Hideki Matsuyama made five birdie putts from 15 feet or longer and broke the course record at Medinah with a nine-under 63 for a one-shot lead going into the weekend.
He has never missed the TOUR Championship since his first full year on the PGA TOUR. He played on Friday like he doesn’t want the streak to end.
Outside the top 30 in the FedExCup for the first time at the BMW Championship, Matsuyama started his second round with a 30-foot birdie putt and ended with another from the same distance.
The explanation for what went right wasn’t that long.
‘I did make a lot of long putts today, and that was the difference,’ Matsuyama said.
That was a big difference for Tiger Woods, too. He made only two putts longer than six feet, made a pair of bogeys from the bunkers late in the round and had to settle for another 71. Woods, who needs a top 10 to advance to the TOUR Championship, was tied for 49th.
‘I left quite a few shots out there,’ Woods said.
Louis Oosthuizen battled a poor tee game on Friday. He hit just 50% of the fairways but his iron and rescue play was on point. The South African missed just two greens in regulation as he carded a 69, projecting him to 31st.
Oosthuizen made three front-side birdies to get himself going with his bogey on the par-five 7th his only blemish and that came as he took four to get from the greenside bunker into the hole.
His putting was a worry … he lost 2.3 strokes to the field with the flatstick and will need to improve that number considerably if he is to work his way into the finale over the weekend.
Matsuyama was at 12-under 132, one shot ahead of Patrick Cantlay (67) and Tony Finau (66). Justin Thomas made six birdies to offset three bogeys in his round of 69, leaving him two shots behind.
Cantlay, Finau and Thomas are all assured of being among the top 30 who advance to the TOUR Championship next week, where everyone in the field will have a shot at winning the FedExCup and the $15-million prize.
Cantlay has gone 36 holes at Medinah with only one bogey, and key to his round was avoid one late. His tee shot on the 320-yard 15th caught enough of the wind that bounded right into the water. He took his penalty dropped, chipped to eight feet and saved par, got up-and-down on the next hole and then finished with two more good putts, one for birdie and another for par.
‘Any time you make a par after hitting the ball in the water it’s good,’ he said. ‘It gave me some nice momentum to close out the round.’
Lucas Glover (69) and Rory Sabbatini (68) were among the group at nine-under 135, both suddenly in range of the top 30.
Jordan Spieth also is on the verge of ending a second-straight season without a victory, and without a trip to East Lake. He made progress at Liberty National with a tie for sixth, and he needs another finish like that to crack the top 30.
He did not need to chop his way to a double-bogey on the par-three eighth that left him at the bottom of the pack. Spieth rallied with five birdies on the back nine, and he believes he has the ‘firepower’ to post two low scores and hope it’s enough.
There was a realistic side to him Friday, especially after the double-bogey, that his season was over because of how he felt over the ball. Yes, he still has an outside chance. But he sure didn’t sound consumed by it.
‘I’m far enough out that I’m going to sleep at night not expecting to be there,’ Spieth said about East Lake.
‘It’s not where I want to live, but it’s where I am.’
BMW Championship leaderboard:
132 – Hideki Matsuyama (JPN) 69-63
133 – Patrick Cantlay 66-67, Tony Finau 67-66
134 – Justin Thomas 65-69
135 – Adam Hadwin (CAN) 67-68, Lucas Glover 66-69, Chez Reavie 67-68, Rory Sabbatini (SVK) 67-68, Corey Conners (CAN) 69-66, Xander Schauffele 67-68
136 – Kevin Tway 69-67, Tommy Fleetwood 70-66, Kevin Kisner 68-68, Rory McIlroy (NIR) 69-67
137 – Brandt Snedeker 66-71, Rickie Fowler 67-70, Jon Rahm (ESP) 68-69, Kim Si-woo (KOR) 70-67, Max Homa 70-67, Joel Dahmen 66-71
138 – CT Pan (TPE) 71-67, Jason Kokrak 65-73, Jim Furyk 66-72, Adam Scott (AUS) 67-71
139 – Louis Oosthuizen (RSA) 70-69, Charles Howell 70-69, Brooks Koepka 68-71, Patrick Reed 68-71, Cameron Champ 71-68, Joaquin Niemann (CHI) 74-65
