Canadian Taylor Pendrith fired a 7-under-par 64 on the second day of action at the 3M Open in Blaine, Minn., to take a two-shot lead on Friday.
Now at 12-under 130 for the tournament, Pendrith built off a first-round 66 at TPC Twin Cities, pocketing birdies on Nos. 4 and 7 before finding his top form on the back nine. He finished with three birdies over his final four holes and had seven birdies on the day.
“I’ve been hitting the ball really solidly, been hitting a lot of greens,” Pendrith said. “Today was pretty tricky with the wind, it was blowing pretty hard at times, so my speed was great all day and stayed really patient.”
While several other golfers ran into trouble the past two days, Pendrith remains bogey-free through 36 holes.
He chalked up his success to picking clubs and hitting shots.
“I hit a lot of greens,” Pendrith said. “Today especially I feel like I had some in-between numbers and chose the smart club and hit it to 40 feet and kind of took my two-putt, take my medicine. Then hit a lot of really quality shots and was able to make some birdies.
“Yeah, driving the ball in play here is key. And hitting the greens, the greens are fairly big so you do have to have good speed on the greens, but I’ve been able to do all three of those.”
Matt NeSmith, who matched Pendrith’s round with a 7 under, is now his closest pursuer at 10 under for the tournament.
“Yeah, I played really solid. I’ve been putting really well for the last three weeks or so, it’s been very hot,” NeSmith said. “I’ve just been working on it. It’s finally starting to come through. Played some really nice golf.”
NeSmith’s day included an eagle on the par-5 12th hole. He added birdies on Nos. 1, 2, 6, 14 and 16.
Andrew Putnam sits at 9 under after a 5-under 66. Putnam’s day didn’t feature such highs as NeSmith’s, but he did grab five birdies.
Rookie Jacob Bridgeman, who led after a first-round 63, fell into a tie for third with Putnam after posting a 1-under 70. His day included two bogeys and three birdies, with two of his birdies coming over his last four holes.
Bridgeman is happy to still be in the hunt.
“I haven’t had a whole lot of events this year where I’ve been in contention,” Bridgeman said. “I’m excited, I think it will be fun. I like this course, I feel I can keep up the good play and keep going.”
Four golfers are tied for fifth at 8 under: Doug Ghim (64 on Friday), Alex Smalley (65), Lanto Griffin (66) and Venezuela’s Jhonattan Vegas (66).
Sahith Theegala (69), the event’s highest ranked player in the FedEx Cup standings at No. 7 and the world rankings at No. 11, fell into a tie for ninth with eight other golfers at 7 under.
–Field Level Media
