Hudson Swafford hits his tee shot on the 16th hole on Friday.
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Justin Suh, Collin Morikawa, Matthew Wolff and Viktor Hovland all received sponsor exemptions into last year’s Travelers Championship. They were ranked 1-4 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking and had all just turned pro. Golf’s next. Since then, Morikawa, Wolff and Hovland have all won. This week, Suh is contending. Is he next? Here are three things you need to know after Friday’s second round of the Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship in the Dominican Republic.
Hudson Swafford leads
Swafford played his final seven holes on Friday at 4-under to shoot a 5-under 67 for a 12-under total and the two-shot lead. Suh, Sean O’Hair and Luke List are at 10-under.
“I gave myself a lot of chances,” Swafford said. “That’s all that we were trying to do because I feel like I’m rolling it good; I feel like I’m seeing lines pretty good, so just trying to get on the green as fast as possible.”
Several are contending
On 15, he knocked his approach to about 6 feet and rolled in the birdie. On 17, he chipped in from just above a greenside bunker for another birdie. On 18, he rolled in a 30-footer to save par.
“The weekend, just stick to what we’ve been doing, just commit to every shot,” Suh said of his third- and fourth-round approach. “We don’t pull the trigger until we commit.”
Four golfers were at 9-under and three shots behind Swafford, six golfers were at 8-under, and another six were at 7-under.
The defending champion misses the cut
Defending champion Graeme McDowell was among those who missed the cut, which was 3-under.
Graham DeLaet also missed the cut – but shot the day’s best round, with an 8-under 64. He had opened with a 6-over 78, one of Thursday’s worst rounds.
