Tommy Fleetwood of England and Keegan Bradley took different routes to the top of the leaderboard in the Arnold Palmer Invitational.
Fleetwood (pictured) made two eagles in an early second round of 6-under-par 66, and Bradley caught him later in the day with three birdies on each nine while shooting 68 at Bay Hill Club and Lodge www.bayhill.com in Orlando, Fla.
“I’ve played well here,” said Fleetwood, who has seven pro victories but has yet to break through on the PGA Tour. “I’ve had some good rounds, I’ve had some poor ones, too. I think it can go either way around this golf course. … Hopefully, I can continue to play well around here. It was just nice to have a day like that and just constantly feel at ease, really, with hitting good golf shots.
“I’ve done a lot of good things over the last two, three years. So, yeah, I think that’s pretty clear in our minds that would be the next logical step to win in America or win on the PGA Tour and then see where we go from there.”
Fleetwood hit a 4-iron from 224 yards shot over the corner of a lake on the sixth hole to set up an 18-foot eagle putt, and then ripped a 7-wood from 275 yards to within six feet for his second eagle on the 12th hole. He played the par-5 holes in 6-under.
Bradley, who opened with a 67, made two late birdies in the second round to pull even with Fleetwood at 9-under 135.
“There area lot of quality holes on this course where you have to hit good iron shots and that’s the strength of my game,” said Bradley, the 2011 PGA champion. “And the last two days, my putter has been rolling it great and that makes a world of difference. It’s everything.
“I hit the ball well and putted even better. That’s a good combination. I’m comfortable around this course and this is a tournament all of us would love to win. I stayed calm today and I’m looking forward to the weekend, but I know I will be a little nervous.”
Billy Horschel sank a 23-foot eagle putt at No. 16 in a 68 and is four strokes back in a tie for third with 10th-ranked Francesco Molinari (70) of Italy, Roger Sloan (69), Kevin Kisner (69), Jhonattan Vegas (70) of Venezuela and Keith Mitchell (68), who won the Honda Classic last week.
First-round leader Rafa Cabrera Bello stumbled to a 75 and is one more shot behind in a tie for ninth with Eddie Pepperell (68) of England, Sungjae Im (69) of South Korea, Patrick Reed (70), Bubba Watson (72), Matt Wallace (69) of England, Aaron Baddeley (70) of Australia and Matthew Fitzpatrick (70) of England.
Second-ranked Justin Rose of England is tied for 17th after a 70, defending champion and sixth-ranked Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland shot 70 and is tied for 31st, while
seventh-ranked Rickie Fowler of Murrieta totaled 71 and made the cut on the number in a tie for 62nd that includes fifth-ranked Bryson DeChambeau of Clovis, who had a 70.
Phil Mickelson, the 1997 API champion, made two double bogeys after hitting drives out of round in a 78 and missed the cut by one stroke, while third-ranked Brooks Koepka carded a 73 to miss the weekend by two shots.
For complete results, visit https://www.pgatour.com/competition/2019/arnold-palmer-invitational-presented-by-mastercard/leaderboard.html
 made two eagles in an early second round of 6-under-par 66, and Bradley caught him later in the day with three birdies on each nine while shooting 68 at Bay Hill Club and Lodge www.bayhill.com in Orlando, Fla.){kind=link}