Bethesda, MD – Hunter Mahan birdied two of the last three holes on Friday to shoot a 6-under 65 and take a 2-stroke lead after two rounds of the AT&T National.
Mahan, the 2009 runner-up, finished 36 holes at 7-under-par 135. He has won twice earlier this year giving him five PGA Tour victories and is coming off a final-round 61 at the Travelers Championship.
Brendon de Jonge and Jimmy Walker both posted 2-under 69s to remain tied for second place at minus-5. They were joined there by Robert Garrigus, who carded a 4-under 67 in round two.
Former British Open champion Stewart Cink shot a 3-under 68 to move to 4- under-par 138. He shares fifth place with Vijay Singh (70), Rod Pampling (67), Pat Perez (69) and Seung-Yul Noh (68).
First-round leader Bo Van Pelt stumbled to a 2-over 73 to fall into a tie for 11th at 2-under-par 140 on the Blue Course at Congressional Country Club.
Tiger Woods had an eagle, a bogey and two birdies in a round of 3-under 68 to join Van Pelt and two others at minus-2.
Woods started his round on the 10th and opened with six consecutive pars. He poured in a 48-footer for eagle on the 16th to jump to minus-1.
Around the turn, Woods missed the green at the first and that led to a bogey. He got that shot back when he rolled in a 7-footer for birdie on the fifth. Woods kicked in a short birdie putt on No. 8 and parred the last to finish at 2-under.
"It was one of those days. I was consistent most of the day. I made a couple good par saves at 13 and 14, and I made a big putt there at 16," Woods stated.
Mahan, who closed with a 62 in 2009 to end one behind Woods, birdied the first from inside three feet, but gave that shot right back when he failed to get up and down for par on the second.
The 30-year-old erased that mistake with a short birdie putt on the fourth. Mahan 2-putted for birdie on the par-5 sixth to get to 3-under.
Mahan birdied the eighth from five feet out and came right back with a 28-foot birdie putt on the ninth.
After six straight pars, Mahan two-putted for birdie on the par-5 16th to grab the lead. At the last, he converted a 12-foot birdie try to move to two clear.
"I hit a lot of good shots. It wasn't like a hard round. I hit so many fairways and greens, I made it easy on myself," Mahan stated. "I put myself in some great spots to make putts. Really proud of the up-and-down on 17. That was the only one loose iron I hit all day."
De Jonge birdied the sixth and 10th to climb into a share of the lead at minus-5. He dropped a shot on the 11th, but atoned for that error with a birdie at No. 16.
Walker had a bogey-free round with a birdies on the 10th and 15th.
"I didn't quite hit it as good today as I did yesterday, but got a lot out of the round, got pretty much everything out of the round I could have gotten out of it, lots of good up-and-downs, lots of good putts," Walker explained.
Garrigus had four birdies and two bogeys on his opening nine, the back nine. Around the turn, he had three more birdies and a bogey on No. 5 for his 67.
Defending champion Nick Watney managed a 1-over 72 to slip into a share of 19th at even-par 142.
Amateur Beau Hossler struggled to a 3-over 74 to tumble into a share of 37th at 3-over 145.
NOTES: Woods, No. 16, and Cink, No. 6, had the only two eagles of the day...The cut came at 6-over-par 146 with 79 players making it to the weekend...The number of plus-6 was the fourth highest number of the season...Among those that missed the cut were Lucas Glover, Angel Cabrera, Spencer Levin and amateur Jordan Spieth.
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