(Reuters) – American Keegan Bradley confidently sat atop the leaderboard after the second round of the Sanderson Farms Championship on Friday, carding a seven-under par 65 for a two-stroke lead.
The 2011 PGA Championship winner said he felt right at home in Jackson, Mississippi, where he’s had just one bogey through 36 holes, with fellow Americans J.T. Poston (67) and Charley Hoffman (69) tied for second at 11-under par through the first two days.
“It felt like I was home playing with my buddies. I felt just so comfortable over every shot, and this course really fits what I’m doing with my game,” said Bradley, a native of Vermont who missed the cut at the Safeway Open and U.S. Open last month.
The 34-year-old, who won the 2018 BMW Championship, opened the round with three straight birdies before committing his only error of the tournament, a bogey on 10. With a pristine putting game on display, he closed out the round with four birdies on the back nine.
“I’ve been working hard on everything really but especially the putting. Sometimes things just click into place, and you never know when it’s going to happen,” he said. “Things are clicking right now, and I love the course and everything about it.”
Hoffman, one of four players to have carded an eight-under par 64 in the first round, slipped to second after a choppy performance on Friday with four bogeys and seven birdies.
“Off the tee I gave myself a ton of chances. My iron play to the greens is something I need to go work on right now,” Hoffman told reporters. “I got a little quick at the top and hung some shots out to the right, which I know what I did, which I’ll fix for tomorrow.”
Rounding out the field were South Africa’s M.J. Daffue (69), in fourth place at 10-under par through the first two rounds, and with American Denny McCarthy (67) and Norway’s Kristoffer Ventura (68), who were tied at fifth.
(Reporting by Amy Tennery; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
