Washington (AFP) – Robert MacIntyre fired a bogey-free six-under par 64 to seize a five-stroke lead over top-ranked Scottie Scheffler after Friday’s second round of the US PGA Tour BMW Championship. The 29-year-old Scotsman, who fired a PGA career-low 62 on Thursday as he closed with six straight birdies, birdied six in all for round two to stand on 14-under 126 after 36 holes at Caves Valley in suburban Baltimore.
“Great two days’ work,” MacIntyre said. “If you leave yourself in the right positions you can be aggressive with the putts…I feel like my iron play has been top drawer this week and just continue to do that.”
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Scheffler, the season points leader, was next on 131 after a 65 in his PGA-best 13th bogey-free round of the season. “It was nice to have a clean card today, no bogeys,” Scheffler said. “Did some good things out there. Five shots back going into the weekend is not too bad with the way Bob is playing right now. Did a good job to keep within shouting distance of him.”
Sweden’s Ludvig Aberg birdied three of the last five holes to shoot 64 and stand second on 132, one stroke ahead of Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama, with England’s Tommy Fleetwood and Americans Maverick McNealy and Michael Kim on 134. MacIntyre, runner-up to J.J. Spaun at June’s US Open, managed his lowest opening 36-hole score to par in a PGA event, three strokes better than last year at Myrtle Beach.
“I’ve been working hard,” MacIntyre said. “I’ve been putting really well for a long time now. It was just finding the confidence in the tee to green game and I feel like I’ve done that.”
MacIntyre, who began the day with a three-stroke lead over England’s Tommy Fleetwood, with top-ranked Scottie Scheffler another stroke adrift, started strong again. He sank a birdie putt from just inside five feet at the first hole and rolled in a 17-footer for birdie at the par-five fourth.
“The way I’ve been rolling it, it’s not a surprise,” MacIntyre said of his strong start. He sank another birdie putt from just beyond seven feet at the seventh and at 11, MacIntyre rolled it to within three feet of the hole and sank his short birdie putt. MacIntyre drained a 28-foot birdie putt at the 14th and reached the green in two at the par-five 16th to set up a tap-in birdie.
“A low drive to stay short of the bunker and then probably hit the longest three-wood I’ve had on tour, it was 281 (yards) to the front edge and I absolutely smashed it,” MacIntyre said of his effort at 16. “Left quite a tricky putt but the job is not to make three, the job is to make four and just nudged it down to the hole and knocked it in.”
– ‘Hard to moan too much’ –
MacIntyre, whose two PGA wins came last year at the Canadian and Scottish Opens, is projected to jump from 20th to third on the season points list, with only the top 30 advancing from the BMW, the second FedEx Cup playoff event, to next week’s Tour Championship in Atlanta. Scheffler, whose four victories this season include major triumphs at the PGA Championship and British Open, hopes to next week become the first back-to-back FedEx Cup winner.
Matsuyama birdied four of the last eight holes to also shoot a bogey-free 64 and stand on 133 while Fleetwood only managed a 69 and fell eight off MacIntyre’s pace. “Disappointing finish,” Fleetwood said. “Felt like I played good again. I’m in fifth place, so it’s hard to moan too much about it.”
World number two Rory McIlroy, second in the playoff standings, fired a 66 to stand 11th on 136, 10 off the pace. “I just want to try to play a good weekend and feel a little bit better about my game going into the Tour Championship,” McIlroy said.
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