Sahith Theegala fired an eight-under-par 64 to seize a share of the lead on the midway stage of the PGA Tour’s Fortinet Championship in Napa on Friday.
The world No. 37 reeled off seven birdies and an eagle to surge to 12 underneath after 36 holes, with South Korea’s Kim Seong-hyeon becoming a member of him on the prime of the leaderboard after a five-under-par 67.
Australia’s Lucas Herbert, who was main after a first-round 63, scored a three-over 75 to slide right down to nineteenth on the leaderboard, whereas compatriot Cameron Davis roared into fifth place after registering 68 on Friday.
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In excellent circumstances on the Silverado Resort’s north course, Theegala relied on a red-hot putter and a few very good method play to march up the leaderboard.
Theegala and Kim lead by one shot from South Korea’s Bae Sang-moon, who’s a shot again on 11 underneath after a six-under-par 66.
Eric Cole, who additionally shot a 66, is an additional shot again on 10 underneath, two off the lead.
However the low spherical of the day belonged to Theegala, who made a blistering begin with back-to-back 10-foot putts yielding birdies on his third and fourth holes.
He nailed a chip from 48 ft to inside two ft of the outlet for an additional birdie on his sixth gap earlier than giving up that shot with a bogey on his seventh.
He made amends simply earlier than the flip, when he drilled a 47-yard method shot to 4 ft for a easy tap-in birdie.
A monster 48-foot birdie putt on his eleventh gap took him to 4 underneath for the spherical, and he then chipped in from a greenside bunker on the par-five fifth, his 14th gap, for an eagle three that took him to 6 underneath.
Two extra birdies down the stretch adopted to depart Theegala firmly within the hunt for his first particular person PGA Tour title.
“It was an ideal spherical,” Theegala mentioned afterward.
“It was a kind of rounds the place I simply felt like I wanted to present myself probabilities and if I did, I had a very good probability of constructing it.”
Theegala will go into the third spherical aiming to interrupt away from co-leader Kim, who shot six birdies and a bogey en path to his 67.
With Kelly Kraft three off the tempo on 9 underneath after taking pictures a 69, a cluster of 5 gamers are 4 off the lead on eight underneath.
They embody Justin Thomas, who confirmed indicators that he’s returning to kind simply in time for this month’s Ryder Cup with a five-under-par 67 that included back-to-back birdies on his remaining two holes.
“I performed effectively, I performed actually strong, I drove the ball effectively, felt like I gave myself loads of probabilities,” Thomas mentioned.
“It was good to make these putts on the final two holes … that’s why I keep affected person, simply form of keep in it and was capable of birdie these final two to salvage a very good spherical.”
Fortinet Championship leaderboard after second spherical
132 – Sahith Theegala (USA) 68-64, Kim Seonghyeon (KOR) 65-67
133 – Bae Sang-Moon (KOR) 67-66
134 – Eric Cole (USA) 68-66
135 – Kelly Kraft (USA) 66-69
136 – Justin Thomas (USA) 69-67, Max Homa (USA) 70-66, Justin Decrease (USA) 67-69, Sam Ryder (USA) 68-68, Cameron Davis (AUS) 68-68
137 – Lee Kyung-Hoon (KOR) 70-67, Martin Coach (FRA) 71-66, Harry Corridor (ENG) 66-71, Callum Tarren (ENG) 68-69, Matt Kuchar (USA) 70-67, Jason Dufner (USA) 66-71, Ryan Moore (USA) 70-67, Robby Shelton (USA) 69-68
138 – Lucas Herbert (AUS) 63-75