……. Fatiha Betscher, Tampa Bay, FL

Zimbabwe’s Brendon de Jonge edged closer to a maiden PGA Tour success in posting a second round 69 in the Valspar Championship here at Tampa Bay.

The 34-year old, who was runner-up late last year in the McGladery’s Championship, leads the Coppehead course field by a stroke on six under par.

However only seven separated de Jonge from the 60 players to have made the one over par cut, and the the first time the first-to-worst gap has been that small since the 2011 Open Championship at Royal St. George’s.

“Obviously, gives you a good chance for the weekend,” de Jonge said.

Brendan de Jonge signs autographs after taking a one shot lead on day two of the 2015 Valspar Championship. (Photo – www.golfbymiss.com)

Hot on De Jonge’s tail is World No. 3 Henrik Stenson and ultra-talented Jordan Spieth.

Reigning Australian Open and Hero World Challenge Speith holed a superb birdie putt from the fringe on the 18th for a 4-under 67 to match the best score of the round.

Stenson is competing on the Copperhead course for the first time and is clearly enjoying the experience as evident when he eagled the first in a round of  70.

Also at five under par is the Americans Ryan Moore (68), Kevin Streelman (69) and Derek Ernst (70).

Ernst, who had only one round in the 60s this year, ran off five straight birdies around the turn to reach 8-under par until he started missing greens, missing putts and making bogeys to fall one shot behind de Jonge.

“Starting the day if you told me I would have shot 1 under I would have been very happy with it,” Ernst said.

Former US Open winner Luca Glover shot a 69 is in a group two shots behind de Jonge and tied with Sean O’Hair (72), Ricky Barnes (72) and England’s Ian Poulter (70) who hasn’t been to Innisbrook since 2010, and he was asked what had kept him away.

“Because I’m a buffoon,” Poulter said. “I mean, stupid. This golf course I can compete on because it’s fiddly, it’s position off the tee, small greens, need to chip it well, good pace putting when you’re above the hole. All those things I do well.”

Poulter recalls the greens being sloppy the last time he played, and so he instructed his caddie to never allow him to return. Seven holes into his pro-am round, he said he told his caddie, “What the … was I doing not being here?”

Big disappointment was the effort of Adam Scott.

The former Masters winner missed four putts from inside 5 feet on his way to a 75 and missed the cut by three shots. It’s the first time he had the weekend off at a golf tournament since the 2012 Byron Nelson Championship.

What makes Innisbrook so mysterious is that players are irritated by the shots they left out on the course, only to realize they’re not in bad shape. Such was the case of Stenson, who made a 25-foot eagle on his opening hole, a 20-foot birdie putt on his final hole and nothing but pars and two bogeys in between.

“I didn’t get it close enough to give myself too many birdies,” Stenson said. “All in all, pretty pleased.”

Spieth rammed in a 20-foot birdie on the third hole that he said left a ball mark on the back of the cup. So that was a good break. He made a 30-foot birdie on No. 6 and rolled it in from 18 feet on the final hole. That was enough to put him in the final group, even if he’s not sure how he got there.

“This is one of those random places where you feel like you should have shot better than you did, but you’re not out of it,” he said. “You can make birdies. The problem is there is trouble around every corner.”

There was even trouble in the fairway. Early in the round, Charley Hoffman stopped when he saw a 10-foot alligator walking across the third fairway.

“We weren’t going anywhere fast,” Hoffman said. “And neither were we.”