Taylor Pendrith leads Tony Finau at the Rocket Mortgage Classic
Canadian Taylor Pendrith in position to win his maiden PGA Tour title but in-form Tony Finau is hot on his heels.
Taylor Pendrith moved into the outright lead on day two of the Rocket Mortgage Classic as the Canadian goes in pursuit of his maiden PGA Tour title, but the main issue for him is that a red-hot Tony Finau is hot on his heels.
Pendrith and Finau opened with blistering rounds of 8-under 64 on Thursday and they both continued to impress on Friday.
But it was Pendrith, 31, who narrowly pushed ahead on day two with a stunning round of 7-under 65, highlighted by four consecutive opening birdies, and he now sits alone at the top of the board on 15-under par.
Finau, 32, who landed his PGA Tour hat-trick at the 3M Open last week, continued to keep his foot on the gas with an equally solid 66 and the big-hitting American sits just one back on 14-under par.
Pendrith, currently ranked 237th in the world, was out of the game for the best part of 17 weeks earlier this season with a fractured rib.
But he has performed admirably on his return this month with a tie for 13th at the Barbasol Championship followed by a tie for 11th at the Barracuda Championship.
Despite being winless on the PGA Tour, Pendrith does have two wins to his name on the PGA Tour Canada back in 2019.
Finau, who is 16th in the world rankings, is looking to win back-to-back titles on the PGA Tour for the first time in his career.
Incredibly, Finau has missed just two greens in the first 36 holes and he is yet to make a bogey. In fact he is now on a streak of 61 holes without a bogey on the PGA Tour.
"It's starting to all come together for me late in the season, I've been working really hard," said Finau."I think the hard work is finally paying off."
But it's far from just a two-man race at the Rocket Mortgage Classic this weekend with Lee Hodges (66) three shots off the pace on 12-under.
Open Championship runner-up and World No.19 Cameron Young is a further shot back on 10-under par alongside Russell Henley (65) and Stewart Cink (66) following an incredible round of 9-under 63.
Young has notched a number of top-three finishes on the PGA Tour over the past nine months but he has yet to land that elusive PGA Tour win.
Adam Scott, who has been linked with a move to LIV Golf in recent weeks, bumped himself up the board with a 66 to move to 9-under par alongside Sahith Theegala (67), Si Woo Kim (68), Stephan Jaegar (68), Scott Stallings (65) and FedEx Cup champion Patrick Cantlay (65).
