Brooks Koepka holds a one-shot lead as he chases a second PGA Tour victory of the month at the WGC-Workday Championship; PGA champion Collin Morikawa in the group tied-second and Rory McIlroy six off the halfway lead.
Saturday 27 February 2021 00:58, UK
Brooks Koepka holds a narrow advantage at the WGC-Workday Championship, as Collin Morikawa made an impressive move up the leaderboard.
Koepka mixed seven birdies with a lone bogey on his way to a six-under 66 at The Concession Club, taking him to 11 under and a shot clear of Morikawa, Billy Horschel and Cameron Smith.
Morikawa equalled the lowest round of the day with an eight-under 64, while Horschel carded a second successive 67 and Smith made four birdies in a six-hole stretch to post a second-round 66 and also get to 10 under.
Overnight co-leaders Matt Fitzpatrick and Webb Simpson sit two strokes back in tied-fifth alongside Tony Finau, while Patrick Reed is three back on eight under and Rory McIlroy heads into the weekend six shots off the pace.
Starting the day a shot off the lead, Koepka birdied the first and holed a 15-footer to save par at the fourth before following a tap-in gain at the seventh by converting from 20 feet at the next.
Koepka splashed out of the sand to four feet to pick up a shot at the 12th and made a six-footer at the 15th to move into a share of the lead, only to fire his approach at the next to tap-in range to claim the outright advantage.
The four-time major champion briefly moved two clear after getting up and down from the sand to pick up a shot at the par-five 17th, but carded his only bogey of the day after going long of the green on the final hole.
Reed temporarily topped the leaderboard after six birdies in his opening 12 holes, only to find water twice in the space of four holes and bogeying both, while Viktor Hovland was within two of the lead until he finished his three-under 69 by quadruple-bogeying his final hole.
"I felt like I'm still making some good golf swings and putting myself in spots that you need to in order to attack this golf course," Reed said. "There towards the end it was just kind of a couple head scratchers."
McIlroy's hopes of completing a full set of World Golf Championship titles suffered a setback with a double-bogey seven on the seventh, but he responded with three birdies in a four-hole stretch from the ninth to close on the lead.
The Northern Irishman bounced back from a bogey at the 14th to make a tap-in birdie at the 16th and roll in a 15-foot gain at the next, before failing to get up and down from the sand to save par at the last.
Bryson DeChambeau shot 13 strokes better than his opening day as he matched Morikawa's joint-low 64, while world No 1 Dustin Johnson languishes in tied-54th despite bouncing back from his first-round 77 to sign for a 69.
Watch the WGC-Workday Championship throughout the weekend live on Sky Sports. Live coverage continues on Saturday with Featured Groups from 1pm, ahead of full live coverage from 5pm.
