Justin Thomas vaulted into a two-shot lead at the halfway point of this CJ Cup in Korea after firing a 63 in the second round.
Thomas managed to build on his hot start, holing his ninth birdie putt of the day to scale to 13 under par two ahead of first-round leader Byeong Hun An and Korean-born New Zealander Danny Lee birdied the first four holes.
Jordan Spieth enhanced his prospects of a first win since The Open as a series of errors contributed which left him 11 strokes off the speed and also out the top 50, but defending champion Brooks Koepka went from the other direction.
There were no issues the winner Jeju Island in 2017 , for entire world No 5 Thomas, since he followed his flyer with a different gain at the eighth and three holes after the turn.
Thomas kept the mistakes at bay and atoned for his bogey-six at the 18th on Thursday using a good birdie to shut out a 63 he explained as”effortless”.
“That has been, I’d say, overall one of the better rounds I have played in a while,” he explained. “It arrived really easy. I felt like all the putts I made really were not anything crazy.
“The putt on 10 was likely the hardest one that I had, but for the most partI had them in the perfect places for where they had been rather easy putts or closer to the hole. I never really had to worry too much on the market, that is undoubtedly a bonus”
An slept on the overnight lead and began two with a nervy bogey at the 10th, however the house galleries were soon cheering as he recovered with a birdie at the 12th and then created four in a row by the 17th, lifting him to 12 under with seven holes – and two par-fives – to play.
But the former BMW PGA winner fought over the last third of his rounded and lost his second shot at the tournament at the first time before parring in for a 69 to stay at 11 under, a dent after matched by Lee after he shot a small shine off his 66 with a bogey at the last.
Four birdies in six holes from the 12th raised Lee, who was playing with Thomas and Phil Mickelson, to 12 underneath, but he caught a wedge heavy from inside 100 yards at the final and came up short of the green, a error which led to a final six.
“I’d a 95-yard third shot, it was back, and I had been trying to strike on my 60-degree wedge a little too hard and struck behind it a tiny bit,” explained Lee. “Got short-sided and I did not make up the down and up. But aside from that, it was a very positive round.”
Spieth, still following his first victory since lifting the Claret Jug at Royal Birkdale, recovered from a bogey at the first with four birdies on the back nine andafter another blot at 11, he birdied five of their last seven holes to reunite a 65 which steered him under and Emiliano Grillo (66).
Tyrrell Hatton directs the challenge as he included a 68 to his opening 69 together with fascinating young talent Viktor Hovland one farther behind following a pair of 69s.
However, Koepka made two birdies from five bogeys in a 75 that leaves him outside the top-50 of this 78-man field going to the weekend and continued to struggle for form.
Read more here: http://www.olcayreklam.com/hull-kr-captain-joel-tomkins-has-ban-extended-to-two-matches-after-failed-appeal/