England’s Jordan Smith holds the weekend lead at the Charles Schwab Challenge after back-to-back rounds of 65 saw him top the leaderboard at 10 under par with two rounds to go.
Smith notched an eagle at the par-five first hole along with four birdies and a bogey at the 14th in an impressive performance that gives him a one-stroke lead in Texas and puts him well on his way to a maiden PGA Tour victory.
The trailing pack sees four players tied in second at nine-under, including Hideki Matsuyama, who equalled Smith’s 65 on the day. Canadian AJ Ewart rose up the rankings with a course-best 63 including a remarkable hole-in-one on the 16th, putting him three strokes off the lead.
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AJ Ewart hit his first career hole-in-one in style on the par-three 16th
“I’m obviously very happy,” said Smith, who holds the 36-hole lead for the first time on the PGA Tour. “[I’m] going into the weekend in a good position.
“The putter’s been hot the last two days, which is nice to see. Swing still hasn’t felt 100 per cent but we’ve been hitting a lot of fairways and a lot of greens, which is key out here. Just going to take the chances when we get them.
“When we have missed the green, the majority of the time we missed it in the right places and left ourself easier chip shots.
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“It’s a strength of my game out here, sort of hit a lot of fairways and greens. So we’re going to try and do the same over the weekend, go with the same game plan and attack those pins when we can.”
Elsewhere, Alex Smalley is the only bogey-free player thus far and sits two shots off Smith’s lead, while defending champion Ben Griffin trails by six strokes after hitting four birdies and two bogeys.
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