He’s not going to win the Charles Schwab Challenge at Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth but Chris Stroud will certainly be in the running for the tournament’s most dramatic shot.

With another missed cut starting him in the face Friday morning, Stroud rolled in a 32-foot birdie putt on his final hole for an even par 70. Coupled with his first round 72, Stroud made the cut on the number at 142.

The news wasn’t so good for fellow PNG ex Andrew Landry. Though he made
three birdies on the front nine, and was making a move toward the cut line, Landry got sabotaged by a triple bogey 7 on the ninth hole. He wound up
shooting 69 for 146.

Stroud, who started the tournament with a triple bogey on his first hole Thursday afternoon, opened with back-to-back birdies on Friday. The second of those was a bomb from 42 feet.

That got him to the projected plus 2 cut line, but Stroud made four bogeys over the next 10 holes and was two over the cut with six holes left. A birdie from 10 feet on the par 3, 13th got him within one, then he earned the right to play on the weekend with the long birdie at 18.

Stroud’s key number in snapping a string of four consecutive missed cuts was ranking fifth in the field in strokes gained putting.

Landry looked like he might also pull off something dramatic after his first-day 77. He rolled in birdies from 2 feet on the fourth hole, 10-9 on the fifth and 11-6 on the seventh. At that point was only two shots off the cut line. But the triple bogey at nine ended any hopes.

Lamar ex Shawn Stefani also missed the cut. Stefani, after shooting 71 on Thursday, slipped to a 75 Friday to stand at 146.

Jonas Blixt shot 64 to grab the lead at 131. Kevin Na with 62 for 132 and Tony Finau, with a 68 for 132, are a stroke back.

— Bob West