Taylor Moore followed up his opening 64 with a 67 featuring seven birdies and two bogeys to retain a share of the lead at 13-under in the Rocket Mortgage Classic. He leads the field through 36 holes in Strokes gained: Putting (7.602).
“I got off to a good start, felt like I got into a pretty good rhythm,” said the American. “Made a few bad swings middle of that front nine and then really bounced back over the turn, birdied 17, 18 and 1 and kind of jump started my round a little bit. Saw some putts go in and was pleased about that and feeling good for the weekend.
“I think in the past I might have hit panic a little bit with how my game’s been, scores that I posted, tried to really reinvent some stuff and try to make a quick fix. But my golf swing’s good, mentality’s good, just going to keep playing golf and I feel like I would eventually play myself out of some of the scores I was shooting. Thus far I’ve done that.”
Canadian Taylor Pendrith, who finished second last year, shot a bogey-free 64 to move to the top pf the leaderboard and holds the 36-hole lead for the second consecutive season. He is the only player still bogey-free heading into the weekend.
“I played very solid, no bogeys again today, which was great,” said Pendrith. “Hit a lot of really good wedge shots on my front nine. Back nine was a little bit more of a grind, but putter kept me in it, made some nice putts on 3 and 4 and then kind of scrambled around the last hour out there, but all in all, yeah, super happy and excited for the weekend.
“Obviously I played well here last year, so it’s exciting to be playing well again this year. Learned a lot from last year, got to play aggressive, stay aggressive. The course is starting to firm up a little bit, but there’s still tons of birdies out there, so just yeah, stay aggressive and keep making birdies.”
With a win he would join Mackenzie Hughes, Adam Svensson, Corey Conners and Nick Taylor as Canadians to win on Tour this season. Four winners is already the most in a single season on record since 1983 and the fourth season overall with wins by multiple Canadian players.
Rocket Mortgage ambassador Rickie Fowler of the United States carded a 65 to move into a share of third place at 12-under. He has finished T17 or better in nine of his last 10 starts on Tour.
“I think I hit a handful of shots to nearly gimme and that was definitely nice,” said Fowler. “With the softer conditions, starting to kind of dry out a little bit, but the greens get pretty beat up. Even yesterday morning they were already starting to get a little bouncy. Being in the afternoon, you know, guys dealt with it yesterday and we had it today. Not having to really think about anything outside of like three feet, even two feet starts to get a little dicey. Like I said, having a few tap-ins for birdie, that always makes things a little easier.
“We can’t try and press too hard. I definitely know we can win. This is — how I’ve played is some of the best if not the best I’ve felt about my game and on the course really ever.
“We’ve won a few times, I know we’re capable of doing that. Like I said, just can’t press on that too much, just continue to execute and play some solid golf.”
Sweden’s Ludvig Aberg shares third place with Fowler after closing with a 67. He has had three top-25 finishes in four starts this season.
American Andrew Landry equalled his career-low round and tied the Detroit Golf Club 18-hole scoring record with a 9-under 63. He is tied in 9th place at 10-under.
The Rocket Mortgage Classic ties the AT&T Byron Nelson for the most players to make the 36-hole cut on Tour this season, with a tournament-record 84 players.
