| -17 P Cantlay (US); -16 J Rahm (Spa); -11 B DeChambeau (US) |
| Selected: -10 J Thomas (US); -9 T Finau (US), V Hovland (Nor); -8 J Spieth (US), R McIlroy (NI); -6 D Johnson (US) |
| Full leaderboard |
World number one Jon Rahm birdied the final three holes of round two to cut Patrick Cantlay’s Tour Championship lead to one shot at East Lake.
The Spaniard shot a five-under 65 to improve to 16 under in Atlanta.
American Cantlay, who started on 10 under par as the Fedex Cup leader, followed his first-round 67 with a bogey-free 66 to lead on 17 under.
Bryson DeChambeau (67) is third on 11 under while Rory McIlroy is on eight under after a 66.
The Northern Irishman had two bogeys in his opening four holes but holed six birdies on his back nine, including each of the final three holes.
“I know how to play this golf course,” said the two-time Fedex Cup winner.
“I shot 32 on the front nine [on Thursday] and 30 on the back nine [on Friday] so try to put those two scores together [on Saturday] and then I’d really have a good chance going into Sunday.”
But at nine shots back at the halfway stage of the 30-man event, the four-time major champion faces a tough task to claim a third Fedex title and the $15m (£10.9m) first prize.
Cantlay won last week’s BMW Championship to move top of the standings and earn himself a two-shot lead at the start of the PGA Tour’s season-ending event, courtesy of the controversial handicap system adopted in 2019.
He kept that advantage after round one and matched Rahm’s solitary birdie and eight pars on the front nine in round two.
The round sparked into life on the par-four 12th when Cantlay hit his approach shot an inch from the hole but Rahm, who had under-hit his second, holed a 35-foot putt from off the green to match his playing partner’s birdie.
A wild tee shot on the 14th cost Rahm a bogey but he birdied the 16th and 17th to briefly share the lead. However, Cantlay rolled in a 15-foot putt moments later to restore his advantage and then matched Rahm’s birdie on the last.
DeChambeau looked set to make a bigger challenge after picking up three shots in his first 12 holes but he too hit an errant tee shot on the 14th as he followed a bogey on the 13th with another dropped shot.
However, the American birdied the final two holes to sit alone in third, albeit six shots behind Cantlay.
