PGA Tour: Halfway through the CJ Cup at Nine Bridges

Another round is complete at the CJ Cup. Let’s check out some highlights and news from the PGA Tour’s event in South Korea.

It’s a rare occurrence, but with only 78 players in this week’s PGA Tour event, there will be no cut at the CJ Cup after the completion of the second round.

This means that we need to keep an eye on those at the bottom of the leaderboard as well as the top heading into the third round. I mentioned it in my round one recap, as there always seems to be a player that would’ve missed the cut that makes a strong charge over the weekend to push for a top ten finish.

Which PGA Tour player could it be for this week? There are a couple of golfers that I want to keep an eye on as we approach the back half of the CJ Cup.

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Before we get to that though, we need to talk about Justin Thomas.

With how his second round went, he showed that he was the favorite to win this tournament for a reason. After an opening-round 68, Thomas was in range to make a move and did just that. He came out hot for the second round and shot a 63, good enough for the best score of the day by two shots over Jordan Spieth.

Not only did Thomas have nine birdies, but he avoided any red (or blue if you look at the ESPN leaderboard) scores as well. He now sits at first place all on his own at -13, holding a two-shot lead over Danny Lee and Byeong-Hun An.

Spieth was the only one to shoot 65 during day two at the CJ Cup, and it vaulted him 25 spots up the leaderboard. He now sits at T-4th and is looking for his first win since 2017, when he won the Travelers and open championship in back-to-back entries.

Wyndham Clark and Kevin Na made similar jumps to Spieth, climbing 27 spots and 25 spots respectively. Clark shot a 67 and is now T-12th at -6, where Na shot 68 and is now T-27th at -4.

Those three had some of the largest jumps up the leaderboard, only bested by Sanghyun Park. He shot 68 as Na did, but with a 74 on Day One, it jumped him up to T-33rd at -2, climbing 29 spots.

On the other end of the spectrum, there were a handful of golfers who really struggled during round two. The one that stands out the most is Brooks Koepka. After an eagle on 18 in his opening round to get to -3, Koepka gave that away on the back nine on day two. He would have two birdies and four bogeys on the back and finish the day at 75. This was enough to drop him 36 spots down to a T-51st spot on the leaderboard.

Only two players faced a further drop than Koepka. Chez Reavie opened with a 68 but followed that up with a 77 to fall 45 spots. Fan-favorite Max Homa takes the cake though, as he shot the worst round of day two by a comfortable margin. He opened with a solid -3 69 but now finds himself tied for last place halfway through this week’s PGA Tour event.

Homa carded one birdie, nine bogeys, and one double bogey en route to an 82, four shots worse than anyone else who played round two.

I do think that Brooks Koepka is one of the players that needs to continue to be watched over the final two rounds. He has shown a strong ability to play the CJ Cup, as he is last year’s winner.

Joining him as players that I am interested in watching how the finish out are a couple of golfers at -1. C.T. Pan and Lucas Glover have both started 74-69, and could continue that strong play into the weekend. 12 shots are more than you can expect to make up. They are only five shots back of 12th place, however, and that is a group you could see them make a run at as the tournament finishes.

I want to keep an eye on Jason Day as well. He has looked like two different golfers so far this week after shooting 65-73. Are we going to see Jason Day from the last few years (round two), or the one who was consistently making noise every weekend (round one).

He sits T-18th right now and is eight shots back of Thomas. Another 65 would do wonders as the tournament finishes, and he has shown the ability to do it already.

dark. Next. Golf Tips: Keeping a close eye on your scorecard is underrated

Tee times are a little earlier today and will start at 6:45 PM Eastern instead of 7:00 PM. You’ll need to wait a bit longer if you want to see anyone in the top 20 tees off, as those start at 7:35 PM. Best of luck as we hit the latter half of this week’s stop on the PGA Tour.

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