Harris fired English 67 to claim a two-stroke lead at the halfway point of the Champions Sentry Championship, but the top three players in the world are well placed heading into the weekend at Kapalua.
By Keith Jackson
Last updated: 09/01/21 3:26 am
Justin Thomas sent the last bird to break 70
Justin Thomas slipped two blows behind Harris English’s halfway lead as top winners Collin Morikawa and Dustin Johnson made big moves on the second day of the Sentry Champions Championship.
Thomas shared the lead overnight with English after both openings with 65n, but the Englishmen were the lowest of the last pair in round two as 67 lifted him to 14 under and two clear blows from the run pack .
Defensive champion Thomas struggled on the back nine after traveling to a turn in 32, firing a shot at the 13th before going from five feet for a welcome birdie at the last one to join Morikawa , Daniel Berger and Ryan Palmer on 12 under.
Collin Morikawa fired 65 to jump into a split second
Morikawa and Berger were the hottest pair on the Plantation Course at the Kapalua Resort in Maui, with the two carding eight under 65s after a flower of birdies over the closing six holes.
PGA champion Morikawa has only posted one top-10 finish since making his main breakthrough in San Francisco last August, and was thrilled to match Berger almost to get a shot through. Their second round.
“We were just like making a birdie one after the other and it helps.” He said. “We feed each other, we feed each other birds, and that kind of thing, as you can see from the first hole all the way to 18, we did exactly the same thing.
“There’s a sense of home here, I’ve been here a billion times. So it’s nice, it’s a holiday, but at the end of the day we’re here to play some great golf and I want to come up on Sunday and they have two more days to do that. “
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An Englishman repaired six birdies and completed 36 holes with just one bog on his cart, taking out Thomas on the way in as the No. 3 world could not hang on. on the lead he claimed after his fourth birdie of the day at the ninth.
But his birdie finally made sure he would enter the weekend in a split of the second and one stroke ahead of last year’s runner-up, and 2019 champion Xander Schauffele, who caught a mammoth putt 80-foot on the 18th to card 66.
“It’s always nice to finish like that,” he said. “Caddie is happy, we don’t have to do any drills, so all the laughter is around. I stopped and then forgot what the number was, so I gave up. I was not going to cancel again.! “
Dustin Johnson also repaired a 65 card and is just four back
Schauffele also admitted that he has not yet fully recovered from contracting for Covid-19 over the Christmas holidays, saying: “My eyes are hurt, which is very strange. they had always been injured by walking.
“I’ve run on a tread base before and they’ve been injured before, but walking up hills usually doesn’t do much for me. But it’s a challenge, so I, you know, this is it and, I’ll be in the ice bath tonight. “
Meanwhile, the two top players in the world go into the last 36 holes in a nice position on 10 under, with Johnson shooting an eight-birdie 65 and Jon Rahm picking birdies at five of the last seven holes available in 66.