White Sulphur Springs, WV – Matt Every birdied his final hole on Friday to close out an 8-under 62 and grab the outright lead of the Greenbrier Classic.
Every, who has two top-10 finishes this season but is seeking his first career win on the PGA Tour, concluded 36 holes on the Old White TPC Course at the Greenbrier at 9-under-par 131.
"I played really well tee-to-green, finally made some putts," Every said about his round. "I haven't made anything all year and it just finally happened today. Been waiting for it."
Russell Henley carded a 5-under 65 during his second round to move into a tie for second place with first-round co-leader Johnson Wagner (70), Bill Lunde (66), Daniel Summerhays (67) and Steven Bowditch (67) at 8-under 132.
Tommy Gainey, who also held a share of the first-round lead with Wagner, tripped to a 1-over 71 to fall into a share of seventh place at minus-7.
Gainey is joined by Greg Owen (66), Ben Curtis (66) and Jonas Blixt (67).
Summerhays, Lunde and Bowditch went out with the morning wave and met overnight leaders Wagner and Gainey atop what would become a crowded leaderboard at 8-under at the end of their rounds.
Summerhays had three birdies during his bogey-free round, while Bowditch countered his lone bogey with four birdies and Lunde recorded five gains around his only bogey of the day to move to the top of the leaderboard.
Gainey was the first of the co-leaders to hit the course and quickly pulled ahead of the pack with birdies at the 12th and 14th.
Wagner also started on the back nine and traded a bogey at the 11th with an 8- foot birdie putt at the 15th to remain at 8-under. He would par his final 12 holes to remain there.
After Gainey bogeyed the second to fall to minus-9, Henley raced up the leaderboard to greet him there with his sixth birdie of the day at the fourth.
But Henley slipped to a double-bogey 6 at the par-4 fifth to fall out of the lead after hitting his second shot into the rough past the green and needing two shots to get it out.
Gainey then fell out of the outright lead with a bogey at the seventh, and followed that with a 2-putt bogey from within 10 feet at the ninth to end at 7-under.
"You have to give credit to the golf course," said Gainey. "The golf course, it gave up some low scores yesterday, but what's the lowest score it gave up today? I mean really, in any other tournament besides the majors, everybody's shooting 7-, 8-, 9-under on the first or second rounds. The golf course hung up pretty good today, it played tough."
Every, meanwhile, was making his run up the leaderboard, starting with an outward 32 that included birdies at Nos. 10, 11, 15 and 17.
He then rolled in a 17-foot birdie putt at the first to move within two of the lead before capping gains at the fifth and seventh with a 12-foot birdie effort to join the group tied at 8-under.
After a par at the eighth, Every closed his round with a 10-foot birdie putt at the ninth to move ahead of the pack and grab the outright lead heading into the weekend.
NOTES: The cut line fell at 1-under-par 139, with 81 players advancing to the weekend. Because the number of players advancing is more than 78, there will be a secondary cut on Saturday consisting of the low 70 players and ties ... Every has held the 36-hole lead just one other time in his PGA Tour career, at the 2012 Sony Open, where he eventually finished in a tie for sixth ... The second-round leader/co-leader has held on for victory seven times in 26 stroke-play events so far in 2013, most recently Harris English at the FedEx St. Jude Classic ... Phil Mickelson missed the cut at this event for the third straight year. It is the first time in his PGA Tour career that he has missed three consecutive cuts in a tournament.
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