Michael Kim and Andrew Putnam carded a 3-under par on Friday at TPC Louisiana and will take a one-shot lead into the weekend at the Zurich Classic.
Starting the day two off the lead, Kim and Putnam offset a double-bogey on the par-4 5th hole with five birdies to reach 13-under par.
“I think we definitely capitalized on our good shots. Kind of have to do that in this format. We, yeah, ham and egged it well,” said Putnam, who has two top-10 finishes in his last three starts, including a T8 at last week’s Valero.
“Wasn’t our prettiest golf, but it got the job done.”
Last season’s runners-up, Kevin Kisner and Scott Brown, were one back at 12 under following a second-round 2-under par 70. Kisner and Brown turned in even-par 36 but made two gains on the closing nine, including a birdie on the par-5 7th hole (their 16th) to secure the second spot.
Chad Campbell and Matt Jones birdied the par-5 18th hole to sign for a 2-under 70 and a two-day score of 11 under, good for T3, alongside Nate Lashley and Rob Oppenheim (69).
The teams of Cody Gribble and John Peterson (68) and Tony Finau and Daniel Summerhays (72) were tied for fifth at 10 under.
A logjam of six teams sit T7 at 9-under par, headlined by Bubba Watson and Matt Kuchar (67).
While the leaderboard is filled with names unfamiliar to many casual golf fans, some of the game’s biggest stars will not be playing the weekend, including Jordan Spieth, Justin Thomas, Sergio Garcia, Jon Rahm, and Brooks Koepka. Defending champions Cameron Smith and Jonas Blixt also missed the cut.
TOP 10 LEADERS
1 Kim/Putnam -13
2 Kisner/Brown -12
3 Campbell/Jones -11
3 Lashley/Oppenheim -11
5 Gribble/Peterson -10
5 Finau/Summerhays -10
7 Kim/Yun -9
7 Watson/Kuchar -9
7 Reavie/Glover -9
7 Henry/Hoge -9
7 Steele/Lovemark -9
7 Werenski/Lindheim -9
NOTABLES MISSING CUT
Duval/Furyk -4
Spieth/Palmer -4
Garcia/Cabrera-Bello -4
Thomas/Cauley -4
Rahm/Bryan -3
Berger/Woodland -3
Stricker/Kelly -3
Blixt/Smith -3
VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS
QUOTABLE
“I feel like we put more pressure on ourselves. We both know, Hey, it’s golf. We’ve seen each other hit plenty of bad shots; seen myself hit a lot of bad shots.”
– Andrew Putnam
Credit: PGA Tour Media, Getty Images
