J.B. Holmes is looking to join the likes of Phil Mickelson and Arnold Palmer as a three-time winner of the Waste Management Phoenix Open.
Holmes won his first two PGA Tour events in 2006 and 2008 when the tournament was known as the FBR Open.
Now he’s in position to join Phil Mickelson and Mark Calcavecchia atop the all-time wins list at TPC Scottsdale. Palmer and Gene Littler won the Phoenix Open before it moved to its current location.
Holmes had six birdies plus an eagle on the par-4 17th, where he drove the green, to shoot a 65 on Friday and take a one-stroke lead into the weekend at 13 under.
“I hit some really good putts,” Holmes said about his run on Nos. 15-17, where he went birdie-birdie-eagle. “I hit a great 5-iron on the par 5, almost eagled that one. And I hit a great iron on the next hole. It went a little long but made a great putt. And then the tee shot on 17 was fabulous, so that gave me a shorter putt for eagle and luckily I made it.”
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Holmes has so far this week eagled a par 3 – when he aced the fourth hole in the opening round – and he has eagled a par 4 after his drive stopped 6 feet, 6 inches from the cup. While he hasn’t eagled a par 5 yet, he has made birdie on five of the six par-5 holes he’s played.
“I don’t hit it as far as I used to,” he said in reference to the last time he won at TPC Scottsdale. “I could move it a little bit better. I still get it out there, but the golf course has changed more than anything, like, 12 holes are different than they were when … I won last time.”
Giving chase is Wyndham Clark, who led by two after the first round. Clark shot a second-round 69 after his opening 61. He is a shot back.
Billy Horschel and Byeong Hun An are T-3 at 11 under, two shots back, while Scott Piercy is in fifth at 10 under.
Horschel is in contention for his first victory since the 2018 Zurich Classic (with Piercy) after making birdie at 18 on Friday to shoot 3-under 68. Meanwhile, An posted five birdies on his back nine, including at the 18th.
Piercy made the second ace of the week – and 19th on Tour this season – when he got a hole-in-one on the par-3 seventh hole from 194 yards out. He said it was his first ace on the PGA Tour.
“I guess whenever you make a hole-in-one in Phoenix, it’s pretty awesome. But I just did it on the wrong side where everybody didn’t see it,” Piercy said of the less populous seventh hole.
Jon Rahm made a move late Friday after he ripped off five straight birdies on Nos.11-15 but he bogeyed 16 after going off the back of the green with a 9-iron and also bogeyed the 18th.
“Frustrated is a very light way of putting it right now,” said Rahm, who is T-12 at 7 under. He can ascend to the No. 1 spot in the World ranking with a win this weekend. “I put a great swing on five birdies, playing great golf and then just an absolutely terrible finish on the second nine. … I don’t know what to say.
“It’s an easy shot on 16, I mean, how short it’s playing, 3-wood to the front edge of the green on 17 and just driver-wedge on 18. So could not be an easier finish but to finish 2 over par on those three holes, yea, that pisses me off.”
Holmes’ last win on Tour came almost a year ago at the Genesis Open in Los Angeles. He has five PGA Tour victories in all.
Defending champ Rickie Fowler rebounded from his opening 74 to post a 65 on Friday to easily make the cut.
Missing the cut this week: Jordan Spieth, who shot 74-69 to miss out on the weekend by two shots, and Harold Varner III, who set a PGA Tour record with 32 consecutive pars to start a tournament. He broke the streak with a birdie on 15.
One group failed to finish before darkness but all three golfers in that group missed the cut.
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