Jason Dufner takes Commanding lead at 2012 Crowne Plaza Invitational on Friday

Could we be seeing something truly spectacular this year in regards to Jason Dufner’s play?

The man has already won two PGA Tour events in the matter of less than a month, and heading into this week shoots two great round of 65-64 to take a two shot lead going into the weekend.  Dufner had a great round on Thursday but had two bogeys in the middle of it that sort of caused him to lay off the gas pedal for a little while.  On Friday, however, he picked right back up where he started with three birdies over his first three holes en route to a six under 64.  For much of the year, Dufner had been great with his long game but not so good with the short game, ranking well over 100 in many putting categories.  Over recent weeks though Dufner has found himself in a groove with the putter, in this week’s event ranking sixth in strokes gained from putting and seventh in putts per green in regulation.  He is on an incredible pace right now, and for him to lose this week’s event would probably take a miracle of some sort.

One player that could provide that miracle is Zach Johnson, the first round leader who shot a 67 on Friday and got surpassed by Dufner’s hot play.  Zach Johnson had a great start of his own on day two with an eagle and a birdie over the first two holes, but couldn’t really seem to get anything going after that.  It was just a very inconsistent day for the usually-consistent Johnson, which included three bogeys on the day and just over 60% of the greens hit in regulation.  His putter has kept him in the tournament to this point, ranking second in the field in strokes gained from putting, but if he wants to have any sort of chance of winning this week’s event he will have to hit a lot more greens in regulation on Saturday and Sunday.

One of the biggest surprises of this week’s event has been the play of Tommy “Two Gloves” Gainey, who followed up a 66 on Thursday with a 67 on Friday to put himself in a tie for third overall heading into the weekend.  It is surprising because Gainey has only made 6 cuts in 16 starts on the PGA Tour this year and is coming off of two missed cuts in a row.  Similar to Johnson, Gainey has been on fire with his putter this week, ranking first in strokes gained from putting even though he has five bogeys overall in the event.  Hopefully he can keep up the momentum into the weekend, as he is truly one of the more interesting players to watch on Tour with the unorthodox golf swing of his.