Jonas Blixt is off to another good start, but now he has to finish.
The 35-year-old Swede shot 6-under-par 64 to take a one-stroke lead over Kevin Na and Tony Finau midway through the Charles Schwab Challenge at Colonial Country Club www.colonialgolfclub.com in Fort Worth, Texas.
Blixt has been in the top 10 four other times this season after two rounds, but his best result was a tie for 15th in the Genesis Open at Riviera.
“I think I’ve played pretty good this year,” said Blixt, who has three PGA Tour victories, the last with Cameron Smith in the 2017 Zurich Classic of New Orleans, a two-man team event. “Obviously not had the good finishes yet, but it’s been up there a bunch of times.
“I had a solid day of golf and I had one yesterday, too. I feel like I’ve been trending for a while. I have had some good rounds this year, just not on the weekends. I just need to have a good weekend.”
Blixt holed his second shot from 132 yards for an eagle on the 17th hole and has only one bogey in 36 holes while recording a score of 9-under 131.
Na, from Diamond Bar, collected four birdies on each nine in a bogey-free 62 that was the low score of the day, while Finau, the first-round leader at 65, birdied two of his last four holes to cap a 68.
Rory Sabbatini of Slovakia, who won at Colonial in 2007, shot 66 and is three shots back in fourth, while 2016 champion Jordan Spieth sank two putts longer than 40 feet in a 70 and is one more down in a tie for fifth with Nick Watney (68) of Davis and Fresno State, Jim Furyk (66), C.T. Pan (67) of Taiwan and Jason Dufner (68).
Trey Mullinax is five strokes behind in 10th after a 69.
Third-ranked Justin Rose of England, the defending champion, totaled 67 and is in a tie for 46th that includes seventh-ranked Francesco Molinari of Italy, who had a 70, while four other highly ranked players in the field missed the cut.
Ninth-ranked Xander Schauffele of La Jolla and San Diego State finished at 76-67—143 and 10th-ranked Rickie Fowler of Murrieta totaled 74-69—143 to both miss the weekend by one shot, while eighth-ranked Bryson DeChambeau of Clovis finished at 72-72—144 to miss by two, and 11th-ranked Jon Rahm of Spain wound up at 75-71—146 to miss by four.
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