Dustin Johnson stormed past the field with a back nine 29 to grab the outright lead at the WGC HSBC Champions at Sheshan International, writes WADE PRETORIUS.
The world No 1 flexed his muscles in China on Friday as he displayed the kind of all-round game that led to him to his current commanding lead at the top of the world rankings. With two lucrative World Golf Championships titles to his name already, Johnson matched Thursday’s opening outward nine of 34 with birdies at both of the front nine’s par 5s to go with seven pars, before going into overdrive on the way in.
A birdie on the 10th was followed by a crisp iron into the 12th to five feet, which was converted to close the gap between overnight leader Brooks Koepka – playing in the final group – to just two strokes.
His ball-striking continued to delight the galleries as he set up another birdie on the 13th when he drained his putt from 10 feet. For the second straight day, Johnson settled for par at the difficult par 5 14th before closing with four consecutive birdies to open a four-shot lead over Koepka – who was two-under after two birdies to start before going on a par run that lasted 13 holes.
6️⃣3️⃣ pic.twitter.com/CuKVrqEGms
— Compleat Golfer (@CompleatGolfer) October 27, 2017
Overnight leader and a birdie to start. It’s good to be Brooks ??⛳️ pic.twitter.com/pvuSpmhL8B
— Compleat Golfer (@CompleatGolfer) October 27, 2017
Koepka then narrowed the gap to his Presidents Cup teammate to one stroke when he birdied the 16th and 17th holes as the big-hitting Americans set up an intriguing battle at the top of the leaderboard going into the weekend.
Brooks is just one back #HSBCchampions pic.twitter.com/s9pYd3VoYG
— Compleat Golfer (@CompleatGolfer) October 27, 2017
The US Open winner could not tie things up as he failed to make a birdie at the 18th – a place where he made eagle yesterday. Johnson has two birdies to his name and will start the third round one off the pace.
‘I felt like I played pretty well. I felt like I drove it really well,’ said Koepka.
‘I think I misread maybe two of them, especially the one at the last. It kind of changed at the last second over the ball. But, you know, that’s going to happen over the course of 72 holes. I feel like I’m playing well and just need to keep hitting fairways out here. I have no problem breaking Dustin’s heart, I can promise you that. I’m sure he’d say the same thing if he was sitting up here.
‘We both have a lot of fun off the golf course, but when it comes to golf I think we both want to kick each other’s butts. There’s no mercy out there. I don’t think anybody wants to go home a loser. When we both show up, I think we’re both expecting to win.’
South Africa’s best-placed golfer, Haydn Porteous, could not replicate his opening 66 and fell down the leaderboard some 17 places after a day filled with bogeys. In all, his two birdies were offset by six drops for a second round 74, which leaves him just outside the top 20 with 36 holes to play.
Charl Schwartzel and Branden Grace rebounded from slow starts as the duo, who are headed for South Africa in January to take part in the BMW SA Open at Glendower, shot 70 and 69 respectively.
For Schwartzel it was a bogey-free display, with Grace’s day a lot more colourful. Five birdies had the 29-year-old going the right way, but a costly double at the seventh halted his progress. The pair will start the weekend on -1 and in T38.
