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Spain’s Sergio Garcia and Texan Ryan Palmer lead the HP Byron Nelson Championship into the weekend, Garcia joining Palmer late in the day with a birdie at the 15th hole to move to 8 under. The pair has opened up a three shot lead over Americans Tom Petrovic and Scott Piercy. Palmer, who is adopting a new approach to his game this week following an indifferent start to the 2011 season, played much earlier in the day and added a round of 67 to his opening 65 on Thursday afternoon. Palmer bogeyed the same hole (the 15th) that Garcia would birdie a few hours later to grab a share of the lead but the pair have a comfortable lead heading into the weekend. Both of the leaders are looking for a change of fortunes although Palmer’s winning drought has been much shorter than that of Garcia. Palmer won his last event in January of 2010 on Hawaii while for Garcia his last PGA Tour victory was at the Players Championship in 2008.Golf Apparel Palmer’s new approach, where he leaves all the strategic decision making to his caddie and good friend James Edmonson, appears to be paying off. Edmondson is a former playing partner on the mini tours but when Palmer joined the Nationwide Tour in 2003 Edmondson took on the role of caddie which has been ever since. They won together very early as a team, that victory coming in just the second Nationwide Tour event Palmer played that year. That was in Christchurch in New Zealand and a year later Palmer had joined the PGA Tour. Where Palmer comes from in Texas (Amarillo) is a windy region so the buffeting winds of this week’s event have proved no problem for him to date. Garcia, a former winner of this event, is clearly on the way back to the position in the game he enjoyed earlier in his career. This was the 14th consecutive cut he has made in events worldwide and if he was to return to the winner’s circle then it would both well received and deserving.Golf Accessories Garcia putted well but was a little defensive when asked about that side of his game after his round. “You know what? I think I’ve pretty much had enough of that. I know where I stand. I don’t need any stat to tell me if I’m putting well or bad, I know if I’m putting well or bad. To me, I’ve always said it, to me it’s not so much obviously making the putt is great, but it’s the effort I put on it. “If the way I putt is with confidence, even if I miss them, I can still live with that. If I hit a good putt and I misread it or I get a gust of wind like happened to Dustin Johnson on 11, you can’t control that.24Hours Online Golf That’s the most important thing for me and that’s where I’ve been able to do it more consistently this year since I went to the Claw Grip. Obviously there are days when I don’t putt as well but I think it’s much better.http://www.24hoursonlinegolf.com/ I feel much more comfortable, I feel like I know what I’m doing and like I said, I’m the one that needs to be happy with it. I don’t need anybody else ““ it doesn’t bother me at all.”�European Tour Rod Pampling, again staking advantage of an invite to play the event leads the large Australian contingent in 14th position but Steve Bowditch impressed with his second round of 65 to be in 29th position. Jason Day, Greg Chalmers and late inclusion in the field, Cameron Percy, finished right on the cutline and will play the weekend.
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