Los Angeles (AFP) - Chez Reavie fired an eagle and seven birdies to rack up 19 points and take the 36-hole lead on Friday in the US PGA Tour Barracuda Championship in Truckee, California.
Reavie's bogey-free round gave him a two-round total of 28 points under the Modified Stableford scoring system used for the tournament, which awards points for birdies and better and deducts them for bogeys and worse.
He was three points clear of overnight co-leader Mark Hubbard and Sweden's Henrik Norlander.
Norlander had seven birdies without a bogey for 14 points and a 25-point total, joining Hubbard who had seven birdies and two bogeys for 12 points.
Kevin Tway was alone in fourth on 21 points, garnering 15 for a round that included nine birdies and three bogeys.
Reavie's eagle at the par-five sixth on the par-71 Greenwood Course at Tahoe Mountain Club was worth a valuable five points and helped push him clear of the chasing pack.
"Oh, it's huge," he said."It's actually two and a half birdies, so if you can make an eagle you can kind of leapfrog guys on the leaderboard.
"I hit an OK tee shot, kind of up the right side," Reavie said of the sixth."Had to hit a five-wood so I kind of favored toward the right bunker side, and I just missed the bunker and had to chip across the green and was fortunate to knock it in."
But if a little luck was involved, Reavie -- who claimed the most recent of his two PGA Tour titles at the 2019 Travelers -- wasn't surprised with his solid effort.
"I've been driving the ball in the fairway, giving myself some good looks with the irons and hitting good iron shots and making a few putts," he said."It's been a good two days."
Reavie said his approach didn't change much despite the unusual scoring system, which awards eight points for an albatross, five for an eagle and two for a birdie, but deducts one for a bogey and three for a double-bogey or worse.
"It's kind of the same game plan for me," he said, "try to make no bogeys and as many birdies as possible."
