Ryan Palmer hasn’t won an individual event on the PGA Tour since the 2010 Sony Open in Hawaii, but he’s put himself in position for a return to the winner’s circle.
The 45-year-old Palmer (pictured) posted a bogey-free, 10-under-par 62 and is tied for the lead with David Skinns of England and Sebastian Munoz of Colombia midway through the AT&T Byron Nelson at TPC Craig Ranch in McKinney, Texas.
Palmer lost in a playoff to Keegan Bradley in the 2011 AT&T Byron Nelson.
“Today it was just coming out knowing you’ve got to shoot low on this golf course,” said local favorite Palmer, who teamed with Jon Rahm to win the 2019 Zurich Classic of New Orleans. “The things I’m working on, (caddy) Randy Smith and I have been working on, it’s just staying in the moment, hitting the shots I need to and I feel like it’s some of the best putting I’ve been doing lately and it showed today.
“It’s a little added pressure when I play in Texas, especially this week and with Charles Schwab (in Fort Worth) coming up in two weeks. So it’s a lot of pressure on myself but I love it.”
Palmer, who grew up in Amarillo, Texas, and played college golf at North Texas State and Texas A&M, started at No. 10 and collected six birdies on the back nine including four in a row through No. 15, and added four more birdies on the front nine capped by a six-foot putt at No. 9.
Skinns, 40, a PGA Tour rookie who won seven times on the NGA Hooters Tour and twice on the Korn Ferry Tour, made six birdies on the front nine and four coming home, making his only bogey on the sixth hole in a 62.
“It has been a bit of a struggle,” said Skinns, who worked as a delivery driver when golf shut down due to the Coronavirus pandemic in 2020. “I came off a really nice run on the Korn Ferry Tour to finish and I felt good going into the PGA Tour season. I played nicely in (Safeway Open to start this season) the first two days and then didn’t play well on the weekend.
“But then when you find yourself not getting in every tournament and you start to slip behind a little in the points, it’s tough to see yourself continue to fall down the list. You’ve eventually got to figure out a different game to play, you can’t keep looking at that, otherwise it will demoralize you a little bit. You just got to get back to the reason that you’re here and I think I’ve done that decently the last six weeks or so, even though the results haven’t quite shown it.
“I’m just excited to be in a position this weekend where I can make a step forward hopefully.”
Munoz, the first-round leader with a brilliant 12-under 60, started at No. 12 and made two bogeys on the back nine, rallied with four of his five birdies on the front nine to salvage a 69.
Said Munoz, whose only PGA Tour victory came in the 2020 Sanderson Farms Championship: “Today was more like regular golf and I didn’t get some of the good breaks I got yesterday. I got off to a slow start, but was able to turn things around and I’m happy to finish at 69. I made some nice putts and hope to keep that going on the weekend.”
Justin Lower birdied four of the last seven holes for a 66 and is one stroke back in solo fourth, followed by Charl Schwartzel of South Africa, the 2011 Masters champion, who holed a 70-foot bunker shot for an eagle at No. 14, added six birdies in a 65 and is one more down in fifth.
Ninth-ranked Jordan Spieth made five of his eight birdies on the back nine in a 65 and is three behind in a tie for sixth with defending champion K.H. Lee of South Korea, who birdied his last two holes for a 68, and Joaquin Niemann of Chile, who started at No. 10 and birdied four of the first five holes before closing with his seventh birdie in a bogey-free 65.
Hideki Matsuyama, the 2021 Masters champion, recorded a bogey-free 66 and is four strokes back in a tie for ninth with Beau Hossler of Rancho Santa Margarita, who holed a 20-foot eagle putt at No. 18 in a bogey-free 64, Jason Kokrak, who birdied the last hole for a 65, Seamus Power of Ireland, who birdied four of the last five holes to cap a 67, and Mito Pereira of Chile, who had a bogey-free 69.
Eighth-ranked Justin Thomas is tied for 15th after a 66, top-ranked Scottie Scheffler finished at 68 and is tied for 20th, and 10th-ranked Sam Burns finished at 73-67—140 to miss the cut by one stroke in a tie for 84th. \
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