Cameron Smith chased a first-round 65 with a second-day 64 and will take a three-shot lead into the weekend at the Sentry Tournament of Champions.
The Aussie once again struggled out of the gate, carding bogey-bogey-par-par on his first four holes, but as he’d done on Thursday, Smith sizzled down the stretch, scoring on 10 of his final 14 holes to reach 17-under par.
“Yeah, a few bad shots there the first couple of holes,” said Smith. “I didn’t really feel that comfortable on the range this morning.
“Yeah, and it kind of showed those first couple. Yeah, figured it out by the 4th or 5th and was able to get on a bit of a roll with the putter as well.
Jon Rahm and Daniel Berger posted matching rounds of 66 for the second consecutive day and sit tied for second on 14 under, one clear of Patrick Cantlay (67), who was alone in fourth.
Sungjae Im (67) and Hideki Matsuyama (65) were tied for fifth on 12 under par.
Brooks Koepka (68) and Xander Schauffele (67) headline a logjam of seven players at T8 on 10-under par.
Sentry Tournament of Champions
Top 10: Leaderboard
Pos-Player-To Par (Rd 2)
1. Cameron Smith -17 (-9)
2. Jon Rahm -14 (-7)
2. Daniel Berger -14 (-7)
4. Patrick Cantlay -13 (-6)
5. Sungjae Im -12 (-5)
5. Hideki Matsuyama -12 (-7)
7. Kevin Na -11 (-5)
8. Sam Burns -10 (-9)
8. Seamus Power -10 (-8)
8. Si Woo Kim -10 (-8)
8. Marc Leishman -10 (-6)
8. Xander Schauffele -10 (-6)
8. Brooks Koepka -10 (-5)
