Mar 14, 2014 3 min read

Robert Garrigus figured out Innisbrook Friday for a 5-under 66 to build a three-shot lead going into the weekend at the Valspar Championship.

Garrigus is among the longest hitters in golf, and he took advantage of his power on a pristine afternoon in the Tampa Bay area. He birdied all the par 5s for the second day in a row. Garrigus has made only two other birdies this week, on a par 3 and a par 4.

Garrigus was at 7-under 135. He was three shots ahead of Kevin Na, who shot a 68.

The group at 3-under 139 included Justin Rose, Matteo Manassero, Pat Perez and Matt Every.\

Daly has bad day with 12 on 16th, shoots 90: John Daly has gone 17 straight years on the PGA Tour with at least one round in the 80s. He didn’t even manage that Friday in the Valspar Championship.

He missed a 4-foot putt on the last hole at Innisbrook and shot a career-high 90.

“I didn’t give up,” Daly said. “I tried.”

He used up 12 of those shots on the 16th hole tied for his fourth-highest score on any one hole but was more concerned with the putting yips. Daly said the yips began last Sunday in Puerto Rico and reached a low point at Innisbrook.

He took 70 putts over two days, including a four-putt on the second hole of Friday’s round.

“You’re going to have big scores on holes. That’s just the way golf is,” Daly said. “But when you’ve got the yips, that’s no fun.”

For Daly, there was nothing fun about Friday, especially the 16th hole. He started with a tee shot into the water. He had about 270 yards to cover the lake after his penalty drop and failed twice. From there, he hit a smother-hook well to the left of the water, only to hit what he described as a shank with his 7-iron well right of the green. He took three chips to reach the green and one-putted for a 12.

Curran leads at Web.com: Jon Curran had to pinch himself to make sure it wasn’t a dream. The 27-year old Vanderbilt grad had been making putt after putt and he wanted to be certain what was transpiring in the first and second rounds of the weather-delayed Brasil Champions presented by HSBC was real.

It was.

It is.

“It’s probably the best I’ve ever played or putted or scored for 36 holes,” said Curran, who nearly rewrote the Web.com Tour record book.

Instead he’ll have to settle for adding his name to several categories after posting rounds of 61-64 for two-day total of 17-under 125, which is good for a five-shot lead halfway into matters at the Sao Paulo Golf Club.

Curran’s two-day score of 125 is one off the all-time mark set by Kevin Chappell at the 2010 Ford Wayne Gretzky Classic. His 17-under score is two off the Tour’s mark for most strokes under par after 36 holes which is held by Chappell and Webb Simpson (2008 Chattanooga Classic).