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The Fortinet Championship is now at the halfway stage and Sahith Theegala will be the man to beat over the weekend after the eccentric 25-year-old posted an impressive round of 64 on day two. The tournament, which is being played at Silverado Resort in California, is the final PGA Tour event before the Ryder Cup and several Team USA players are in action.
Theegala, who didn’t make the Ryder Cup team, is joined at the top of the leaderboard on -12 by S.H Kim who has also played beautifully over the opening two days in California. The pair won’t have an easy run to the championship and are being chased down by Sangmoon Bae and Eric Cole who are on -11 and -9 respectively at the halfway point.
Fortinet Championship leaderboard
Contents
Position | Name | Round 1 | Round 2 | Round 3 | Round 4 | Total | Thru |
T1 | Sahith Theegala (USA) | 68 | 64 | -12 | F | ||
T1 | S.H. Kim (KOR) | 65 | 67 | -12 | F | ||
3 | Sangmoon Bae (KOR) | 67 | 66 | -11 | F | ||
4 | Eric Cole (USA) | 68 | 66 | -10 | F | ||
5 | Kelly Kraft (USA) | 66 | 69 | -9 | F | ||
T6 | Justin Thomas (USA) | 69 | 67 | -8 | F | ||
T6 | Max Homa (USA) | 70 | 66 | -8 | F | ||
T6 | Sam Ryder (USA) | 68 | 68 | -8 | F |
Fortinet Championship second round highlights
Theegala leads the way
After opening up with a round of 68 on Thursday, Sahith Theegala catapulted himself right to the top of the Fortinet Championship leaderboard on Friday courtesy of a beautifully constructed round of 64. The young American was an outside bet to make the Ryder Cup team but he hasn’t let the disappointment of missing out on selection derail him.
His round on Friday included seven birdies and one eagle and he would have the outright lead had it not been for a bogey on the par-four 16th. The highlight of his round was unquestionably his eagle on the par-five 5th hole which came via an exquisite chip in from a green side bunker. Theegala will now look to kick on over the weekend to win his first-ever PGA Tour event.
Theegala is taking over in Napa 💪
Eagle out of the bunker shoots him up to -10 thru -14.
+350 live as the new favorite to win @DKSportsbook pic.twitter.com/XItCx2cArh
— Golfbet (@Golfbet) September 15, 2023
Thomas creeping back into form
There was much controversy last week when Zach Johnson announced that Justin Thomas had been selected to be part of his Ryder Cup team. Thomas has had a miserable season and failed to pick up enough points over the course of the season to even qualify for the FedEx Cup playoffs. He has zero wins to his name and has missed the cut in five of his last eight events.
However, the good news for Team USA is that Thomas has shown glimpses of his old self this week. He opened up with a solid round of 69 on Thursday and backed that up with an even better 67 which has left him on -8 for the week. The two-time major champion used a longer driver on Friday and it produced the goods for him. Could this be the start of his redemption arc?
Homa bounces back
Max Homa is the other member of the American Ryder Cup team to be competing this week and after starting with a mediocre round of 70, he knew he needed to produce the goods on Friday if he was to have a chance of lifting the title on Sunday. And he did exactly that, carding a round of 66 to leave him on -8 alongside Thomas.
Over his 18 holes, Homa didn’t drop a single shot and shot six birdies. Speaking after his round, he told reporters: “I need to play a bit cleaner if I’m going to make a run this weekend, but the game feels pretty good. Just taking care of some kind of sloppy golf swings.”
Pin seeking with @MaxHoma ⛳️ pic.twitter.com/eRXWJdpHdV
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) September 15, 2023
Zach Johnson misses the cut
USA Ryder Cup captain, Zach Johnson, is also taking part this weekend so primarily he will be delighted with how Homa and Johnson are faring with just two weeks to go until the event in Rome. However, in terms of his own game, he will perhaps be a little disappointed.
The 47-year-old, who has two major wins to his name, has missed the cut at the Fortinet Championship despite being under-par for the week. He opened up with a solid round of 69 but a sloppy 74 has meant he won’t be playing this weekend.
Fortinet Championship updated odds
- Sahith Theegala – 9/4
- S.H. Kim – 5/1
- Max Homa – 7/1
- Eric Cole – 15/2
- Justin Thomas – 12/1
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