Collin Morikawa has put himself right back in the thick of the Tour Championship race, and he did it with the kind of clean, efficient round that keeps pressure on everyone else.
The 29-year-old Cal grad backed up Thursday’s 64 with a second-round 67 on Friday at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta, leaving him at 9 under par and just one shot off the lead at the halfway point of the final event of the season. Morikawa is tied for third with Chris Gotterup, while Ryan Gerard and Viktor Hovland share the top spot at 10 under through 36 holes.
Morikawa’s round never looked messy. He went bogey-free over 18 holes and picked up birdies at Nos. 6, 14 and 18. That closing birdie mattered again - he birdied the 18th both days - and through two rounds he has 10 birdies against only one bogey.
This is familiar territory for Morikawa at the Tour Championship. He finished runner-up here two years ago and had three top-10 finishes in his six previous appearances at the event. He also arrives in form after tying for fourth at last week’s BMW Championship, a stretch that has him 21 strokes under par over his past six rounds.
Saturday’s third round will send Morikawa out with Gotterup, with the pair teeing off at 11:43 a.m.
Gotterup stayed in the mix with a 67 of his own, carding six birdies and three bogeys. Gerard opened with a bogey on the first hole but answered with six birdies, including one at No.
- Hovland also stumbled early with bogeys on Nos. 2 and 3, then steadied himself by making five birdies the rest of the way.
Cameron Young delivered the day’s flashiest round, shooting an 8-under 62 after an even-par 70 on Thursday. He had seven birdies in his first 11 holes, dropped a shot at No. 12, then finished with a birdie on 18.
That puts him in fifth alongside world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler at 8 under, two strokes back.
Scheffler closed with a birdie as well, but only after a bogey on the hole before it.
The Tour Championship is the final stop of the three-week FedEx Cup playoffs and features 30 players chasing a $40 million purse, with $10 million going to the winner. Through 36 holes, 10 golfers are within three strokes of the lead, and only one player is over par.
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