A bit of wind made all the difference, as players found a much tougher course to negotiate in the second round of the RBC Heritage Classic at Harbour Town Golf Links in Hilton Head, South Carolina, where Patrick Cantlay leads by two on nine-under-par 134 at the midpoint, ahead of Robert Streb on seven under.
Cameron Young, Joel Dahmen Cameron Tringale, Aaron Wise and Erik van Rooyen are all on six under at the midpoint.
Cantlay birdied each of the last four holes at Harbour Town Golf Links, emerging from the pack Friday to take the second-round lead.
“Obviously that’s a dream finish,” Cantlay said.
“I finally rolled in some putts, and that was really nice to see going into the weekend. It was a tough day out there, and I figured any round under par or around even par would be a win for today. So finishing how I did puts me in a great spot for the weekend.”
For Tringale, seeking a breakthrough individual win on the PGA Tour, a second round bogey-free 67 – consisting of four birdies and 14 pars – gave the 34-year-old American a golden opportunity to fulfil his dream. His only previous success came in partnering Jason Day in the team event, the Franklin Templeton Shootout in 2014.
Although he has in excess of $16 million in career earnings, Tringale has struggled to find a breakthrough win on the US circuit, but felt there was significant room for improvement heading into the weekend if the were to achieve that goal:
“I felt heading into the week that [the game]was really good. I hit the ball pretty good yesterday, not as good as I wanted, and felt it was worse today. So, I’ve got to go find something and get in a little better spot,” said Tringale, who added he would watch some videos of his swing to determine what area he needed to focus on.
“I made a lot of good five-, 10-foot putts today that either got momentum going or kept it going if they were for par. It’s very difficult because no matter how good you hit it, no one’s going to hit it close to the hole 18 times. So you’re going to have to scramble a little bit when the wind is up, and I did an amazing job of that,” said Tringale.
In stark contrast to Trinagle’s cagey reaction to how he had played, South Afircan van Rooyen was far more upbeat in his assessment: “A-plus,” is how he described his course management in the difficult conditions, adding: “I hit the ball extremely well the last two days. I just made more putts today, which is great.”
Shane Lowry, with two top-10 finishes in his last three outings on tour, including a third place finish in last week's Masters tournament, stayed very much in the hunt for a first tournament win since his 2019 British Open success.
The Offaly man shot a one-over-par 72 on his round – four-under for the tournament – through 10 holes of his second round. Lowry showed his resilience with bounce-back birdies on two occasions: an opening bogey on the first was followed with a birdie on the par-five second and another bogey on the sixth was followed with a birdie on the par-three seventh hole.
Graeme McDowell, who – like Lowry – opened with a first round 66, struggled badly on Friday and made the cut on the number after a round of 76.
