Hensby & Hammond tie for lead

Mark Hensby and Donnie Hammond share the lead after two rounds of the $400,000 BUY.COM Mississippi Gulf Coast Open.

Hensby, who shot a 68 Friday, and Hammond (69) tied the 36-hole course record set last year by Joel Edwards and Steve Ford with a 6-under-par 138. Chris Smith (67) and Tim Clark (71) are one shot back while Lee Porter (71), Gary Webb (73), Charles Warren (71) and John Elliott (71) trail by two.

Fifty-seven players made the cut which came at 1-over par, the highest cut through three events this year.

Many had the chance today but only two could grab it. Eight different golfers --including Porter, Smith, Clark, Webb, Mark Carnevale, Craig Perks, Hensby and Hammond -- reached 6-under par for the Tournament but the latter two were the only ones to enter the clubhouse with it.

Porter was the first as he birdied the 13th hole, his fourth of the day, but after a double bogey on the 15th he could not get back to 6 under. Smith had it the longest, including for six of his last nine holes, but bogeys on Nos. 15 and 17 left him at 5 under.

"I think I lost a little momentum at the end and hit a few bad shots coming and that’s part of it," said Smith, who was the BUY.COM Tour Player of the Year in 1997. "It’s a long Tournament and I really hadn’t missed very many shots up until that point. You hit a couple bad ones and go on and come back tomorrow and try to make some birdies."

Smith spent the last two-and-a-half years on the PGA Tour after earning a "battlefield promotion" by winning three BUY.COM Tour events in the same calendar year (1997). In just six events on the PGA Tour that year, he managed to earn $120,768 and finish 151st on the money list.

Smith is now back on the BUY.COM Tour after finishing 184th last year and has played well so far, with a tie for 26th at the BUY.COM Florida Classic and a tie for 14th at the BUY.COM Lakeland Classic. But he has been waiting for the big round he had today.

"It felt good. Actually when I left the course yesterday, I told my brother, 'I feel like I might shoot 64. I feel like it’s coming out.' " Smith said. "And I really felt like I’m starting to get some rhythm and starting to play a little better and things just kind of went right. I hit a lot of good iron shots and gave myself a lot of good birdie putts and I made a couple and it just went off from there."

Hensby, playing in the afternoon, did not reach 6 under until he two-putted for birdie on the par-5 15th. He would not have made it there either if not for an eagle on the eighth hole. Hensby hit his second shot, a 2-iron, into the bunker by the green but recovered when he holed his sand wedge.

"It’s good to know that you’re up there and you have a chance to win the golf Tournament if you play good the next couple of days. I’ve been getting close," said Hensby, who held the 36- and 54-hole leads at the BUY.COM Florida Classic before finishing second. "That’s obviously the goal for all of us out here, to get up there and have a chance to win."

Hensby had a chance to lead Friday but his 4-foot, downhill putt for birdie on No. 18 just missed the cup. "I kind of wanted to hit it outside the hole but I hit a good putt," he said. "I was happy with the way I hit it. I thought I made it when I hit it but it just turned real hard at the hole. These greens are pretty tricky to read. And that is why only 6 under is leading."

Hammond rounded out the group as he sank a 5-foot birdie putt on the ninth hole, his last of the day to reach 6 under for the first time during the Tournament.

"I hit some good shots that were the right distance and made a few of the five-footers I had when I did hit a good shot. That was the key. I usually miss those putts. I made them today," Hammond said.

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