Boo! A wild ride up the leaderboard

Florida Times-Union sports columnist Gene Frenette is at The Players Championship all week and offers daily content for jacksonville.com This is his entry for Friday May 9.
If not for an uncooperative putter, Anthony Kim might have walked off the TPC Sawgrass Players Stadium course with the outright lead after his second round Friday, but at least playing partner Boo Weekly kept things light-hearted for him.

Kim missed birdie putts in the 5-12 foot range at No. 4, 8, 9, 11 and 16, but a second consecutive 70 left him at 4-under-par 140, keeping him two shots off the lead as the afternoon group began teeing off.

"I think today was my best ball-striking round I've had in the last six tournament days I've played," said Kim, who won the Wachovia Championship last week by a five-shot margin. "But the putter was a little bit cold."

What wasn't cold was keeping company with Weekly, the country boy from Milton who has built somewhat of a cult following because of his catchy first name and willingness to acknowledge frequent gallery chants of "Boo!"

Despite missing three putts that would have tied Sergio Garcia for the lead, Kim had no trouble keeping his emotions in check as he walked most of the day with the laid-back Weekly, who shot a one-under-par 71 and stands at 141.

One of the most interesting interactions came after both stuck their tee shots at the par-3 eighth hole within six feet of the cup. A soft-shell turtle crossed their path about 50 yards in front of the tee box, and Kim forced its head back in by teasing the tortoise with his wedge. Then Kim began rubbing its shell like he was petting the turtle.

Weekly started rubbing it with him, then made a noise that forced Kim to jump back, thinking the turtle might somehow lunge at him. Weekly took great delight in spooking Kim, which met with the approval of the small gallery that was following them at the time.

"I got him pretty good with that turtle," Weekly said.

Kim acknowledged that Weekly momentarily scared him, sticking his hand out for a slap as if to say, "Good one, you got me."

"I didn't know if it was a snapping turtle or anything like that, and I don't know much about wildlife and I know [Weekly] does," said Kim. "So when he yelled at me, he scared me pretty good. I think that's why we probably both missed those [birdie putts] on that hole."