Chad Collins leads by four at Barbasol Championship after second-round 60

Little-known American Chad Collins fired a second-round 60 to grab a four-stroke lead at the half-way stage of the Barbasol Championship.

The 38-year-old from Indiana made 11 birdies in his bogey-free round to put daylight between himself and the rest of the field at RTJ Trail Grand National course in Alabama.

After making six birdies in a row from the 11th, to reach 11-under-par for the day, he required one more birdie on either of the closing two holes to shoot 59.

At the par-three, 213-yard, 17th, his tee shot bounced twice on the green then rolled straight at the hole before catching the right edge of the cup and ended up 12-feet away from where he needed two putts for a par.

And at the par-four, 476-yard, closing hole he missed the fairway with his drive and ended up leaving himself a 70-foot birdie putt to break 60.

The Open

His attempt never really threatened the hole, leaving him a five-footer for par which he made.

Regarding the 17th, he said: "I hit a good shot, but hit it a little heavy. I didn't think it was going to get back there and it must have had a lot of overspin.

"I gave it a run. I'm not too disappointed at all by 60, so I'll take it."

As for the closing hole, he added: "I just got myself out of position off the tee, which you can't do.

"It is probably one of the easiest hole locations on the green, so it was kind of unfortunate to not hit the fairway and I probably would have had a better look at birdie from there."

Collins, who has posted just a single top-10 finish all year, is currently down in 170th spot in the FedEx Cup standings having survived only five 36-hole cuts this season.

He is yet to win on the PGA Tour in 180 starts, and he arrived in the Deep South on the back of 11 missed cuts from his last 12 events.

He said: "It's been a struggle this year up until this point but to see myself in this situation is nice and I'm really looking forward to the weekend.

"I've gained a little bit of confidence ball-striking wise and I've gained in confidence with the putter.

"It's a grind with the heat and a tough course if you're not striking the ball well."

His closest challengers at the half-way mark are compatriots Grayson Murray and Cameron Tringale.

In the history of the PGA Tour, the lowest single round score is 58 carded by Jim Furyk last year, while eight golfers have made 59.

Leaders Thru 36 Holes:

127: Chad Collins (US) (60)

131: Grayson Murray (US) (64)

131: Cameron Tringale (US) (66)

132: Brian Gay (US) (63)

132: David Hearn (Can) (65)

133: Trey Mullinax (US) (65)

133: Steven Alker (Nzl) (67)

133: Martin Flores (US) (68)

133: Tag Ridings (US) (67)