Sweden’s Robert Karlsson broke away from a four-way tie for first with a 7-under 65 on Saturday to take sole possession of the lead after two rounds of the Boeing Classic in Snoqualmie, Wash.
Karlsson turned in a bogey-free round that featured seven birdies to leave his fellow first-round co-leaders in the dust. He now sits at 13-under 131 for the tournament, two strokes ahead of South Korean Charlie Wi, who had low-round honors with an 8-under 64 on Saturday.
Woody Austin, Gene Sauers and New Zealand’s Steven Alker had shared the lead with Karlsson after 18 holes.
“I feel pretty comfortable with where I am at the moment, kind of showing some signs the last few weeks,” Karlsson said Saturday. “You never know, but my goal is just to try to be as focused on the things that I can control as possible tomorrow and we’ll see what comes next.”
Karlsson did most of his damage on the back nine, where five of his birdies came. He rattled off three straight from Nos. 12-14.
Wi started strong and finished even stronger, with the highlight of his day being an eagle at the par-5 eighth. He added three birdies on the front nine before slipping up and having to settle for bogey at No. 11, but Wi more than made up for it by sinking birdies at Nos. 15-18 to stay right on Karlsson’s tail heading into Sunday’s final round.
“You know what, I didn’t even notice that until I signed my card,” Wi said of finishing his round with four consecutive birdies. “I guess I was playing pretty well when you do that.”
Kirk Triplett (70 on Saturday) is six shots back in sole possession of third, while Canada’s Stephen Ames (67), Ernie Els of South Africa (69) and Alker (72) are tied for fourth. Each member of that trio sits at 6-under 138 for the weekend.
Austin (73) is now T7 with Australian David Bransdon (72). Both are at 5 under, one stroke ahead of a five-way tie for ninth.
Meanwhile, Sauers fell into a tie for 14th because of a 3-over 75 on Saturday.
