Sungjae Im shoots 65, requires guide at The American Categorical

LA QUINTA, Calif. — Sungjae Im shot a 7-below 65 on Friday at The American Express to choose a a single-stroke direct over 1st-round leader Brandon Hagy and four many others.

Similar: Leaderboard | Mickelson cards 18 pars in a spherical for very first time on TOUR

Im, the 22-calendar year-aged South Korean who was the PGA TOUR’s rookie of the year in 2019, experienced seven birdies in the bogey-cost-free round on the Stadium Study course at PGA WEST, highlighted by a few in 4 holes close to the flip.

Hagy was in placement to join Im at 11 under, but he bogeyed his last gap with a tee shot into the fairway bunker to finish his 70.

Canada’s Nick Taylor (66), South Korea’s Si Woo Kim (68), Tony Finau (66) and Mexico’s Abraham Ancer (65) also ended up 10 below. Emiliano Grillo (66), Francesco Molinari (66) and Doug Ghim (68) had been two shots off the lead.

The leaderboard was crowded with reduced scores as normal at the Palm Springs-space match long hosted by Bob Hope. Im, Taylor and Ancer were between 12 players who did not make a bogey Friday.

Following splitting the 1st two rounds over two programs, the gamers will all engage in the Stadium Class for the final two rounds.

Match host Phil Mickelson built 18 pars for the initial time in his 2,201 rounds of PGA TOUR engage in. The 50-calendar year-aged skipped the reduce at 2 more than.

With his drives wanting sharp and his mid-vary putts dropping regularly, Im is off to another solid begin at a match in which he has by now finished 10th and 12th in his limited PGA TOUR career.

“I’m very satisfied with how I performed all of my shots,” mentioned Im, who feels his placing has improved sharply this yr. “Talking of putting, I started off drawing a line on the ball as I visualize my putts, and that seemed to do the job pretty very well now.”

Im also feels he may possibly have an edge simply because didn’t journey home to South Korea all through the vacation break because of to the mandatory coronavirus quarantine necessary. As an alternative, he stayed in the home he a short while ago obtained in Atlanta and practiced for the new year.

Hagy manufactured 10 birdies in his opening round, but acquired off to a tough get started Friday on the Stadium Training course with two early bogeys. He rallied with birdies on his 16th and 17th holes, but his errant drive on his remaining gap kept him 1 shot off the pace.

Taylor, who also led the Sony Open in Hawaii soon after two rounds previous 7 days, shot a 66 with six birdies on the Stadium Training course. He had a few straight birdies on the again nine of his bogey-free round, including a 24-foot birdie putt on the 15th and an 18-footer on the island eco-friendly at the 17th.

Taylor seems to be rounding into impressive variety as he prepares to defend his Pebble Seaside title in a few months.

“My activity feels seriously great proper now, so ideally it retains peaking,” he reported. “It was a ton of scary tee pictures, iron photographs into greens. I sense like I skipped in the appropriate places. I drove it genuinely great on the par-5s and gave myself rather quick seems on a couple of of them.”