Blixt maintains lead in Idaho

Boise, ID – Jonas Blixt followed Thursday's impressive nine- under 66 on Friday to take a two-shot lead after 36 holes of the Boise Open.

First-round play was completed Friday morning at Hillcrest Country Club after inclement weather caused delays on Thursday. Blixt played only his second 18 on Friday and had eight birdies, including five consecutive to end the round, to finish at 14-under 128.

Blixt, who has finished as the runner-up in two of his last four events, is still looking for his first title on tour.

Chris Tidland shot his second straight six-under 65 to move into second place at 12-under 130. Troy Merritt, who trailed by one after first-round play was completed, shot a three-under 68 for his second round and shares third with Billy Hurley III (64) at 11-under.

Billy Horschel (65) is fifth at minus-10.

Blixt fell out of first place when he teed off on Friday afternoon, but still managed to reach 11-under with birdies at each of the first two holes.

He stumbled to a bogey on the third after hitting his second shot in the water and lost all his momentum, posting bogeys on the seventh and 11th holes to fall all the way to eight-under.

"It was 50 yards right of where I wanted to go," Blixt said of the third hole. "Right in the water. It was awful. Things didn't feel very good after that."

Blixt finally got going again with a birdie on the 12th, and it turned out to catapult him on a streak that put him at the top of the leaderboard by the end of the round.

In his last seven holes, Blixt had six birdies, though he felt it was the one par -- at No. 13 -- that had him feeling good again.

"From then on out, everything seemed to work out perfectly for me," he said.

After the par on the 13th, Blixt ended his round with a remarkable run of five straight birdies. Each of his last eight holes featured only one putt on the green. He went from simply contending to leading and having an excellent chance at a title.

"It was just kind of a grind in the beginning of the day," Blixt said. "Sometimes you just have to wait for your turn to get hot. I just wish we had nine more holes to play."

Tidland, the 2008 Boise Open champ, is using some familiar surroundings to put himself into contention. After finishing in seventh at the Puerto Rico Open, his second event of 2011, he's missed the cut in 10 of 12 tournaments.

NOTES: A total of 76 players made the cut, which came at three-under 139...Josh Broadaway, who shares sixth at nine-under, is the only player without a bogey so far...Ted Tryba made a hole-in-one on the par-three 13th, and Chris Smith had an ace at the 17th, also a par-three.