American Ryan Palmer closed with three birdies in his last four holes Friday to shoot a four-under-par 66 and take a one-stroke lead after two rounds of the PGA Sony Open. Palmer helped cap his round with a monster drive on the par-five 18th hole to finish at nine-under 131 in the $5.5 million Hawaii tournament. Palmer, a two-time winner on the PGA Tour, said the key for him is to not let his emotions get carried away. “I'm not going to sit here and say I'm not going to think about being in the lead,” he said. “Who doesn't think about it when they tee off Saturday in the final group. I'll just go play golf and see what happens.” Defending champion Zach Johnson, Robert Allenby and Chad Campbell shared second place at eight-under 132. Aussie Allenby and Johnson, of the US, were part of a group of six first round leaders. They both shot three-under 67 Friday while Campbell fired a superb 64. Allenby, who sprained an ankle Monday, is coming off two consecutive wins in Australia and South Africa. Seventeen players were separated by four shots going into the final two rounds. Steve Stricker had a 67 and was joined in the group at seven-under 133 by John Merrick (68) and Jeff Quinney (67). Another shot back was American Davis Love and Masters champion Angel Cabera (68). Paul Goydos had a tournament-low 63 and was in the group at 135. Fijian-Indian Vijay Singh shot 72 and made the cut on the number. Among those that missed the cut were American John Daly (71) and 19-year-old Japanese star Tadd Fujikawa. He was straddling the cut line when he hit into a canal and then bonked a tree for double bogey on the par-five ninth hole. Rising star Rickie Fowler shot 75-72 and also missed the cut. Schwartzel leads by four South African Charl Schwartzel is well placed for a second European Tour win in as many weeks after taking a four-stroke lead in the third round of the Joburg Open Saturday. The early Race to Dubai leader shot a flawless seven-under-par round of 64 at the Royal Johannesburg and Kensington Golf Club. Schwartzel's nearest challenger is Northern Ireland's Darren Clarke, who is bidding for a first European Tour win since the 2008 KLM Open. Clarke's 67 on Saturday featured six birdies, but bogeys at the fourth and ninth holes kept him at 14-under-par overall and allowed Schwartzel to get away. South African veteran Hendrik Buhrmann lies third at 12. South Africans Jaco van Zyl, Hennie Otto, Alex Haindl and James Kamte were all handily placed at 11-under. Englishman Danny Willett completed the quintet at 11-under. He was tied with Schwartzel and overnight leader David Lynn at 13-under after nine holes, but double bogeys at the 12th and the 15th set him back before he rallied with two late birdies. Tournament organizers have made a significant change to Sundays schedule in order to avoid predicted afternoon thunderstorms. The leaders will tee off as early as 0900 local time (0700 GMT) Sunday in a bid to finish before a repeat of the bad weather that has played havoc with the first three days. A thunderstorm stopped play at 1122 GMT Saturday after the last group had completed eight holes. Play resumed at 1400.
