Red-hot Jason Day missed his shot at 59, but sank a 43-foot eagle putt on the final hole to take a five-stroke lead over rookie Daniel Berger and Brendon Todd after two rounds of the BMW Championship, the penultimate event of the FedEx Cup playoffs, at Conway Farms Golf Club in Lake Forest, Ill.
Day returned to finish round one on Friday morning and had a 44-foot pitch shot for an eagle to shoot 59, but left it short and two-putted for a par that left him at 10-under-par 61, which he followed with a 63.
“You don’t expect to make those, but of course I was trying (to make the eagle),” said Day, the FedEx Cup leader who has won three times in his last five tournaments, including the PGA Championship. “I hit a good 4-iron in there and had a good line.
” … (The first round) was great but it’s tough to go low and back it up with another one. I certainly wasn’t expecting to go 8-under. I backed off a few shots because I wasn’t feeling positive and ended up hitting good shots.”
Day’s 36-hole total of 124 tied the PGA record set by Pat Perez (61-63) in the 2009 Bob Hope Classic, and equaled by David Toms (62-62) in the 2011 Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial.
Todd, whose only PGA Tour victory came in the 2014 HP Byron Nelson Championship, holed his third shot from 81 yards for a closing eagle to shoot 63, while Berger finished with a five-foot birdie putt to wind up at 64.
Jordan Spieth, the Masters and U.S. Open championship, sank a seven-foot eagle putt on the final hole to complete a 66 and was seven strokes behind in a tie for fourth with Kevin Na of Diamond Bar, whose five-foot birdie putt on No. 18 also left him at 66.
Scott Piercy of San Diego State carded a 65 that included an eight-foot birdie putt on No. 18 and was another shot behind in a tie for George McNeil, who had a 65, and rookie Justin Thomas, who came in at 67.
Top-ranked Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland posted a 65 that included a 42-yard hole-out for eagle on the seventh hole and was nine stroke behind in a tie for ninth with Dustin Johnson, who had a 62 that included a 19-foot eagle putt on the final hole, and Harris English, who wound up at 68.
