AP – (March 2006) Friday was a grueling day of golf for the Harvest Classic participants. Only the strong survive this intense day of competition as was the case today. The morning round was played at the Saddlebrook course at 8:00 a.m. The rounds of the morning belonged to Jim and Kevin Hayes both scoring 5 points over their quota.
After a quick lunch the tournament continued on the Palmer course at 1:30. After a quick team photo the players regained their composure and teed it up for the second 18. This is where things really started to heat up.
Round 1 leader Tom Hayes birdied holes six, seven, and eight to shoot a one under front nine. He continued on with his hot streak and finished one under for his second 18 holes of the day.
Vern Shukoski played out of his mind on the front nine, shooting a one over 37. Coming up one bloody mary short, he shot 45 on the back and scored 5 ponts over his quota, putting him tied for 4th place going into the final round.
The real story of the afternoon belongs to J.P. Hayes. Coming off a 68 on his first 18 holes, J.P. decided to switch to the long putter on his return to the Palmer course. The move proved to be an excellent call as he shot a second round 62, pouring in 9 birdies. Tom and J.P. battled for the entire round for control of the leaderboard, but J.P. proved just too much for Tom to handle.
The fourth and final round of the Harvest Classic will tee up at 8:37 tomorrow morning with the pairings determined by finishing position today. Needless to say the author of Hayesvision.com will be teeing up first, seeing as his is only 26 points off the lead.
Stay tuned tomorrow for the final results of the 2006 Harvest Golf Classic.
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