July 28, 2002	Sunday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 17,1423

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SILVIS (Illinois), July 27: J.P. Hayes fired a course-record 10-under-par 61 Friday to join Fred Funk at the top of the leaderboard after two rounds of the John Deere Classic.

Hayes and Funk are each at 14-under-par and broke the 36-hole tournament record to give them a one-shot advantage over Robert Gamez, who went round in 64.

At number 32, Funk is the highest-ranked player on the PGA Tour money list in the field and he and Hayes are three shots ahead of Briny Baird (64) and Nolan Henke (65) in joint fourth at 11-under.

Hayes was a pedestrian one-under through the first three holes and then reeled off birdies on holes four through seven before a bogey at the par-four eighth slowed his charge.

He then birdied the first three holes on the back nine and closed with three more on the last four holes.

Hayes’ back-nine six-under 30 tied Tim Petrovic’s 30 earlier in the day for the back nine course record.

“It was a lot of fun,” Hayes said.

“I felt like I was going to play well but you never expect something like that.

Hayes needed just 22 putts, and admitted he had three others hit a good portion of the hole only to lip out.

Funk, who last won on the PGA Tour in 1998 and is coming off a second-place finish at the B.C. Open, has played the TPC at Deere Run without a bogey through the first two rounds.

Funk opened his round with a birdie putt from 12 feet, then added birdies at the sixth and eighth holes for an outward three-under 35.

He then birdied three of the first four holes on the back nine and added his seventh birdie at the par-five 17th.

Through the first two rounds, Funk has hit 35 greens in regulations and 27 of 28 fairways, which has allowed him get by with averaging 30 putts per round.