Steele maintains slim lead at Napa event

Brendan Steele, who tied the course record with a 63 in his opening round, remained atop the leaderboard with a two-under 70 after 36 holes of the Frys.com Open.

American Steele is trying to become just the second ever and the first wire-to-wire winner of the event since Rocco Mediate did it in 2010.

"It's always tough to follow up a round like yesterday with anything even under par," Steele said. "I think we've seen guys over the years follow 63 up usually with something around par.

"If you can go lower than that, you probably have a pretty good-sized lead."

Steele has hit 30 of 36 greens in regulation as he leads four players by two strokes -- Will Wilcox (67), Jhonattan Vegas (71), Graham DeLaet (68) and Harold Varner III (70).

Scotland's Martin Laird (71) and England's Justin Rose (69) are in a group of four at 136.

Wilcox is making his first Frys.com Open start, while Varner is a USPGA Tour rookie.

World number three Rory McIlroy was six shots behind after shooting a one-under 71 Friday on the heels of 68 in the first round.

McIlroy was let down by his dodgy putting on Friday. He made just two putts outside of five feet but on the flip side he managed to get into the weekend action.

"Didn't hole anything really," said McIlroy. "Kind of the story of the day."

"Just very frustrating," he added. "I just need to see some putts going in the hole, get some confidence. I think it's more mental than anything else."

The cut in the PGA Tour's season opening event was set at two-under 142.
Source: AFP