GREENSBORO, August 20, 2011 (AFP) - Tommy Gainey wasn't too happy with his game, but even so he managed to seize a three-shot lead Friday after two rounds of the US PGA Tour's Wyndham Championship.
Gainey fired a five-under par 65 on Friday for a 12-under total of 128.
That gave him a the second-best 36-hole score in the history of the tournament and a three-shot lead over a quartet of players -- South African Ernie Els, Australian Stewart Appleby, Daniel Summerhays and Webb Simpson.
Els carded a 66, Appleby a 67 and both Simpson and Summerhays posted 65s for 131.
Another four players were tied on 132 -- Jim Furyk (67), Brazil's Alexandre Rocha (66), England's Paul Casey (67) and South African Retief Goosen (65).
Gainey started the day tied for the lead with Jeff Quinney. He had six birdies and just one bogey, but said he didn't hit the ball as well as he did in his sparkling 63 on Thursday.
He teed off on 10 and bogeyed the 11th. But he rebounded with birdies at 13 and 15, and added four more birdies on the front nine, including back-to-back birdies at eight and nine. He capped his round with a 13-foot birdie put at the ninth.
"I hit it worse today than I did yesterday off the tee. I hit my irons worse than I did yesterday," said Gainey, who is still feeling the effects of a sprained left wrist suffered hitting out of the rough at the Canadian Open.
"It's just hard to make birdies when you keep putting yourself ... in the rough.
"The harder you swing at it to get it out, just the more shock that goes into the wrist."
The 125 of Sweden's Carl Pettersson in 2008 is the only two-round total on the par-70 Sedgefield course better than Gainey's.
But Gainey said he had a long way to go in search of a first US PGA Tour title.
"I haven't really accomplished anything in two days," Gainey said. "The only thing I've accomplished is, I've set myself up in good shape going into the weekend.
"But, still, there's a lot that can happen in one day ... but two days, that's like an eternity in a golf tournament. I'm trying to do the same thing I did these first two days tomorrow."
Numerous players are trying to play their way into the playoffs, which start with The Barclays in New Jersey next week.
That included number 130 in the standings, Ireland's Padraig Harrington. He birdied two of his last four holes en route to a 68, making the cut at three-under 137.
Colombian Camilo Villegas, 125th on the list, carded a 64 for 134.
"Look at the order of names, everybody around me seems to be in the same position with me," Harrington said. "Obviously, I'm going to (need to) have a good weekend in order to get through."
Els, 126th in the playoff standings, had three birdies in five holes late in his round to move up the leaderboard.
"I've got quite a large goal for me this week, and you know, I'm feeling like, fine, my game is turning around a little bit," Els said.
Leading scores here on Friday after the first round of the $5.2 million PGA Tour's Wyndham Championship at the Sedgefield Country Club (USA unless noted, par-70):
128 - Tommy Gainey 63-65
131 - Stuart Appleby (AUS) 64-67, Ernie Els (RSA) 65-66, Webb Simpson 66-65, Daniel Summerhays 66-65
132 - Paul Casey (GBR) 65-67, Jim Furyk 65-67, Retief Goosen (RSA) 67-65, Alexandre Rocha (BRA) 66-66
133 - Blake Adams 68-65, Jason Bohn 65-68, Tim Herron 65-68, Jerry Kelly, 67-66, Justin Leonard 66-67, Will MacKenzie 68-65, John Mallinger 68-65, William McGirt 69-64, Jeff Quinney 63-70
...
134 - Jarrod Lyle (AUS) 68-66, Vijay Singh (FIJ) 65-69, Camilo Villegas (COL) 70-64
135 - Sunghoon Kang (KOR) 68-67, Carl Pettersson (SWE) 65-70
136 - Greg Chalmers (AUS) 66-70, Nathan Green (AUS) 67-69, Kyung-Tae Kim (KOR) 69-67, Marc Leishman (AUS) 68-68, Nick O'Hern (AUS) 68-68, Brendon de Jonge (ZIM) 69-67
137 - John Daly 69-68, Padraig Harrington (IRL) 69-68, Rod Pampling (AUS) 68-69, Aron Price (AUS) 72-65
Missed Cut
138 - Angel Cabrera (ARG) 67-71, Fabian Gomez (ARG) 68-70, Ryuji Imada (JPN) 69-69, Matt Jones (JPN) 70-68, a-Olafur Loftsson (ISL) 68-70, Cameron Percy (AUS) 68-70, Ian Poulter (GBR)
139 - Matt McQuillan (CAN) 69-70
140 - Chris Baryla (CAN) 69-71, Trevor Immelman (RSA) 69-71
141 - Steven Bowditch (AUS), David Hearn (CAN) 69-72, Richard S. Johnson (SWE) 70-71
145 - Arjun Atwal (IND) 73-72
146 - Henrik Stenson (SWE) 73-73
147 - Nyash Mauchaza (ZIM)