Boo Weekley Shoots 66, Now the Tournament Favourite at the Hope

Boo Weekley, when asked on Wednesday, said the only thing he really wants in 2011 is to win and with a 66 in round two he’s put himself in a good spot to achieve his goal as he’s tied for the lead with Tour rookie Jhonattan Vegas at the Bob Hope Classic.

Weekley had what was easily his poorest year in recent memory as his best finish in 2010 was a couple of 9th’s and he really never contended the entire season.  No wonder his goal was to just win as it’s now been two full seasons since he tasted victory.

The man they call Boo has got his putter rolling this week at just over 1.5 putts per green hit and for a guy who is a very streaky putter this could be an indication of things to come over the final three rounds.

The bookmakers’ won’t boo Weekley (couldn’t resist) as he’s the favourite at (15-2).

Second on the board is Charles Howell III who’s been a bit of a forgotten man in recent years after being one of the ‘next generation’ in the mid-2000s.

Howell did make a healthy $1.4-million  in 2010, but never really got on anybody’s radar as he failed to post a top-3 finish.

However, he’s in the top-3 going to round three just one back of the leaders after firing a 66 in a round that saw him post 7 birdies after bogeying the 5th.

Over his career, Howell has shown he can play, but there’s a long way to go and recent history would say he’ll fade at the end.  Regardless, the books like him enough to send him out at (8-1).

Lately, it seems every tournament Matt Kuchar enters he’s at or near the top of the leaderboard and things are no different this week.  He’s a bookmakers’ darling again at (9-1).

The books love Kuchar so much they don’t seem to care he’s five off the lead and spraying it all over the course as he hit just 64% of fairways in Thursday’s round.

This could be an off week for Kuchar, or it could be that La Quinta just doesn’t fit his eye in this four course rotation.

Regardless, he usually drives it much better and with low scores all over the place a wayward driver could sink him this week.

I've been number one and number 1,000, but I've hit bottom and I'm coming back up  - David Duval