Bryson DeChambeau separated from the pack at LIV Golf Singapore on Friday with five birdies and an eagle to fire a second-round 65 and build a three-shot lead over the field.
DeChambeau began the round with consecutive pars, then birdied No. 3 and eagled the par-5 fourth to set the tone for his round. He’s 10-under through 36 holes and walked off the course after missing the chance to birdie his final hole.
“I played great today. I had a few more opportunities out there that I didn’t capitalize on, but I played plenty well and gave myself plenty of opportunities to go low today.”
At 7-under and three back of DeChambeau are Thomas Detry (67 on Friday), Louis Oosthuizen (67), Jon Rahm (68), Lee Westwood (68) and Richard T. Lee (68).
Detry was runner-up to Rahm at LIV Golf Hong Kong last week. He recorded one of the shots of the second round, a chip-in eagle on the 18th. Detry rolled it in from 40 yards out starting at the back of the green.
DeChambeau avoided a larger disaster at the par-4 15th when he hooked his tee shot into the harbor. He took a drop and successfully scrambled to earn a bogey.
“Focus on my golf, what I can control,” DeChambeau said of his approach to the weekend. “I know it’s cliche, but you can’t get too wrapped up with what everybody else is doing and making sure I’m starting it on my lines the way I need to and rolling the putts on my lines like I need to. Barring that, I think I can give myself a good chance.”
Rahm made 11 consecutive pars — from No. 7 to No. 17 — and birdied the par-5 18th to finish at 7-under.
“I played really good today. Felt like I played actually significantly better than yesterday, just little margins,” Rahm said. “Couldn’t really make many putts out there today. Made that one on 6 and from then on missed a lot of birdie chances.”
Oosthuizen’s round included six birdies and two bogeys.
“I tried to give myself as many birdie putts as possible,” said Oosthuizen. “I felt I saw the greens really good today, the lines, and rolled the putter really good.”
Westwood had five birdies and two bogeys in his second start back from a wrist injury.
Lee is attempting to become the first LIV Golf Wild Card to finish better than 12th in a tournament.
Four shots off the lead are Matthew Wolff, Marc Leishman and Charles Howell III.
Crushers GC owns the team lead with a cumulative 10-under on Friday, good for a three-shot lead over the first-round leaders, Legion XIII.
–Field Level Media
