Flawless Casey gets weekend hope

Paul Casey fired a six-under-par 65 at Harbour Town to give himself a chance of making the cut at the Verizon Heritage as Jim Furyk moved to the top of the early second-round leaderboard.

Bouncing back from an opening 75, England’s Casey put his recent troubles behind him with a bogey-free round on South Carolina’s Hilton Head Island.

The world number seven had been forced to withdraw with a shoulder injury from the Shell Houston Open two weeks ago on the eve his title defence there and his Masters campaign at Augusta National last week was a short-lived affair as rounds of 75 and 78 saw him make an early exit.

Casey had been looking at the wrong side of the cut line at Harbour Town Golf Links on Thursday night following his opening four-over 75 but an early start this morning began to put things right and, starting from the 10th hole, he holed three birdies to go out in 32.

More birdies followed on the par-five second and par-three seventh holes before Casey completed his round with another at the par-four ninth for his 65 that moved him to two under par for the week, two strokes inside the early projected cutline.

American Furyk was another to capitalise on a morning start when the winds stayed calm for the second day in a row.

The world number six followed an opening 68 with a three-under 67 to get to seven under at the halfway stage with overnight leader KJ Choi among the later wave of starters and having bogeyed his second hole to slip to six under.

In the clubhouse on six under were Americans Chad Campbell (67), Bryce Molder (68) and 2007 and 2008 winner Boo Weekley (68) as well as Australia’s Stuart Appleby, whose 67 was his lowest round of the year.

Heath Slocum had been on course to join Furyk at seven under but last year’s Barclays champion double bogeyed the par-four 18th and had to settle for a round of 67.

That left Slocum at five under alongside fellow American Zach Johnson, who posted a 66, South Africa’s Tim Clark (70) and Sweden’s Carl Pettersen (68) with England’s Greg Owen and Brian Davis and Spain’s Sergio Garcia on the same mark having just begun their second rounds.

Scotland’s Martin Laird overcame a wobble on his outward nine, starting from the 10th, that had seen him bogey the par-four 13th and double bogey the par-five 15th. He rebounded with 12 holes of blemish-free golf that included five birdies for a round of 69 that moved him to four under for the tournament.

Swedish duo Robert Karlsson and Richard S Johnson, Americans John Daly and defending champion Brian Gay and Germany’s Alex Cejka were among those facing an anxious wait on the cutline at level par following the first two rounds.