistakes, but stay in it, and I made birdie on the last two and turned a solid round into a really good round.”
Coming into the event, the season could be defined and split into two halves, each involving one of the top-2 players on the Mackenzie Tour Order of Merit. The first half was owned by Zach Wright, who became the first ever Mackenzie Tour player to open the season with six consecutive top-10 finishes.
The second half of the season seemed defined by Tyler McCumber, who became the only player in Mackenzie Tour history to win back-to-back events, quickly following up his victory at the Osprey Valley Open with a win at the Syncrude Oil Country Championship on Petroleum Golf Club, a course his father Mark designed. Adding the Players Cup a few weeks later to all but lock up Player of the Year honours, it appeared 2018’s storylines were set.
Not so fast. With a win at the ATB Financial Classic followed by a playoff loss at last week’s Mackenzie Investments Open, Corey Pereira has quickly become a name to recognize among professional golf circles.
With a win this week, Pereira would leapfrog George Cunningham and aforementioned Wright to finish the season at No. 2 on the year-end Order of Merit.
While the start of the season for Pereira allowed him to keep pace in the race for The Five, none of his finishes jumped off the page, but, beginning at the Syncrude Oil Country Championship, he has played his past 18 rounds on the Mackenzie Tour under par, earning $62,020 in that stretch.
“I can’t pinpoint anything special, I just stuck to the process and the pieces have come together, that’s just what golf is,” said Pereira. “Sometimes you’ll have a bad few months, but if you keep doing the right things I believe you can turn it around, I wasn’t far off at the start of the season, but I’ve put the pieces together.”
Pereira’s 65s at Highland Country Club have come in different ways, with the first a clean-carded five-birdie round. The second, an up-and-down day with seven birdies and a pair of bogeys.
“I’m handling everything well so far,” said the second-year pro. “The weekend will be a test for sure, but I’m looking forward to it.”
Joining Pereira at the top of the leaderboard is first-round co-leader Jonathan Garrick, who closed his second round with three birdies in his final four holes to sign for a 67.
The race for both Freedom 55 Financial Canadian Player of the Week and Canadian Player of the Year are led by Michael Gligic, who “grinded” his way to a second-round 69 to put himself one-stroke ahead of Taylor Pendrith.
Key Information
- The top-five players on the Order of Merit following the event will secure Web.com Tour status, with the top player fully exempt through the 2019 season. Players who finish between 6-10 on the year-long race will receive an exemption into the final stage of Web.com Tour Q-School and players 11-25 will receive an exemption into the second stage of the event.
- Drew Weaver fired his lowest career number in a PGA TOUR sanctioned event on Friday, making nine birdies to sign for a 61. If Weaver were to win, he could move into The Five if Michael Gellerman finishes outside the top-25 and Sam Fidone finishes outside the top-6.
- Timothy Madigan has his eye on the top-25, currently sitting in spot 27 on the Order of Merit. Taking some momentum into the second round after making an eagle on the 17thhole on Thurday, Madigan made six birdies and no bogeys on Friday to sign for a 64, his lowest score since a final-round 63 at the ATB Financial Classic.
- George Cunningham, who has three top-10 finishes this season including a win at the GolfBC Championship, shot a second-round 66 to head into the weekend tied for seventh. Currently No. 3 on the Order of Merit, The Arizona University alum looks to lock up Web.com Tour status this week.
- Missing just one cut this season, Carter Jenkins played his best round since the opening day of the Windsor Championship, making seven birdies, including four on the difficult back nine, to shoot 64 and heads into the weekend tied for fifth. At number 36 on the Order of Merit, Jenkins eyes the top-25 and an exemption into the second stage of Q-School.
- Lorens Chan, who has two top-10 finishes this season and is currently in 40th spot on the Order of Merit, is within one of the lead after firing a second-round 65 to follow up a stellar opening-day 66.
- Danny Walker is yet to make a bogey through 36 holes at the Freedom 55 Financial Championship, the only player in the field to accomplish that feat. Walker made two birdies on his way to a 68, putting him in a tie for third heading into the weekend.
Quotable
“You know the hard holes are coming the whole round, you’d like to be three or four under before getting to those holes. My motto this week was, hey, if I can play those holes even, and maybe some putts drop, that’s good, but then you have birdie holes on 17 and 18. I did that really well, I lost one on 16, but then came back strong.”
– Corey Pereria On hole Nos. 14-16, the toughest stretch at Highlands
“It felt really good. On hole No. 15 the volunteer said it was the only birdie all day. Throughout the middle of the round I was kind of getting a bit complacent and bogeyed 14 for the second day in a row and that set me off a little bit, but then I was able to birdie three of the last four.”
– Jonathan Garrick
“I felt like I definitely didn’t have my best stuff for most of the round today but was able to hang in there. I feel like something is always going to save me whether it’s my irons, or chipping or putting. I just like to be as low as I can, I like the position I’m in and there’s still 36 holes left, but I’m happy to be in the final group.”
– Jonathan Garrick
“It didn’t really feel like a final group until the end when we were one of the last few groups out there and people started watching. It is a bit of a different feel because the guys around you are all playing well, and you can feel everybody pushing each other.”
– Jonathan Garrick
“My goal is to win the tournament this week. Even if it was just Corey and I, I know he’s not going to lay down, he’s playing well and there’s a bunch of guys behind us, so I just have to keep going.”
– Jonathan Garrick
“It’s going to take me a little while to let things settle and analyze how it went, but I felt like I didn’t miss many shots, and my misses were really playable today. This back nine there’s some holes where you have to step up and hit some shots and I didn’t miss any shots down the stretch when I felt a little adrenaline and knew I had a really low one going. That was exciting, and to putt as well as I did, making a bunch inside 12-feet, I’m proud of that.”
– Drew Weaver
“I was certainly really frustrated yesterday. This is a very unique event with four days and no cut, it’s similar to a Q-school where out of the gate it’s easy to get lackadaisical knowing there’s no cut, but I have huge motivation this week to accomplish a number of good things, so today I came out and put the pedal down early and kept it there. I’m excited to be back in the mix and who knows where I’ll land after today, but I’m confident ill have a chance going into the weekend.”
– Drew Weaver
“It was my plan all along to play up here. I’m thankful that Brad (Pinnell) and Chris (Humenik) at Osprey Valley were able to give me a spot and I’ve tried to maintain a good mindset the whole year. I was a little frustrated to not get in some events early that I did well in the past, so once I got over that mental hurdle, I just played wherever I could and when I knew I had that opportunity at Osprey I got as sharp as I could and I’m excited to have a chance to do something this weekend.”
– Drew Weaver
“I’m just happy to be here and be in the top-60. At 40th on the money list, I’m just trying to have a good week, and there’s a lot of fans who’ve shown up, it’s just a really cool vibe being the Tour Championship.”
– Lorens Chan
Second-Round Weather: Sunny, 24 degrees Celsius, 10 KM/h wind
