By ,
Published January 08, 2015
Sao Paulo, Brazil (SportsNetwork.com) - Jon Curran carded a 7-under 64 on Friday to move five strokes clear of the field with the second round of the Brasil Champions suspended due to inclement weather.
Curran, who led by three when the first round wrapped up earlier Friday, finished 36 holes at 17-under-par 125.
Andres Echavarria fired an 8-under 63 to move into second place at minus-12, while Oscar Fraustro (64) and Alex Cejka (66) are one shot back at 11-under- par 131 at Sao Paulo Golf Club.
Ronaldo Francisco posted his second straight 66 to move into a share of fifth at minus-10. He was joined there by Daniel Berger, who finished just eight holes of his second round.
The first round was completed earlier Friday after lightning in the area stopped play on Thursday. The second round is slated to resume on Saturday at 6 a.m. ET with the third round scheduled to run from 9:30-11:30 a.m. off split tees and players in threesomes.
Curran started on the back nine and ran off three straight birdies from the 10th. After a trio of pars, Curran birdied the par-4 16th and made it two in a row at 17.
The 27-year-old stumbled to a bogey on the 18th to drop to minus-14. He quickly atoned for that mistake with a birdie on the first.
Curran carded three birdies in a 4-hole span from the third to jump to 18- under. He tripped to a bogey on the par-5 eighth before making par at the ninth.
"It's probably the best I've ever played or putted or scored for 36 holes. I wasn't sure what was going on. It was ridiculous. I just wondered what the heck was going on," stated Curran, who birdied six of the seven holes from round one that he completed earlier Friday.
"It sounds cliche, but I wasn't doing anything special. I was making a lot of putts. I was hitting a lot of quality iron shots and putting it in the fairway. I was giving myself a lot of chances to hit it close and I felt pretty confident with the putter."
Echavarria got off to a fast start with back-to-back birdies from the first. After four pars in a row, he birdied the seventh and ninth to make the turn at 8-under.
The Colombian started the back nine with three pars in a row. He then poured in four birdies in the next five holes to soar into second place. Echavarria parred the last to end five back.
NOTES: Cejka won in Colombia one month ago, and of the top four players on the leaderboard, he is the only one with a Web.com Tour victory ... Curran's opening total of 125 matched the second-best total in tour history.
https://www.foxnews.com/sports/curran-5-clear-at-suspended-brasil-champions