Even a rain delay couldn’t slow down Collin Morikawa.
First-round leader Morikawa posted a 6-under-par 66 to take a three-stroke lead over Kevin Streelman and fifth-ranked Justin Thomas before play was halted by darkness after two weather stoppages in the second round of the Workday Charity Open at Muirfield Village Golf Club in Dublin, Ohio.
“Whether I have the lead or not, I’ve got to go into the weekend feeling like I’ve got to make the same amount of birdies I have been the past two days,” said the 23-year-old Morikawa, who is from La Canada Flintridge and Cal. “I feel like there’s a lot of birdies out there for me the way I’ve been hitting it. So I’ve just got to keep that up, play smart and attack pins when it’s available for me.
“I got off to a little bit of a slow start, but got it turned around on the back nine. I think I was just trying to hit the ball a little too hard on some shots and made some mistakes, so I got back to what I was doing yesterday. Throughout the entire bag, every club feels good in my hands. The game plan so far has worked and we’ve got two more days to go.”
Morikawa, who won the 2019 Barracuda Championship soon after graduating from Cal, made three birdies and two bogeys after starting on the back nine before collecting six birdies and another bogey while finishing on the front to post a 36-hole total of 13-under 131.
Streelman collected five birdies in his first 10 holes after starting on the back nine a was within two strokes of Morikawa before making his only bogey on the eighth hole in at 64 that was the low score of the day.
Thomas, who missed the cut in his last start at the Travelers Championship, collected three birdies on each nine in a 66.
Sam Burns birdied his last three holes for a 66 and is four shots back in a tie for fourth with Hideki Matsuyama of Japan, who carded a bogey-free 68, while Viktor Hovland of Norway sank a four-foot eagle putt at No. 14 en route to a 67 and is five down in a tie for sixth with Rory Sabbatini, who was 5-under for the day after sinking a 14-foot putt on the 17th hole before the horn sounded.
Ian Poulter of England and Chase Seifert both shot 69 and are one back behind in a tie for eighth, while ninth-ranked Patrick Reed shot 70 and is seven back in a tie for 10th with Ricky Werenski (67), Matt Kuchar (69), Nick Taylor (71) of Canada and Louis Oosthuizen of South Africa, who was 2-under for the round after 17 holes.
Eighth-ranked Patrick Cantlay of Los Alamitos and UCLA is tied for 45th after a 72,
while second-ranked Jon Rahm of Spain totaled 70 and is in a tie for 45th that includes 11th-ranked Xander Schauffele of La Jolla and San Diego State, who struggled to a 73.
Sixth-ranked Brooks Koepka shot 69 and apparently will miss the cut by one stroke, along with Jordan Spieth, who had a second straight 72 to miss the weekend by two.
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