Doug Ghim holed out from the fairway for an eagle for the second straight day to help him retain the lead at the halfway stage of the John Deere Classic.
The American’s three-under second round of 68 moved him to 12 under par for the tournament and saw him take his first 36-hole lead in his six years on the PGA Tour. He is one shot ahead of a five-strong chasing pack going into the weekend that includes defending champion Davis Thompson (63) and Max Homa (68).
Ghim holed out on the short par-four sixth in the opening round. This time it was from 179 yards away on the par-four 15th.
“I guess holing out two days in a row is always nice,” Ghim said. “It’s been a couple years since I holed out from the fairway. To get two back-to-back days is great.”
Ghim had held a two-shot lead before only his second bogey of the round came on his last hole of the day, the par-four ninth. Hitting left into the trees and down a cart path, he then punched out through the green and chipped to 18 feet before missing the putt.
With Saturday’s starting times moved forward because of forecast rain, Mexico Open winner Brian Campbell (66), David Lipsky (67) and Emiliano Grillo (66) are also tied with Thompson and Homa for second.
Ghim still feels a long way off from a chance to win for the first time at a tournament that has produced more first-time winners than any other PGA Tour event since 1970.
“The person that’s going to win this tournament will be in the 20-under-par area, so last time I checked I’m not there yet,” Ghim said.
“I don’t feel like I’m in the lead, and I’m just happy that I get to be teeing off late tomorrow in contention.”
Homa was tied with Ghim late in the afternoon, when the greens were getting dry and crusty. But on the 18th hole, he pulled his tee shot into a bunker, missing the green to the right and wound up missing a 12-foot par putt to fall one back.
“You’re going to have to shoot really low,” said Homa.
“If you went out there and tried to do something specific, I’m not so sure that is going to work.
“Somebody can go out there and shoot 11 under out there and jump everybody. So just go do what we did today and play another round of golf. Just keep waiting until the back nine on Sunday basically.”
Thompson played in the morning and was the first to reach 11 under as he tries to become the first repeat winner of the John Deere Classic since Steve Stricker won three in a row from 2009 through 2011.
There was high drama late in the day that wound up setting the cut at five under.
Rikuya Hoshino and Jesper Svensson each made birdie on their last hole to move the cut line to five under, only for Paul Peterson to take bogey on his last hole to move it back to four under.
But in the final group, Brendan Valdes drilled his tee shot on the par-four 18th, hit his approach to about eight feet and holed the birdie putt for a 66. That moved the cut back to five under, eliminating 14 players from the weekend.
Rickie Fowler and Jake Knapp wound up making the cut on the number.
Meanwhile, 12 players were separated by two shots going into the third round, a group that includes Camilo Villegas, Sam Stevens and Si Woo Kim.
Stevens and Kim are trying to finish high enough to move up the world ranking that will be used next week to set the alternate list for the The Open at Royal Portrush, live on Sky Sports, from Thursday July 17.
Coverage of the third round of the John Deere Classic continues live on Sky Sports Golf from 5pm on Saturday – or stream without a contract.
