Martin Laird takes one-stroke lead into weekend at suspended UNC Health Championship

Suspension summary: The second round was suspended due to lightning at 3:58 p.m. ET, and resumed at 5:30 p.m. (delay of one hour, 32 minutes). The second round was suspended due to inclement weather at 8:16 p.m., with 14 players needing to complete their round. The second round is scheduled to resume Saturday at 7 a.m., and the 36-hole cut will be made upon conclusion of the second round.

Charting the leader (stats entering week)

Martin Laird

(First/-11)

• Four-time PGA TOUR winner cards 5-under 65 and holds a one-stroke lead at 11-under 129, tying the second-lowest opening 36-hole score in the six playings of the UNC Health Championship presented by STITCH at Raleigh Country Club (128/Jimmy Green/1998; 129/Kyle Westmoreland/2023).
• Making his first Korn Ferry Tour start since September 2020, holds his second career 36-hole lead/co-lead in what is his 50th career start on Tour (previous: 1st/2007 Athens Regional Foundation Classic/Won)
• Held four 36-hole leads/co-leads on the PGA TOUR, converting two into victories (2011 Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard, 2020 Shriners Hospitals for Children Open)
• Earned PGA TOUR victories at the 2009 Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals for Children Open, 2011 Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard, 2013 Valero Texas Open, and 2020 Shriners Hospitals for Children Open; his lone Korn Ferry Tour victory came at the 2007 Athens Regional Foundation Classic
• Entered the 2025 season having played 17 consecutive seasons on the PGA TOUR; he finished No. 147 in the 2024 FedExCup Fall for conditional status for the 2025 TOUR season
• Played two previous seasons on the Korn Ferry Tour, finishing No. 156 in the 2005 standings, and earning PGA TOUR membership with a No. 13 finish in the 2007 standings
• Turned professional in 2004 after four seasons at Colorado State University (2000-04), where he earned six collegiate victories; he was inducted into the Colorado State Athletics Hall of Fame in 2017

Additional notes

• Korn Ferry Tour winner Trace Crowe (second/-10) cards 8-under 62 to tie the second-lowest score in the six playings of the UNC Health Championship presented by STITCH at Raleigh Country Club (60/Jimmy Green/1998, Round 1; 62/Matt Gogel/1998, Round 1).
• Davis Chatfield (T3/-8), who stands No. 11 on the 2025 Korn Ferry Tour Points List, is in line to stand T3 or higher through 36 holes for the fifth time this season (previous four were all leads or co-leads); Chatfield and S.H. Kim are the only two players on Tour.
• Two-time Korn Ferry Tour winner Justin Suh (T3/-8), who was the 2022 Korn Ferry Tour Player of the Year, is in line to hold his second-highest 36-hole position on Tour (career-high 36-hole position: T1/2025 The Bahamas Great Abaco Classic at The Abaco Club/finished T7); his victory at the 118th Visa Argentina Open presented by Macro earlier this season earned him an exemption for the upcoming 153rd Open Championship at Royal Portrush.
• Nick Gabrelcik (T3/-8), who is in his first full season on the Korn Ferry Tour after a No. 5 finish in the 2024 PGA TOUR University Ranking, is in line to establish a career-high 36-hole position (previous: T14/2025 Panama Championship/finished T2).
• Three-time Korn Ferry Tour winner Pierceson Coody (T3/-8) is in line to hold his second-highest 36-hole position on Tour (career-high 36-hole position: 1st/2022 Live and Work in Maine Open/Won); he has three top-10s in five starts on Tour this season, in addition to five made cuts in eight starts on the PGA TOUR this season.
• Two-time Korn Ferry Tour winner Tyson Alexander (T3/-8) is in line to hold his highest 36-hole position in a Tour event since the 2022 Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas Wichita Open (T2/finished T4).
• Campbell University alum Pontus Nyholm (T18/-6), who won last week’s Visit Knoxville Open for his first Korn Ferry Tour title, paces the players in the field with ties to the state of North Carolina.
• Raleigh native Carter Jenkins (T27/-5) is in line to make the 36-hole cut, while fellow Raleigh native and PGA TOUR winner Chesson Hadley (T67/-2) is currently projected to miss the cut.