Back-to-back 65s put Gerard on top
Ryan Gerard signed for a second consecutive 5-under 65 at East Lake on Friday and moved to 10 under par, level with Viktor Hovland at the top of the Tour Championship leaderboard. The 27-year-old has never won a tournament of this size. He is now 36 holes from the biggest week of his career.
Hovland got there by a rougher route. He began the day in the group tied for second and produced two birdies and two bogeys across his opening five holes, which is not the profile of a man about to take a lead. The back nine settled him down and he closed the gap without needing anything spectacular.
Collin Morikawa and Chris Gotterup sit a shot back at 9 under. Scottie Scheffler and Cameron Young are at 8 under, with Justin Rose, Matt Fitzpatrick, Adam Scott and Ludvig Aberg another stroke behind at 7 under.
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A field with nowhere to hide
Nineteen of the 30 players in Atlanta are within four shots of the lead after two rounds. That is the compression the FedEx Cup finale was designed to produce, and it removes most of the usual margin for error. There is no 36-hole cut here, so a bad Saturday costs position rather than a weekend.
Min Woo Lee had led after Thursday at 8 under and was overtaken during Friday’s play. Rory McIlroy, who owns a record three Tour Championship titles, opened his week six shots off the pace despite four birdies on the back nine in the first round. Tommy Fleetwood returns as defending champion.
The purse is 40 million dollars, with 10 million going to the winner. That is the largest single first-place cheque on the PGA Tour calendar, and it is available to a player who arrived in Atlanta ranked outside the conversation.
Saturday’s final pairing
Hovland and Gerard go out last at 2:55 p.m. ET for the third round. Hovland has the record and the closing experience. Gerard has two rounds of golf that say he belongs, and 19 players behind him waiting to find out whether that holds up over the weekend.
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