Steele takes early lead in Frys

Golf fans turned out in huge numbers on Friday for the second round of the Frys.com Open, the first event in the PGA Tour’s wraparound 2015-16 schedule, at Silverado Resort and Spa.

Starting on the back nine in mild early-morning conditions, McIlroy dropped an early shot at the 13th, but as the mercury climbed so the scoring improved, and he made birdies at the 15th, 18th, first, fifth and eighth.

Tied with DeLaet are Will Wilcox (67), Jhonattan Vegas (71) and Harold Varner III, who missed a 10-foot birdie putt on his final hole that would have put him in the final group on the weekend in his rookie debut on the PGA Tour. The 32-year-old went bogey-free on Thursday, and began with a birdie at the first before notching up his first bogey at the third.

Kuchar, who started the day two shots off the lead, made his move with three birdies between No. 14 and No.17.

A notable absentee this week is last year’s victor, Bae Sang-moon, due to a requirement for him to complete two years of military service in his native South Korea.

“After this we’re going to go to the vineyard and check it out”, said McIlroy on Thursday after his 68. Former Stanford player Patrick Rodgers (69) is four shots off the lead at 7-under, while former Cal player Michael Kim (67) is five off the lead.

Open Leaderboard results kick off the new PGA Tour season this weekend.

“I thought it was not an easy course, but my tee shots, my iron shots, my putting, everything just went really well”, Park said through a translator.

Steele is looking to improve on his 50th-place finish in the FedExCup standings last season.

Plus, as Steele learned previous year at Silverado, the greens become firmer and faster on the weekend, with the contenders all playing in the afternoon. That group includes Brandt Snedeker, who birdied his last two holes to make it on the number.

The Englishman recently gained a new driver, and said on the pgatour.com website: ” This is a golf course where you have to drive it well and if you do drive it well round here you set up a lot of birdie chances.

“I didn’t convert many of them, but still a pretty solid score”.

“It’s fun until you hit one too far left or right”, Varner said. “I’m trying to find the balance between enjoying myself this week and still trying to play well”. So it’s good. Different experience. It was just as tough to get a few separation.