English claims Torrey Pines lead, Mickelson misses cut again

HarrisEnglish - Cropped

Harris English surged to the top of the leaderboard at the Farmers Insurance Open on Friday, as Phil Mickelson joined Tiger Woods in heading home early from San Diego.

A day after Woods was forced to withdraw as his troublesome back failed him at Torrey Pines, his fellow veteran Mickelson, 44, missed the cut and blamed his putter for his poor scoring.

Mickelson shot an even-par 72 on Torrey Pines' North Course in the second round to remain at two over for the tournament, which saw him miss the cut by two strokes, and the local favourite was furious with his lack of touch on the greens.

"It's very frustrating for me right now," Mickelson told the host broadcaster.

"I felt really ready to start the year and these first few weeks have been very poor.

"I feel like I'm hitting the ball tee to green really well but my putting is beyond pathetic, and if I can't get it back to the levels of 2013 then I'm not sure what I'm going to do."

Mickelson birdied the second hole but bogeys on the sixth, 10th and 14th saw him stumble, while birdies on the 16th and 17th made little difference.

Friday's result saw Mickelson miss consecutive cuts on the PGA Tour for the first time since 2002.

"If I had answers, I'd be out there putting better," he said.

"You can't compete when you putt like that."

At the top of the leaderboard, English moved past overnight leader Nicholas Thompson with a six-under 66 to reach 10 under for the event.

English started with a birdie on the opening hole of the North Course and followed it with five more - on the seventh, ninth, 10th, 14th and 17th holes.

The North Course appeared to be the high-scoring option on the second day at Torrey Pines - golfers alternate playing the two different courses at the Farmers Insurance Open.

English notched a two-shot lead over Nick Watney, Jhonattan Vegas of Venezuela and Scotland's Martin Laird, who all joined the leader on the North Course.

Thompson was the highest-ranked player to go round the South Course on Friday as he dropped to fifth at seven under with a one-over 73.

Chad Campbell, Michael Thompson and Ian Poulter also lost ground on the South Course to share sixth place at six under with Spencer Levin, Marc Leishman, Jason Day, Jimmy Walker, Daniel Berger, Lucas Glover and Andres Gonzales.

Berger produced the best second round on the South Course with a four-under 68.

Author(s)