Joohyung Kim of South Korea found a way to get out from behind an 8-ball.
Kim (pictured), who made a quadruple-bogey 8 in his first hole in the opening round, carded a 6-under-par 64 and was tied for the lead with fellow rookie Brandon Wu and Ryan Moore when darkness halted play with several golfers still on the course in the second round of the 83rd Wyndham Championship at Sedgefield Country Club in Greensboro, N.C.
The Wyndham is the final event of the PGA Tour regular season and players are battling to stay in the top 125 of the FedEx Cup point standings, or climb in, to qualify for the FedEx St. Jude Classic at TPC Southwind in Memphis, Tenn., which opens the playoffs next Thursday.
“If you would have told me after the first hole yesterday where I’d be after two days, I definitely would have taken it,” said Kim, who drove into a fairway bunker and opened the tournament with a quadruple-bogey 8. “So I’m pretty happy and just kind of laid back knowing I’ve got the weekend to play.
“You know what, this is strokes gained right here, four shots better than yesterday (by opening round two with a par). I drove into the same bunker again today, but was able to make a par. So most improved on hole No. 1. I’ve played one terrible hole and 35 pretty good ones. It was just one bad hole and there was a lot of golf left.
“I was laughing (after his quad). There was like nothing I could do. It was just the first hole and gosh, I just got a really bad lie and then didn’t really have another good lie and didn’t really have another good lie, didn’t really have another good lie.
“I just told myself that if I played well for the next 35 holes I could make the cut, and I did, but I didn’t expect to be tied for the lead.”
The 20-year-old Kim, who goes by the nickname of “Tom,” who is coming off a solo third in the Scottish Open and a solo seventh in the Rocket Mortgage Classic to earn his PGA Tour card for next season, fought back to open with a 67 and made seven birdies against a single bogey in his 64 to record a 36-hole total of 9-under 131.
Wu, of Danville and Stanford, made three birdies late on the front nine in a 67, while Moore, who claimed his first of his five PGA Tour victories in the 2009 Wyndham Championship, had five birdies and a single bogey in his 66.
“Yes and no,” said Wu, who tied for second in the Mexico Open and tied for third in the Puerto Rico Open, when asked if the Sedgefield course fits his game. “I think it’s good because you have to hit the fairways. I think I usually drive it pretty straight and I putt well. The greens are perfect this week, they’re quick so they can be a little bit tricky, but I think that plays well into my game.”
Said Moore, who has been battling a chronic back injury and must finish second to keep his full PGA Tour card for next season: “I’m so far out of it (in the FedEx standings), it doesn’t even matter at this point. I’ve been dealing with this injury for a while. I know what’s wrong now. I just need time to deal with it. So right now it’s just trying to find a little form, a little confidence to spring me into this fall.”
First-round leader John Huh of Los Angeles and Cal State Northridge had a triple-bogey 7 on the first hole and a double-bogey 6 on the 13th in a 71 to follow his 61 and is one stroke back in a tie for fourth with Russell Henley, who had a bogey-free 65, and Sungjae Im of South Korea, who followed his opening 63 with a 69.
Rookie Davis Riley, who won twice on the Korn Ferry Tour last season, sank a 12-foot eagle putt on the sixth hole in a 66 and is two shots behind in a tie for seventh with Anirban Lahiri of India, who birdied three of his last six holes for a 66, and Brian Stuard, who had four birdies and two bogeys in a 68.
Andrew Putnam of Pepperdine had three birdies on each nine in a bogey-free 64 and is three down in a tie for 10th with Blake McShea, who had a bogey-free 65, Satoshi Kodaira of Japan, who had three birdies on the back nine in a 66, Brett Drewitt of Australia and Martin Trainer, who both came in at 67.
Two-time major champion Zach Johnson is tied for 15th after a 68, and 2020-21 PGA Tour Rookie of the Year Will Zalatoris holed out from 137 yards for an eagle on the 13th hole and sank a 61-foot eagle putt at No. 15 in a 66 to tie for 39th.
Former world No. 1 Jason Day of Australia, who opened with a 67, withdrew before the start of the second round because of an illness, and defending champion Kevin Kisner shot 73-69—142 and would have missed the cut by two strokes but withdrew for an undisclosed reason before the cut was made.
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