Cameron Young tees off on Hole #9.
The field started with 120 golfers on Thursday. After 36 holes of golf, 75 players have made the cut at Even-par 142.
Leading the field is Joaquin Niemann, the 23-year-old Chilean pro. He was 8 under today, and combined with his first round, he is now 16 under par at 126. He was asked about his lead.
“There’s still a lot of golf to go,” he said. “There’s 36 more holes to go, so a lot of things can happen. Yeah, I just try not to thing about it, who’s going to be up there or who’s going to be coming from behind – I just try to worry about my game, try to worry about my shots, I think it should be all right.”
In second is Cameron Young (14 under), who finished his Friday round with four birdies. Afterwards he told reporters “I feel like I’ve been playing really well the last few weeks. It hasn’t turned into anything great: a bunch of made cuts, finished kind of middle of the pack—but every week its just felt like I should be there.
“It will certainly be an awesome experience to be somewhere around the lead starting Saturday,” Young said.
Justin Thomas is 11 under and was asked about the low scores that were posted on the course today. “I think the reason you see the scores, such disparity in them is because of how firm it [the course] is or how firm it’s getting.
“So, if you are hitting the fairway and landing in the fairway, the ball’s
rolling quite a bit to where you have the short clubs in,” Thomas said. “But then again, it’s — the reason there’s some high scores because if you’re not hitting the fairways and missing the greens, it’s tough to chip it close and we all know how poa annua is to try to make those close putts.
“Yeah, obviously I would have thought shooting 11 under, I would have
probably be leading, not five back, but there’s still a lot of golf left,” Thomas said.
The leaders Niemann, Young and Thomas will tee off #1 at 11 a.m.
Tied for fourth is Jordan Spieth and Adam Scott at nine under.
Last year’s winner Max Homa is six under and tied for tenth with Marc Leishman, Maverick McNealy, and Sebastian Munoz.
Dustin Johnson (+2), Bubba Watson (+2), Tom Hoge (+3) and Brooks Koepka (+3) are some of the stars heading home. Also missing the cut was Michael Brennan, the 2022 Collegiate Showcase winner (+2).
Kevin Tway hit his Hole 15 tee shot on the roadway. He was allowed to move it a golf club length before hitting it. He then went into the bunker in front of the hole, but still managed to make par.
I have absolutely no interest in golf and you still make this interesting!
-N