Defending champion Max Homa carded a 67 on Friday to take share of the lead at 12-under in the Fortinet Championship.
“I drove the ball unbelievable last year if I remember right,” said the American. “This year my mid irons have been really good, but it’s not too far off. My game honestly is — weird to say, but my game from last year all the way to now, from this event last year to now feels very similar, which is great. It’s just a testament to my coach, Mark Blackburn. It feels like I’m doing the same stuff, I’m just getting a little better at it, so it feels quite similar. I get on these greens and I feel like I read them really well. Joe reads them great, so anytime I brought him in for a read I just feel like we have a good eye for the greens.
“So nothing feels too different, but I’m happy that — last year I felt like I was struggling a little bit around like 150 to 200 and this week it feels much better so some of these par 3s I feel a lot more confident on. Yeah, it’s not too dissimilar.
“[The course] fits my eye. I think I know what to do when I’m out of position, I think that’s quite important. And yeah, when I am in position, it fits me. I hit a lot of wedges, been hitting the wedges really well, so when you get a lot of wedges from these fairways I feel like I can attack the pins, and when I’ve been out of position I just feel like I know where to leave the golf ball. I don’t know, I guess I just see the golf course pretty well.”
England’s Danny Willett, who has not won in the USA since the 2016 Masters closed with a bogey-free 64 to take his share of the lead.
“The rough is hit and miss and with the greens being firm as they are, to go bogey free is really good, kind of a sign of where we’re at in terms of playability and where things are. So the field game’s pretty sharp, the short game’s been pretty sharp. So yeah, no, a good two days’work, but there’s still a lot of golf left.
“I’ve been rolling it well for a while. Put the putter in a few weeks ago just before Crans in Europe and finished ninth there. I kind of got here this week and the greens kind of suited what I’ve been working on and kind of saw lines nicely straightaway and just kind of kept building on that and kept working, pace has been real good. So yeah, still early days, but a great position to be in.”
Overnight leader Justin Lower of the USA followed up his opening 65 with a 71 and moved down into a share of third place at 10-under alongside South Korean Byeong Hun An who shot 68.
“Kind of is what it is. It’s always hard to follow up that very low round with another good round or even low round, but I’ll take 1 under today. Could it have been better? Yes, but it definitely could have been worse as well.
“Keep the pedal down. I know the weather’s supposed to be a little different this weekend, but someone figures it out every day, that’s what I’ve learned out here. It doesn’t matter how hard it is, what the conditions are, someone figures it out every day, so hopefully you can be that someone or be close to that. Yeah, hopefully just keep playing the way I am and kind of go from there.”
Lower’s best result so far in the 28 times he has played on the PGA Tour since 2013 was T8 at the Barbasol Championship in January of this year.
