Austin Smotherman remained the overnight leader at the Cognizant Classic, sitting at 11-under after a second-round 69. Shane Lowry recovered from a difficult opening day with a four-under 67 and moved to six shots off the pace.
Smotherman, who opened the tournament with a career-best 62, dropped two straight bogeys on the back nine, but still held the lead. Taylor Moore produced his second 67 in as many rounds to cut Smotherman’s advantage to three shots.
A.J. Ewart was the headline performer of the day, carding a career-low 64 (seven-under) to move within four of the leader. Brooks Koepka also returned to form with a 66 (five-under), putting himself back in contention after a short spell away from the PGA Tour.
Koepka said he felt his ball-striking lagged compared with the first round but that stronger putting helped, and he expects the putting to continue to improve. His plan is to combine the ball-striking of round one with the putter’s performance from round two.
Aaron Rai slipped to five-under after a 69 that included a bogey at the 17th but remains the highest-placed English player at The Palm Beaches. Seamus Power carded a 67 to sit four-under heading into the weekend; he credited solid scrambling and a reliable short game for keeping him under par on a course that can be deceptive and tests every part of a player’s game.
Third-round play has been moved earlier because of forecast rain and will be shown live on Sky Sports Golf from 3pm.