Jon Rahm followed up an opening-round 63 with a 4-under 67 and will enter the weekend at The Northern Trust with a one-shot lead.

The 26-year-old Spaniard finished his second day at Liberty National with another bogey-free scorecard, mixing 14 pars with four birdies, to reach 12-under par.

Rahm was less impressed with the bogey-free aspect than the overall lead.

“Tied for the lead, yeah,” said Rahm. “It’s nice to be bogey-free, but it’s not like it’s goal No. 1, right. Might be actually first time I go 36 holes bogey-free.

“The goal is to win a tournament and put yourself in the best position. If I had to choose, I would rather be leading than bogey-free.”

Tony Finau carded a 64 and was solo second on 11 under, one clear of Keith Mitchell (64), Justin Thomas (69) and Xander Schauffele, who posted a co-low round of 62 which featured a four-hole span of eagle-par-eagle-birdie-birdie (Nos. 6-10) to jump 31 spots up the board to T3 on 10 under.

Schauffele cited the weather conditions for his improved scorecard.

“It’s a lot easier today,” said Schauffele. “Wind was down. Yesterday you thought was really hard. I saw two guys shoot 8-under so I was inspired coming out.”

One further back was a group of four which included Kevin Na (66), Alex Noren (64), Harold Varner III (67) and Tom Hoge (64).

Brooks Koepka (64) and Jordan Spieth, who matched Schauffele with a low-round 62, rounded out the top-10 leaders in New Jersey.

Despite the low round, Spieth was not completely satisfied with his round.

“Yeah I’m still struggling a little bit to really get a nice motion on the swing,” said Spieth. “I feel it was weird, I didn’t hit a lot of great shots today from outside of 150 yards, even to the tee, but then you know, wedged it beautifully, was patient, when I drove it in a couple lips of some fairway bunkers and had to punch out and make par, par save kept me going.

“I didn’t have many putts outside of five feet because I didn’t play normal golf today. It was just kind of one of those days where you probably won’t get away with that throughout weekend. But just chipped the ball unbelievably well and then it led to at least some short par putts and then took advantage when they were for birdie.”

Defending champion Dustin Johnson (72) made a bogey on the final hole to finish even-par 142 and miss the cut by a shot. Also missing the weekend (and ending his season) was Adam Scott, who fell from T4 to T76 after a disappointing round of 4-over 75, which included two double bogeys on his closing nine holes.

The 2021 Northern Trust

Leaderboard: Top-10

Pos-Player-To Par-(Rd 2)
1. Jon Rahm -12 (-4)
2. Tony Finau -11 (-7)
3. Xander Schauffele -10 (-9)
3. Keith Mitchell -10 (-7)
3. Justin Thomas -10 (-2)
6. Alex Noren -9 (-7)
6. Tom Hoge -9 (-7)
6. Kevin Na -9 (-5)
6. Harold Varner III -9 (-4)
10. Jordan Spieth -8 (-9)
10. Brooks Koepka -8 (-7)

Notables

Pos-Player-To Par-(Rd 2)
12. Lee Westwood -7 (-6)
12. Viktor Hovland -7 (-4)
12. Patrick Cantlay -7 (-4)
17. Bryson DeChambeau -6 (-6)
25. Harris English -5 (-3)
25. Hideki Matsuyama -5 (-3)
36. Ian Poulter -4 (-5)
36. Webb Simpson -4 (-5)
36. Shane Lowry -4 (-4)
36. Sam Burns -4 (-4)
36. Scottie Scheffler -4 (-3)
36. Cameron Champ -4 (-1)
63. Gary Woodland -1 (-1)
63. Rory McIlroy -1 (-1)
63. Daniel Berger -1 (-1)
63. Paul Casey -1 (E)

Notables Missing Cut

Pos-Player-To Par-(Rd 2)
76. Adam Scott E (+4)
76. Dustin Johnson E (+1)
88. Sergio Garcia +1 (-3)
97. Branden Grace +2 (+2)
97. Tyrrell Hatton +2 (+1)
97. Collin Morikawa +2 (-1)
101. Phil Mickelson +3 (+1)
117. Matt Kuchar +7 (+3)
119. Kevin Kisner +8 (+3)

Material from PGA Tour Media & Communications was used to compile report.