Tabuena, 11 shots off the lead, likely to miss Barbasol cut

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Miguel Tabuena

The luck of draw may have caught up with him but Miguel Tabuena battled the elements with all the tricks in his bag in the second round of the Barbasol Championship of the Professional Golfers’ Association (PGA) Tour in Nicholasville, Kentucky.

In all likelihood, Tabuena will end up falling a stroke short of the cutoff score despite a three-under-par 69 and a 36-hole total of 140.

Tabuena arrived at the Keene Trace Golf Club on Friday morning expecting better conditions than what he faced in the first round where howling late afternoon winds made it difficult to judge club selection and toughened putting on the sleek greens even more that resulted to a couple of three-putt bogeys.

There was none of that as lingering fog delayed the start of the round by two hours and inclement weather then interrupted players early in the afternoon. Worse, the round featured delays that totaled 5 hours and 22 minutes.

Adam Svensson of Canada shot a 5-under-par 67 on Friday and held a two-shot lead when play was suspended due to darkness. Seventy-six players still had to finish their second rounds. As of Friday night, the cut line was projected at 5-under.

Tabuena was at 4-under for the tournament, 11 shots off the clubhouse lead.

Playing in the cold and wind, Tabuena tackled the first seven holes at one over with a bogey on the third before he made his first birdie on the par-5 eighth from three feet after a greenside chip. He needed to go low in the back nine and somehow managed to do that, picking up birdies on the two par-5s, the 11th and 15th, before closing out his round with a 10-foot birdie on the last hole.

Tabuena will have to wait for the completion of second round tomorrow but whatever the outcome, he has again proven that he is close to getting his top form back after missing opportunities during the pandemic especially competing against PGA Tour players in Kentucky and finishing in the middle of the pack.