LA. -PGA Tour rookies Isaiah Salinda and Kevin Bello shot a 3-under 69 on alternative shot plays on Friday, remaining on the leaderboard of the Zurich Classic, with defending champions Rory McIlroy and Shane Laurie in six stroke backs.
Salinda and Bello were 17 under 127 overall after breaking the tournament’s better ball record with 58 on Thursday in the tour’s only team event. Andrew Novak and Ben Griffin suffered a stroke after 66 refreshing conditions at the Louisiana TPC.
“Overall, it’s really solid,” Velo said. “I think we really played our strengths today. We both missed out on the short short that led to bogeys, but on top of that, we played pretty perfect.
The team will play better ball on Saturday and alternative shots on Sunday.
“Tomorrow we’ll continue playing ourselves, set ourselves on Sunday and give us a shot,” Salinda said. “I think alternative shots are like our strength.”
Salinda and Bello, who played first in the back nine, made a turn in one over and then came together with four birdies on the easier front.
Novak stripped out his playoff loss to Justin Thomas at RBC Heritage last week.
“There was really only one hole there. “Our short game takes care of a lot of missteps. But a lot of good putts and seven birdies today. It’s really strong for an alternative shot.”
McIlroy started for the first time since winning the Masters, with Lowry tied up to 16th place with 11 after 69.
The Irish star eagled for a par 5 seconds and played the first 12 holes at 6 under. They were over 3 in the last six innings, and dropped strokes with 13th par 4, 17th par 3 and 18th par 5.
The same Danish twins, Nikolai and Rasmus Hodzigard, were third in 15 after age 70. They shot 59 on Thursday.
Jacob Bridgeman and Chandler Phillips had 68 to reach 14 under.