Jon Rahm holed a bunker shot for birdie at 8 and missed holing out from 195 yards for eagle at the par-4 17th by inches.
“We couldn’t really see it, then obviously the crowd let us know,” he said. “That was a really good feeling swing.”
That wasn’t the only one. The 28-year-old Spaniard carded 10 birdies en route to a course-record setting 62 and a share of the 36-hole with Kurt Kitayama at the CJ Cup.
Even Rory McIlroy took notice.
“I saw he was 12 under playing the last, so I was like whoa, just hell of a round out there even with bogey at the last,” McIlroy said. “It wasn’t easy. It’s tricky and the greens are super quick and if you’re just a little off, they can punish you. So yeah, really impressive round of golf.”
Rahm got off to a sluggish start in the opening round, signing for 2-under 69.
“Yesterday was one of those days where I just couldn’t seem to find the center of the face. Lines were good, just wasn’t truly comfortable and it’s hard to score that way,” he said.
Rahm was dialed in on Friday afternoon, making birdies on six of his first 10 holes, including draining a 35-foot putt at 10. For the second straight day, he holed more than 100 feet of putts. A bogey at the last spoiled an otherwise clean card, but of his 62 strokes, he could only think of two that didn’t live up to his high standard. His approach at 8 into the bunker he termed “atrocious.”
9th birdie of the day for @JonRahmPGA 👀
He moves into the co-lead. pic.twitter.com/qk1c2Gicnk
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) October 21, 2022
“That one on 18 was not good, either. But it’s golf, it is what it is. Usually things tend to even out throughout a round when you’re playing good golf,” Rahm said. “And yes, I made those two mistakes, but I had that hole-out, I made the long putt on 10, the other one on 16. Maybe it was a little one-sided towards the positive side today.”
Kurt Kitayama reacts after hitting a tee shot not to his liking on 17 during the second round of THE CJ CUP in South Carolina golf tournament. (Photo: David Yeazell/USA TODAY Sports)
Kitayama, 29, didn’t need to review a stat sheet to know his putting had been abysmal so far this season. In his hometown of Las Vegas two weeks ago, he lost nearly two strokes to the field per round and missed the 36-hole cut. Based on those two measured rounds, he’d rank 195th in Strokes Gained: Putting. But he shot 65 in the final round of the Zozo…
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