OPELIKA, Ala. — Chad Collins missed a chance for the 10th sub-60 round in PGA Tour history and third of the season, parring the final two holes for an 11-under 60 on Friday in the second round of the Barbasol Championship.

Collins hit his approach to the back fringe on the par-4 18th, leaving a 70-foot downhill birdie try that he hit 5 feet past.

“I just got myself out of position off the tee, which you can’t do,” Collins said. “Probably one of the easiest hole locations on the green, so it was kind of unfortunate to not hit the fairway and I probably would have had a better look at birdie there. I gave it a run. I’m not too disappointed at all by 60, so I’ll take it.”

After six straight birdies on Grand National’s rain-softened Lake Course, the 38-year-old player from Indiana missed a 12-foot birdie putt on the par-3 17th.

“Hit a good shot, but I hit it a little heavy,” Collins said of his approach on No. 17. “I didn’t think it was going to get back there and it must have had a lot of overspin, hit the downslope, chased back there. I wasn’t sure how close it came to going in, but had to come pretty close. And then the putt was a little tricky. We couldn’t quite figure out if it was kind of right center, right edge or left center, left edge. Just kind of lost a little bit of speed and broke off the left edge.”

Collins was at 15-under 127 for a four-stroke lead over Grayson Murray (64) and Cameron Tringale (66).

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Collins made the 36-hole cut for only the fifth time in 23 events this year and tied the course record set last year by Jhonattan Vegas.

“This year’s been kind of a struggle for me,” Collins said. “I haven’t been playing that well and it’s super nice to see putts fall in, good ball-striking and being in position on the weekend.”

Jim Furyk, who set the PGA Tour record with 58 last year in the Travelers Championship in Connecticut, had a 68 to get to 5 under.

The 47-year-old U.S. Ryder Cup captain failed to qualify for the British Open. He took the last three weeks off for a long-planned European river cruise with his family and has been fighting a shoulder problem.

LPGA: Gerina Piller followed her opening 8-under 63 with a 68 to maintain a one-stroke in the Marathon Classic in Sylvania, Ohio.

Piller had four birdies and a bogey at Highland Meadows in the second round to reach 11-under 131.

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“Very satisfied,” Piller said. “I feel like I was pretty steady. I kind of had a par streak going there. But I gave myself chances for birdie, and at that point, you’ve just got to be patient, and there’s some birdie holes out there. I stayed patient, (just one birdie) on my front nine, and then reeled off three in a row on the back. It is difficult, but … you can just kind of plug along and hit fairways and greens and keep it simple.”

She’s winless on the LPGA Tour.

“Well, it’s only Friday, so I wouldn’t put the cart before the horse, but to get that first win, I think, would be really special, no matter where it is,” Piller said. “I’m just going to try to focus on the process, and the result will take care of itself.”

U.S. Solheim Cup teammate Lexi Thompson had a 65 to move into a tie for second with fellow American Nelly Korda (64), South Korea’s In-Kyung Kim (67) and Taiwan’s Peiyun Chien (68).


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