PALM HARBOR, FLORIDA (AP) – Adam Schenk is playing for the 10th consecutive week on the PGA Tour and finally seeing some good results, making enough putts on Friday for a two-under 69 that gave him a one-shot lead going into the weekend at the Valspar Championship.
Schenk had four birdies, all but one of them from inside 10 feet, and finished with a bogey from the bunker short of the 18th on the Copperhead course at Innisbrook.
That didn’t bother him too much because of the 20-foot putt he made for par on the par-three eighth, the 10-footer for par he made on the 10th and the long up-and-down for par on the par-five 11th.
He was at seven-under 135, one shot ahead of Kramer Hickok, who had a 68.
Jordan Spieth is a big part of the weekend, wasting a great round of driving with some suspect short irons. He still posted a 70 and was only two shots behind.
Also part of the weekend is Nick Gabrelcik, who lost in the semifinals at Oakmont in the 2021 US Amateur, opened with a 75 and responded with a 67 to easily make the cut. He was at even-par 142.
Also making the cut was Ludwig Aberg, the number one amateur in the world. Aberg also played the weekend at Bay Hill.
Burns, the two-time defending champion, is trying to become the first player to win the same tournament three straight years since Steve Stricker at the John Deere Classic (2009-11).
He had a 73 and was seven shots behind.
Schenk had had a few close calls in search of his first victory, such as the Shriners Children’s Open in Las Vegas in 2021 and the Barracuda Championship.
He started his year in Honolulu at the Sony Open and hasn’t had a week off since then, going to California and Arizona, and every stop on the Florida swing. He had made the cut in all but two of them and is number 72 in the FedEx Cup.
The missed cut last week at The Players Championship might have helped.
“I was home for three-and-a-half days and didn’t touch a club,” Schenk said.
“I would have practiced, but the weather was so bad in Indiana, I really couldn’t. So flew into Valspar on Tuesday and got a little practice in and then played nine holes and then teed up in the pro-am and away we went.”
