Scott Langley didn’t know what to expect from his game this week at the Korn Ferry Challenge — which wouldn’t make him different from most of the other 154 players in the field in their first competition in three months.
But he’s been as sharp as anybody through two rounds at the TPC Sawgrass Dye’s Valley.
Langley birdied three of his first four holes and leveled off with 13 consecutive pars before a closing bogey on Friday. But his 68 was good enough for the clubhouse lead at 6-under-par 134, one shot ahead of eight players who were done at 5-under.
Late in the afternoon, Ben Kohles (66), Lee Hodges (65) and Kristoffer Ventura (68) joined Langley at 6-under. Kohles had a one-shot lead and bogeyed the 18th hole.
Jamie Arnold of Australia shot the low round of the tournament thus far with a 63 that included one bogey to drop him out of a possible tie for the lead with Langley. Also at 5-under are Andres Gonzalez (65), Chase Wright (69), Nick Hardy (68), Will Zalatoris (68), Brandon Crick (66), Theo Humphrey (68) and Shad Tuten (64).
Gonzales, who recovered from an opening double-bogey at No. 10, played two days after his wife Kristin gave birth to their third child. He birdied four of his last five holes.
“I could shoot 90 today and be happy,” said the native of Olympia, Wash.
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On another low-scoring day, the Valley still laid its traps. Langley missed only two fairways and three greens in the second round, and for the tournament he’s hit 23 of 28 fairways (.821) and 31 of 36 greens (.861). His only mistake was hitting his tee shot at No. 18 into the water. He scrambled to make the bogey and avert further damage — and seemed no less upbeat.
“It’s really kind of uncharted territory for all of us,” said the University of Illinois graduate and past PGA Tour member, referring to the Korn Ferry’s re-start after not playing since March 1 because of the coronavirus pandemic.
“We’re grateful to the [PGA] Tour for all their hard work and looking out for our tour. I played well on Thursday [with a 66] and mentioned to my caddie that I was a little surprised. Honestly, I didn’t know what to expect with my competitive game.”
Langley made a short birdie putt at the par-5 first hole, dropped 20-footers for birdie at Nos. 3 and 4, then made a steady stream of two-putt pars until his bogey at the last.
“I gave myself a lot of chances,” he said. “I didn’t capitalize on as many as I would have liked but overall it’s a good score. I’m trying to hit fairways, hit greens and keep it simple.”
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Langley’s career is notable because he became the first member of a First Tee chapter to earn a PGA Tour card, in 2013. He played out of the First Tee Gateway Chapter in St. Louis and in 2006, when he was 15, he was on the winning pro-am team with Dana Quigley at the PGA Tour Champions event at Pebble Beach.
“The First Tee is great because in a really well-meaning way, it kidn of conceals these really important values you want to teach kids in a really fun vehicle that is golf,” he said. “I was there to play golf and hang with my friens but in those moments and through those experiences the nine core values became a part of me.”
It wasn’t lost on him that the Korn Ferry Tour’s next stop under the revamped schedule is the World Golf Hall of Fame King & Bear course next week — just 2 miles from the First Tee national headquarters.
“My golf career in general is way cooler than I ever thought it would be,” he said. “Anything at this point to me is just pure enjoyment. But yeah, it’s cool that that’s the situation next week, that they’re so close. Obviously, it’s an organization that’s meant a lot to me personally. I’ve been able to witness the incredible, exponential growth that they’ve been able to achieve and their reach since I’ve been a part of it.”
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