LDN - Sports

Horschel, Gooch, Kim, Hoge share Wyndham lead

[August 15, 2020] Billy Horschel shot a 6-under 64, and Talor Gooch and South Korea's Si Woo Kim each shot 5-under 65 on Friday to be part of a four-way tie for the lead with Tom Hoge after the second round of the Wyndham Championship at Greensboro, N.C.

All four were at 10-under 130 after two trips around Sedgefield Country Club. Hoge, who shared the first-round lead with two others, shot a 68 in the second round.

Ireland's Shane Lowry (63 on Friday), Doc Redman (64), Andrew Landry (65), Harris English (67) and Harold Varner III (69) were one shot behind the leaders. Varner was tied for the lead after the first round.

Canada's Roger Sloan, who held a share of the first-round lead, shot even-par 70 and is among a group of seven that is two shots back. Jason Kokrak (63), Tyler Duncan (64), Taiwan's C.T. Pan (64), Mark Hubbard (65), Webb Simpson (66) and Rob Oppenheim (66) are the others.

The first round was completed Friday morning after it was suspended Thursday due to inclement weather.

Hoge was unable to match his opening 62 as his up-and-down second round included five birdies and three bogeys.

"I would say today was a little more work for sure," Hoge said after his round. "I was in the rough a little more often and, you know, a little out of position where I got above the hole on a few of the pins coming in, have some fast putts and a little more work.

"Hopefully, kind of got that out of my system and go make some birdies on the weekend now."

Horschel recorded seven birdies against one bogey. He started on the back nine and bogeyed his second hole as his lone blemish.

"A really good day of golf -- 64," Horschel said. "Really didn't have any trouble at all. No. 11 I made a bogey and honestly, I probably shouldn't have made a bogey right there in front of the green in 2. Just missed a short putt. Other than that, it was really solid. Gave myself a lot of opportunities to make putts out there."

Kim and Gooch each had six birdies and one bogey while starting their rounds on the back nine.

Kim finished with a flourish by carding birdies on five of his last six holes. He needed just 27 putts in his round.

"It is a little different this year from the rough, more sticky and more deep," Kim said of the course. "And it help more to hit the fairway, that's really important. That's why I hit it more, try to focus on hit the fairway."

Gooch, who missed the cut at last week's PGA Championship, is pleased at how his game is clicking in Greensboro. He has shot back-to-back 65s for the first time in his career.

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"My irons are feeling really good, I'm hitting good putts," Gooch said. "I didn't make a whole bunch of putts today, but I had a bunch of opportunities and that's because I hit a bunch of fairways today. Out here the rough, the spots to score being a little bit low, the rough is penal, so fairways are a premium right now."

English had six birdies, one bogey and one double-bogey in his strong round. Lowry eagled the par-5, fifth hole and also had six birdies and one bogey.

"It was nice to go out there and shoot a good score today," Lowry said of matching his career-best round. "You know, it's kind of the best score I've shot in a while and I'm looking forward to the weekend."

Kokrak matched Lowry's 63 with a bogey-free round that included seven birdies. He joked that having nobody on the course watching is familiar to him.

"Those guys are used to playing in (front of) big crowds, I'm used to playing with five people, so it's nothing new to me," Kokrak said. "But hey, I'm out here, I'm glad to be back playing some golf and hope to enjoy a good weekend."

Chris Baker also shot a 63 and is four shots back at 6-under 134. He had seven birdies in his bogey-free round.

Among the golfers who missed the cut of 3 under was Brooks Koepka (2-over 142), England's Justin Rose (140) and defending champion J.T. Poston (140). Koepka shot 70 on Friday, Rose carded a 67 and Poston had a 66.

Koepka's round included an eagle on No. 5 and a triple-bogey on No. 10. He indicated that his troublesome left knee was hindering him the past two days and that there is nothing wrong with his game.

"This is physical, yeah," Koepka said. "I know how to do it, I can do it, I just physically can't do it."

Patrick Reed (68) and England's Tommy Fleetwood (64) are among nine golfers who are three shots behind the leaders.

Sloan never got into the flow on Friday. He had five birdies and five bogeys in a ragged round that followed a career-best 62 on Thursday.

"I made a few bogeys just because there's some difficult pin locations and I had some difficult shots," Sloan said. "Was able to bounce back a few times, make some birdies. It was a nice putt I made on the eighth hole, my 17th for the day, so that kind of got us at level par and I thought we'll take it."

--Field Level Media

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