San Antonio, TX (SportsNetwork.com) - Steven Bowditch carded a 5-under 67 on Friday and moved one stroke ahead of the field after two rounds of the Texas Open.
Bowditch, who is winless on the PGA Tour, finished 36 holes at 8-under-par 136.
Chad Collins matched the low round of the day with his 6-under 66. That helped him soar into a share of second place at minus-7. He was joined there by Andrew Loupe, who led when the first round wrapped up earlier Friday. Loupe posted a 70 in round two.
Cameron Beckman (70) and Pat Perez (71) are tied for fourth place at 5-under 139 at TPC San Antonio. Daniel Summerhays (68), Kevin Na (70) and Freddie Jacobson (70) are one stroke back at minus-4.
The first two rounds were both completed on Friday. There was a 2 1/2 hour fog delay on Thursday and that pushed the completion of round one into Friday morning.
Bowditch rolled in a 10-footer for birdie on the 11th, then holed a wedge shot from 83 yards out for eagle at the 12th to jump to 6-under. After four pars in a row, Bowditch stuffed his approach inside two feet at the 17th and kicked that in for birdie.
The Australian 2-putted for birdie on the par-5 18th to make the turn at minus-8. Bowditch kept his foot on the gas with another tap-in birdie on the par-5 second and a 19-foot birdie putt on No. 3.
Those two birdies moved Bowditch to 10-under, where he was three clear of the field. After five straight pars, he missed the green at the ninth with his approach.
Bowditch hit a poor chip that stayed in the rough. He then chipped to nine feet and 2-putted for a closing double-bogey.
"I got my round off nicely this morning. I think I had three holes left. So, it was nice to get out early before the wind started to get up. I was lucky enough to hit a few good shots and get the ball rolling," said Bowditch, who completed his first round early Friday.
"I holed out on No. 12, I think from 85 yards or so. You need those sort of things to get the round started or to post a good round."
Collins drained a 13-foot birdie try on No. 2 and came back with a chip-in birdie on fourth. He dropped his approach eight feet from the hole on the sixth, and he converted that to get to 4-under.
He parred three in a row to close out his front nine. Collins made a 12-footer for birdie on the 10th, but he gave that shot back when he failed to get up and down from a greenside bunker on the 12th.
Collins atoned for that mistake when he birdied the 14th from 10 feet out. After a pair of pars, he drained a 19-foot birdie putt at 17 and closed his round with a 13-foot birdie effort at the last.
"It was a good day. Made a few putts. I got the ball fairly close to the hole and made a few long ones," Collins explained. "Yesterday, I made a few 10- to 12-footers for par to kind of keep the round going. It was a good day. I played a lot more solid today and just got in a good position."
Loupe made a 12-foot birdie try at the first. He drove within 50 yards of the green at the short fifth, but took four more shots to get down. The bogey dropped him back to minus-5.
The tour rookie birdied the 10th, but he stumbled to back-to-back bogeys at 13 and 14 to slip to minus-4.
Loupe birdied the 16th from eight feet out, then drove the green at the par-4 17th and 2-putted for birdie. Loupe closed his round with his third straight birdie at the last.
NOTES: Phil Mickelson, who is playing this event for the first time in 22 years, rallied with a 2-under 70 and made the cut on the number of 3-over-par 147 ... Eighty-two players made the cut ... Ernie Els, Nicolas Colsaerts, Padraig Harrington, David Toms and Retief Goosen were among those who missed the cut.
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