Australians Jason Day and Marc Leishman have made a significant surge up the leaderboard in round two at the US PGA event at Torrey Pines.
Both men have history at the event – Day and Leishman had chances to be the first Australian winners there in 2014, falling one shot shy of champion Scott Stallings.
It still burns in both men and it catapulted them to huge second round performances on Friday on the easier North course.
After an average one-over 73 on the South course in round one Day moved up 89 positions into a tie for sixth with the equal low round of the day, a silky seven-under 65.
Leishman, who shot 72 on the South, cared a bogey-free 66 on the North to jump 62 places and join Day in sixth, just four shots back of American leader Harris English.
English matched Leishman’s 66 on the North to be 10-under 134, good enough for a two-shot buffer over American Nick Watney, Venezuela’s Jhonattan Vegas and Scotsman Martin Laird, who are tied for second at eight under.
While ultimately happy with their play, both Day and Leishman were ruing a handful of short birdie misses as they head back to the South course for the weekend rounds.
Today’s round definitely helps get the momentum going before heading back to the tough South course, Day said.
“I left a few out there but I am one shot better than I was at this stage last year so hopefully that can translate into one better on the leaderboard come Sunday,” he said.
Victorian Leishman let even more chances slide than Day, bringing up memories of last year where he finished second despite being near last in putting stats.
“It was a good day and I played really well but funnily enough I couldn’t get the putter rolling,” he said.
“It could have been anything out there really. I missed six or seven putts inside 10 feet but I’m in good shape and heading back to the South course which I love.”
Cameron Percy carded a nice three-under 69 on the South course to move to four under and tied for 21st while John Senden also made the cut.
Robert Allenby (+1), Cameron Smith (+4), Aaron Baddeley (+3), Greg Chalmers (+5), Stuart Appleby (+6) and Jarrod Lyle (+8) all missed the weekend.
