Chris Kirk fired nine birdies, including three in-a-row from the 1st, as well as two bogeys to close with a second 7-under 65. He is tied in the lead at 14-under at the Rocket Classic, tying his best score relative to par through 36 holes (2024 Sentry/Won).
“The last few days everything has been pretty solid,” said the American. “You know, I’ve putted the ball pretty nice. Not making everything or anything like that, but definitely made some really good quality putts. Obviously hit a good many good iron and wedge shots to give myself some looks.
“I played pretty bad all year and to the point where I was — I was kind of thinking about not playing the US Open just because I was — I was really struggling and didn’t know what I was doing, but I do really — I really love Oakmont so that was why I was like OK, I’m going to go play and see what I can do. Played really solid, drove the ball the best I had all year that week and everything was pretty good.
“So I think it’s just one of those things where you’re never as far off as you feel like you are when you’re not playing very well. You know, it’s such a fine line out here, all the players on this tour are so good that you miss a cut by one or two and you feel like it’s the end of the world and you feel like you’re the worst golfer ever and you’re really not as far off as you think.”
130 marks his lowest opening 36-hole score on the PGA Tour since a career-low 129 (64-65) at the 2023 Sony Open in Hawaii.
Kirk holds his fifth 36-hole lead/co-lead on Tour, he is 1-for-4 in converting to victory (2023 Sony Open in Hawaii/3rd, 2020 Rocket Classic/T21, 2013 RSM Classic/Won, 2011 Texas Children’s Houston Open/T2).
The six-time Tour winner has had victories in each of the last two seasons (2024 Sentry, 2023 Cognizant Classic in The Palm Beaches) and is bidding to become the oldest winner this season (will be 40 years, 1 month, 21 days of age Sunday).
American Philip Knowles made three eagles at the par-5s 17th, 4th and 7th as well as four birdies and two bogeys for a 64 and a share of first place alongside compatriot Andrew Putnam stayed bogey-free and made one eagle at the par-5 7th.
Knowles is the second player this season to make three eagles in a round (Chandler Phillips/The Players Championship/R1), and the third player to make three hole-out eagles in a round since 2003 (Tyrrell Hatton/2021 Palmetto Championship at Congaree/R3, Chez Reavie/2019 Sony Open in Hawaii/R2).
“It’s not been my best year thus far by any stretch of the imagination, but golf is funny. When you’re playing bad, you never feel like you’re going to play good again, and when you have days like today, you just don’t understand how you could ever shoot a bad round of golf,” said Knowles. “So it was super rewarding, I got pretty lucky a couple times, I hit quality shots that ended up going in the hole, but I can’t imagine chipping in three times for eagle ever again in my life.”
130 marks his lowest opening 36-hole score on Tour by six strokes and he holds his first lead after any round on Tour, with his previous career-high 36-hole position being T29 at the 2025 Puerto Rico Open where he finished T16.
He entered the week with six starts remaining on a major medical extension.
130 ties Putnam’s lowest opening 36-hole score this season (RBC Canadian Open). He leads the field in Strokes Gained: Putting (7.676) and has 22 one putts through 36 holes.
“It felt like I was kind of all over the place on the back nine, but the front nine was pretty simple golf,” he said. “The wind came up, got a couple tricky holes out there, so glad I could grind it out. Another good scoring day.
“Just a lot of crosswinds out here, and then when it’s windy like this you want to hit it lower, but it’s so soft out there you don’t want to hit it too low because the balls are plugging. So it’s just kind of a weird situation with how the course is playing. Kind of got a little bit loose I felt like with my swing with probably the heat and exhaustion, so hopefully tighten it up for tomorrow.”
He holds his fifth 36-hole lead/co-lead and is 0-for-4 in converting to victory so far (2022 RSM Classic/T21, 2022 Baycurrent Classic/T2, 2015 Texas Children’s Houston Open/T25, 2014 Shriners Hospitals for Children Open/T33).
Putnam is bidding for a second PGA Tour victory (2018 Barracuda Championship) in his 230th career start.
American rookie Jackson Suber fired eight birdies, five consecutively from the 3rd, and one bogey for a 65 and solo fourth place at 13-under.
South African Aldrich Potgieter who shared the overnight lead closed with a 70 having made four birdies and two bogeys and moved down into a share of fifth place at 12-under.
American Kevin Roy who shared the lead after the first round made three birdies and two bogeys for a 71 and lies in T8 at 11-under.
Also tied in T8 is American Jake Knapp who carded an 11-under 61 to set a new 18-hole scoring record at Detroit Golf Club (previous: 62/Aldrich Potgieter and Kevin Roy/R1/2025). This marks the second tournament course record broken by Knapp this season (59/ PGA National Resort (Champions Course)/R1/Cognizant Classic in The Palm Beaches).
He becomes the first player to record a sub-60 score and a score of 61 or better in a season and the first player with multiple rounds of 61 or lower in a season since the 2022-23 season (Patrick Cantlay, Ludvig Åberg).
Defending champion Cam Davis of Australia missed the cut after rounds of 74 and 70. The only two-time winner in tournament history, he had top-25 finishes in each of his last four starts in the event (Won/2024, T17/2023, T14/2022, Won/2021).
American Will Gordon (T64/-6) birdied his final two holes to make the cut on the number in what is his last start on a major medical extension. He entered the week needing a made cut to maintain status on the PGA Tour.
