Tringale grabs two-shot lead over Spieth, Wallace

LOS ANGELES: Cameron Tringale shrugged off a slow start to fire seven birdies in a three-under-par 69 and take a two-shot halfway lead in the US PGA Tour Texas Open.

Tringale, seeking his first US PGA Tour title, opened with back-to-back bogeys at TPC San Antonio, unable to get up and down from a greenside bunker at the 10th before finding a fairway bunker at 11.

But the American, who has made 11 cuts in 14 starts this season, strung together five birdies in a row from the 13th through the 17th, surging up the leaderboard to finish the day two strokes clear of former world number one Jordan Spieth and England’s Matt Wallace.

Wallace had four birdies in his four-under par 68 for 137. Spieth joined him at seven-under with a 70 that featured four birdies and two bogeys.

It was a further two strokes back to another quartet of players on 139: South African Erik van Rooyen and Americans Kevin Stadler, Kyle Stanley and Brandt Snedeker.

Tringale’s run of five straight birdies was his fourth in US PGA Tour competition, the most recent coming in his tie for third at the RSM Classic in November.

An 11-foot birdie putt at 13 launched the run and he rolled in a seven-footer at 14. He stuck his approach at 15 less than three feet from the pin for a birdie there, drained a four-footer at 16 and had another three-footer at 17.