South Africa’s Tyrone van Aswegen carded a second round 65 to sit only two shots off the leader Adam Hadwin at the halfway point of the Valspar Championship at Palm Harbor.
Hadwin, who shot a 59 at the CareerBuilder Challenge two months ago, ran off five straight birdies to start the back nine and posted a 7 under 64 to take a one-shot lead into the weekend.
Even playing in the afternoon in a strong breeze and crustier putting surfaces, the Canadian one-putted every hole on the back nine until he had no choice but to lag a 20-foot birdie attempt on the 18th hole to make sure it didn’t race all the way off the green and into the fairway.
Herman, coming off a 62 in the opening round, began with 11 straight pars before trading birdies and bogeys and settling for a 71 and 133.
Van Aswegen was on 134, followed by a group at 7 under 135 that included Open champion Henrik Stenson (71), Russell Henley (71) and Dominic Bozzelli (68).
Stenson is No 6 in the world, the highest-ranked player at Innisbrook. The Valspar Championship will be missing its other top 10 player because Justin Thomas, who swept the Hawaii swing, had a 74 and missed the cut.
Also missing the cut was Billy Horschel, leaving him no chance of qualifying for the World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play in two weeks. Horschel, who won the FedExCup in 2014 and reached as high as No 12 in the world two years ago, has not been eligible for the last four World Golf Championships.
Charl Schwartzel, with a second 70 of the week for 140, joined Van Aswegen in the weekend group, but veterans Ernie Els, who added a 73 to his opening 71 for 144, and Retief Goosen – a 73 for 149 – missed the cut.
Photo: Mike Lawrie/Getty Images
