Madison, MS (Best E Casino) - Marc Turnesa shot a four-under 68 on Friday to remain in the lead midway through the Viking Classic.
Turnesa drained a nine-foot par putt on his last hole to finish two rounds at 11-under-par 133, one shot ahead of Will MacKenzie (64), Paul Stankowski (65), Dicky Pride (67) and Brian Gay (68).
Casey Wittenberg (67) was another shot further back at nine-under 135, while Justin Bolli (67) and Brad Elder (68) shared sixth place at eight-under 136.
John Daly (67), David Toms (68), John Huston (69) and Lee Janzen (70) led a nine-way tie for ninth place at 137.
With the Ryder Cup being played at the same time -- and the FedEx Cup set to wrap up next week at the Tour Championship -- the Viking Classic has flown under the radar as the official start of the PGA Tour's Fall Finish.
Players will be jockeying for position on the money list, hoping to get (or stay) inside the top 125 for a PGA Tour card for next season.
Turnesa, currently 169th on the money list, is among those players on the outside looking in at the moment. He said after taking the first-round lead with a 65 that "When you come to play on Thursday, you're not really thinking about that."
But he was thinking Friday about the only other time he has held a 36-hole lead on the PGA Tour. That came in June, when he faltered on the weekend and tied for 37th place at the St. Jude Classic.
"Just the fact that I have been here before makes me a little more confident," said Turnesa. "And, you know, hopefully I will finish off stronger this week than I did there at the St. Jude."
Starting on the back nine at Annandale Golf Club, Turnesa opened his second round with a bogey at No. 10, but recovered to shoot a 35. He gained control of the tournament again with four birdies over the first six holes on the front side, taking the lead at 11-under with a birdie at No. 5.
His long birdie putt at the sixth capped the nice run and moved Turnesa to 12- under for the tournament. It was one of only 26 putts he needed in the second round.
"That putter feels good," said Turnesa.
One last hiccup awaited, though, when Turnesa pulled a five-iron into the back bunker at No. 8. He was able to blast out to just three feet, but pushed the par putt to take a bogey.
He saved par from nine feet at the last hole to protect his one-shot lead.
"That was a good two-putt. I didn't want to finish off with two bogeys in a row," said Turnesa. "I wouldn't have been feeling too good about that tonight."
The cut fell at two-under 142 with 78 players moving on to Saturday.
Fred Funk, Bob Estes, Steve Lowery, Jerry Kelly, Kevin Stadler, Mark Calcavecchia, J.J. Henry, Jesper Parnevik, Jeff Maggert and Chris DiMarco were among the players who missed the number.
