Go figure.
The clubhouse leader of the Hewlett Packard Enterprise Houston Open is ranked 1,310th in the Official World Golf Ranking.
Has made one cut in seven months.
His lone win came in the 2019 Puerto Rico Open, which happens to be his only top-10 on the PGA Tour in his career.
And Martin Trainer wasn’t exactly licking his chops after seeing the long layout at Memorial Park Golf Course that softened up following a storm front that dumped an inch of rain and delayed the tournament for 2 hours, 30 minutes at the beginning of Thursday’s first round.
Despite all of that, Trainer sits atop the leaderboard after posting a second consecutive 5-under-par 65 on Friday.
“It is demoralizing when you keep missing cuts over and over again,” said Trainer, who had made just one cut in his last 18 starts. “On Tour obviously it’s tough to even compete and make a cut let alone, you know, get to the top of the leaderboard. It’s been tough at times for me the last couple years not playing well, but now that I figured out a little bit of ball‑striking, dropped some putts, it really can turn around that quickly. So I’m just grateful that that’s happening to me this week and hopefully I’ll keep it going.”
Trainer is one shot clear of Kevin Tway, who is dealing with his own struggles. The son of 8-time PGA Tour winner and 1986 PGA champion, Bob Tway, is ranked No. 533 and has just three top-10s since winning his lone PGA Tour title in the 2018 Safeway Open. Tway has made just one bogey and his rounds of 67-64 have him at 9 under. He chipped in from 60 feet for eagle on the third and holed his approach from 107 yards for eagle on the 13th.
“You’re never going to complain about a 64 with a couple hole‑outs. I played very well, putted well,” said Tway, who played 27 holes on Friday. “I’m a little tired now, but all in all a good day.”
At 7 under is Adam Long (66-67). Another stroke back at 6 under were Adam Schenk (70-64), Kramer Hickok (67-67), and Scottie Scheffler, who followed his opening-round 72 with a course-record 62. Scheffler channeled some inner steam to turn his game around in quick fashion.
“I think anger can go a few ways on the golf course. You can use it and get even more frustrated and more pissed off and you start thinking negatively. I used that anger today as a positive,” he said. “After I bogeyed No. 4 I basically told myself I’ve had enough of this crap. That’s what I told my caddie, too, walking down 5 fairway. Hit a nice putt on 6 and just kind of turned the round around from there.”
Because of Thursday’s storms, the second round will spill into Saturday. Jason Kokrak is 8 under through 11 holes, the best score among players who have to complete their rounds Saturday morning.
Trainer doesn’t know what his tee time will be but he’s obviously happy to make it to the weekend instead of going home. Especially since, at times during his struggles, he’s contemplated looking for a new line of work.
“There’s always an incentive to play and there’s always that hope that maybe I can find it, but yeah, there’s definitely been times when I haven’t been playing well in the last couple years where I thought about and pondered my future in the game,” he said. “It’s nice to finally have one of these validating performances where all that work actually is paying off.
“Last week I hit the ball really well for the first time in a long time and I just didn’t putt very well. So I figured if I could somehow do both of those at the same time, which to be fair, every single player says that every single week, but for me it had been such a long time coming that, you know, it really was a grind for a long time.
“So now to finally be able to put it together I think is, you know, it’s not easy, but you have to hope that this is the week. I just want to keep playing well. I think I’m not too concerned with sort of the overall outcomes, I’m just going to keep playing and try to keep dropping putts, I guess.”
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