Day Two at The Gamers Championship has wrapped up and two younger PGA Tour stars sit atop the leaderboard. Min Woo Lee, one of the vital entertaining gamers on the planet, and Akshay Bhatia, who gained final 12 months’s Valero Texas Open, sit atop the leaderboard at 11-under par after posting a pair of 66s.
Right here is all the things that you must know.
Spherical 2 Scores:
T1. Min Woo Lee -11 — 67-66
T1. Akshay Bhatia -11 — 67-66
3. J.J. Spaun -10 — 66-68
T4. Rory McIlroy -9 — 67-68
T4. Collin Morikawa -9 — 70-65
T4. Alex Smalley -9 — 68-67
T7. Lucas Glover -8 — 66-70
T7. Will Zalatoris -8 — 70-66
T9. Tommy Fleetwood -7 — 71-66
T9. Jake Knapp -7 — 69-68
T11. Sepp Straka -6 — 70-68
T11. Billy Horschel -6 — 67-71
T11. 4 others -6
Takeaways:
Min Woo Lee, Akshay Bhatia eye largest win of their careers
Min Woo Lee turned in a near-flawless spherical with seven birdies and one bogey on the par-5 ninth, his closing gap of the day. The Aussie is a must-watch, exacting a mixture of aptitude and energy no one else possesses. He can hit any shot he must, which explains why he has had a lot success at TPC Sawgrass this week.
“Felt actually good over the ball,” Lee mentioned.
“Simply actually good numbers and rolled some putts in. At present was stable once more and hopefully two extra of them.”
Akshay Bhatia additionally shot a 6-under 66, as Bhatia made eight birdies and two bogies. He made an adjustment to his driver forward of the match, which has helped to date.
“Simply went again to my older driver after which I went again to a shaft I performed 4 years in the past and it’s a bit of longer and so it’s sort of been a pleasant recipe,” Bhatia mentioned.
“Then working fairly exhausting on approach. I’ve a superb really feel this week with my coach. Additionally really feel like I put a mini driver in play this week, which has been a pleasant attribute to a number of the awkward holes for me which once I want to show it left-to-right. So simply sort of a pleasant setup for me this week.”
Bhatia and Lee will comprise the ultimate pairing on Saturday as each stars eye the largest win of their careers thus far.
Justin Thomas matches course document
Justin Thomas turned in a historic efficiency by making 11 birdies, which set the Gamers Championship document for many birdies made in a spherical. However he would have had the course document by himself if not for a bogey on the 18th gap. His second shot from the tough, through which he needed to navigate the bushes and hit a punch shot, discovered the water.
“I simply needed to make one other birdie, after which as soon as I missed the golf green, birdie is sort of out of the query after which I used to be attempting to hit one thing in need of the inexperienced there and the tough grabbed the face sufficient to have it shoot out straight left, and with the momentum of that ball, it’s clearly going within the water,” Thomas mentioned of what occurred on the 18th.
“However I very simply may have hit it the place I needed to, hit a very good pitch or chip and a very good putt and never gone in and made the identical rating. I’m under no circumstances, form or type letting that dwell on the nice spherical I had at this time.”
Had Thomas made a par on the 18th, he would have shot an 11-under 61. As a substitute, he posted a 10-under 62, which matched the course document set by Tom Hoge two years in the past. Humorous sufficient, Thomas performed alongside Hoge that day.
Thomas is at 4-under for the championship and 7 strokes again of the lead going into Saturday’s third spherical.
Rory McIlroy re-discovers groove off the tee
Rory McIlroy hit solely 4 fairways on Thursday, however one way or the other managed to open with a 5-under 67. He then went straight to the driving vary to attempt to determine his misses, practising effectively into the evening.
The transfer to take action paid off, as McIlroy drove the ball fantastically on Friday. He hit 11-of-14 fairways and ranked fifth among the many subject in strokes gained off the tee.
“I used to be simply getting a bit of beneath it, simply getting a bit of an excessive amount of type of aspect bend coming down, type of in transition,” McIlroy mentioned when requested what he labored on on the vary.
“So simply attempting to maintain my proper aspect a bit of increased and simply attempt to cowl it a bit of bit extra was actually the thought.”
McIlroy had 5 birdies on his entrance 9 and held a share of the lead at one level, however he cooled off on his again aspect with a 1-over 37. He sits at 9-under total, two again of Min Woo Lee and Akshay Bhatia.
Jack Milko is a golf employees author for SB Nation’s Enjoying Via. Observe him on X @jack_milko.