Chan Kim started the day with a four-shot lead and fired an eagle as well as three birdies and three bogeys for a 2-under 68. He takes a five-shot lead into the weekend at the ISCO Championship.
Kim eagled the par-4 fourth hole for the second consecutive day, holing out from 36 yards on Friday. It was the eleventh instance of a player eagling the same par-4 in the first two rounds of an event on the PGA Tour since 1983.
“After I was in the fairway bunker on 10 to start and I hit a great hybrid up there to 35 feet or whatever it was and barely missed putts. I made birdie to start, and it kind of reminded me of how golf was yesterday, a little bit easier,” said the American.
“And then started on 11 I missed short sided, and our game plan was just to hit it middle of the greens on the tougher holes. Got a little aggressive but I made a couple — I actually made a couple good putts. 17 was a pretty tricky down hiller for par, made that. And then obviously the hole-out on 4 again. I don’t know what the odds are of doing that, but boy, if I could make four 2s on that hole I’d be very happy.
“But yeah, I made another great putt for par on 6, then a putt for birdie on 7 and obviously a chip-in on 8.
“I think this is a course where you just have to stay patient. I know I shot 9[-under] yesterday but the course is not playing that easy.
“The wind picked up obviously a little bit and that firmed up the greens. And hole 6, the par-3, when we’re hitting 5 irons in, I don’t really know if you could stop it. You might just have to take your medicine, try and pitch it five short and hope that rolls on. But it definitely was playing a little bit tougher today.”
129 is his new low 36-hole score on Tour by two shots. Kim holds the lead/co-lead after 36 holes for the first time. His previous best 36-hole position was T3 at the 2024 Barracuda Championship where he finished T29.
At 35, Kim seeks his first Tour title in his 70th start. His best finish so far was T5 at the 2025 Valero Texas Open. He has posted two top-10 results this season, in back-to-back starts (T5/Valero Texas Open, T7/Corales Puntacana Championship).
American Vince Whaley made five birdies and one bogey on the front nine to make the turn in 31 and added a birdie at the 10th and a double bogey at the par-4 12th for a 67 and a share of second place at 6-under for his ninth consecutive cut of the 2025 season after making five of the first 11 cuts. This was his 21st consecutive round of par or better on Tour, the longest active streak.
Norway’s Kris Ventura shot a 64 in spite of making one bogey and one double bogey at the par-4 4th, matching his low 18-hole score of the 2025 season (64/Mexico Open at VidantaWorld/R1) and posted his low 36-hole score in an individual stroke play event on Tour (134).
Germany’s Thomas Rosenmueller started on the back nine and made two bogeys to make the turn in 37 before closing eagle-birdie-par for a 69 and a share of second place.
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