They had been weighed down by their initial round and were unable to reverse the trend to make the cut. Paul Barjon and Martin Trainer had a similar and much too short tournament in Detroit. The former had played 77 on Thursday, his compatriot had not been able to do better than 76, heavy scores. During the second round, they both rectified the situation (70 for Barjon, 71 for Trainer) but the deficit conceded was too great to get back into the cut, quite low (-4) because the course offers many birdie opportunities.
Akshay Bhatia and Aaron Rai have exploited them. The American has still not committed a single bogey in two rounds, even if his 67 in the second round remained below his initial 64. Winner of the Valero Texas Open in April, 5th last week in the Travelers, Akshay Bhatia confirms his excellent current form. Although placed a few times since the start of the season (three Top 20s, two Top 10s), the Englishman can boast fewer recent references but for the moment he is following the imposed pace without having made a mistake either (66, 65).
Russel, in the par at 15 years old
The best card of the second round (64) was signed by Troy Merritt, Erik Van Rooyen (3rd), Joel Dahmen (7th) and Joe Highsmith (10th) while the field is not the strongest of the year, many big names having skipped this stage. Finally, note that Miles Russell, 15, will not see the weekend but still managed the feat of finishing his two rounds in total par (74, 70) after having beaten the course on this second day. Attention, talent.
