TRUCKEE, Calif. — The smoky conditions didn’t hurt the leaders too much, aside from not being able to see their tee shots as they disappeared into the sky.
Emilliano Grillo was in the first group to tee off Friday morning and he cut through the smoke and haze to pick up 17 points and grab the lead after two rounds of the Barracuda Championship on Friday at Old Greenwood Golf Course near Truckee.
Grillo, 28, from Argentina, had 12 points after the first round, then added 17 on Friday to take the lead with 29 points. The Barracuda uses the Modified Stableford scoring system in which golfers earn eight points for a double eagle, five points for an eagle, two points for a birdie, no points for a par, minus-one point for a bogey and minus-three points for a double bogey or worse.
Grillo has one win on the PGA Tour and is in 42nd place in the FedEx Cup rankings.
Adam Schenk, 29, is in second with 27 points, after scoring 19 points on Friday.
Smoke from nearby fires poured into the Truckee area throughout the day Friday and enveloped Old Greenwood. The Air Quality Index hovered around 200 most of the day.
Tournament director Chris Hoff said PGA Tour officials were monitoring the air quality.
It was smoky, but still chilly on Friday morning, but Grillo opened birdie-eagle-birdie to start his round.
Schenk made an eagle, birdie, birdie on Nos. 6-7-8 Friday.
“It’s more fun when you’re playing well and near the top of the leaderboard. It’s obviously exciting,” Schenk said.
Schenk is No. 113 on the FedEx Cup standings.
The 23rd annual Barracuda Championship started with 132 golfers, but that field was cut to the top 70 after two days when the cut came in at 10 points.
Saturday’s late start due to smoke
The Barracuda will begin at 11 a.m. Saturday, with golfers going off on both the No. 1 and No. 10 tees. The Golf Channel telecast begins at 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.
The late start is due to Saturday’s forecast of elevated smoke in the morning, but improvement in air quality is expected throughout the day.
Former champ helping out
Andrew Putnam won the Barracuda in 2018 and he is having a good week so far at Old Greenwood, sitting in fourth place with 25 points.
He is also helping Lake Tahoe and was scuba diving there earlier this week as part of the clean-up effort.
“Usually I go on a dive, I see something cool, or shark or whatever,” Putnam said. “It was a little harder work than normal. I was out of breath when I was done because you’re searching around rocks and pulling all sorts of stuff up. But it was fun to do something that felt like you were giving back and making the world a better place.”
It was his first time scuba diving in Lake Tahoe. He said he hopes to help raise awareness about not polluting the lake.
Barnes DQ, Taylor WD
Ricky Barnes was disqualified after signing an incorrect scorecard Friday morning.
Vaughn Taylor withdrew after suffering a rib injury. Taylor won twice (2004-05) when the PGA Tour was at Montreux Golf & Country Club and called the Reno-Tahoe Open.