Tyrrell Hatton’s shop-bought putter continued to prove a real bargain as the Englishman surged into a share of second place in the Dell Technologies Championship.
Hatton carded eight birdies in a flawless second round of 63 at TPC Boston to join Ryder Cup team-mate Justin Rose on 10 under par, a shot behind Players Championship winner Webb Simpson, who holed from 70 feet for an eagle on the 18th in his 63.
European number one Tommy Fleetwood is three shots off the pace following a 65, with Spain’s Rafael Cabrera Bello part of a nine-way tie for seventh on six under as he tries to enhance his case for a Ryder Cup wild card.
Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy are both seven shots off the pace on four under after rounds of 66 and 67 respectively.
Frustrated by poor putting during last week’s opening FedEx Cup play-off event in New Jersey, Hatton sent his caddie to a Golf Galaxy store to buy a new putter, using a video app to make the selection.
“I was too embarrassed to go into the store to buy a putter. Obviously, he made a good choice,” said Hatton, who posted a picture of the receipt on Twitter which showed that the club cost him $149 (€128) before taxes.
That proved to be money well spent as Hatton carded a closing 65 in New Jersey and six days later the same club helped Hatton one-putt six holes in succession, including a par save on the par-five second after hitting his second shot into the water.
Collated second round scores & totals in the USPGA Tour Dell Technologies Championship (Gbr & Irl unless stated, par 71):
131 Webb Simpson (USA) 68 63
132 Justin Rose 65 67, Tyrrell Hatton 69 63
134 Tommy Fleetwood 69 65
135 Abraham Ancer (Mex) 66 69, Cameron Smith (Aus) 69 66
136 Xander Schauffele (USA) 68 68, Beau Hossler (USA) 67 69, Adam Hadwin (Can) 68 68, Si Woo Kim (Kor) 70 66, Keegan Bradley (USA) 67 69, J.B. Holmes (USA) 69 67, Marc Leishman (Aus) 68 68, Rafael Cabrera-Bello (Spa) 68 68, Jordan Spieth (USA) 69 67
137 Dustin Johnson (USA) 68 69, Tony Finau (USA) 69 68, Kyle Stanley (USA) 70 67, Cheng-Tsung Pan (Tai) 69 68, Ryan Armour (USA) 71 66
138 Tiger Woods (USA) 72 66, Alex Noren (Swe) 69 69, Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa) 71 67, Brooks Koepka (USA) 69 69, Rory McIlroy 71 67, Bryson DeChambeau (USA) 70 68, Kevin Tway (USA) 71 67, Russell Knox 66 72
139 Emiliano Grillo (Arg) 72 67, Russell Henley (USA) 71 68, Brian Gay (USA) 72 67, Paul Casey 69 70, Keith Mitchell (USA) 73 66
140 Chris Kirk (USA) 67 73, Hideki Matsuyama (Jpn) 71 69, Byeong-Hun An (Kor) 69 71, Austin Cook (USA) 69 71, Bubba Watson (USA) 72 68, Matt Kuchar (USA) 71 69, Brian Harman (USA) 68 72, Jamie Lovemark (USA) 71 69, Charles Howell III (USA) 69 71, Peter Uihlein (USA) 69 71, Jon Rahm (Spa) 73 67, James Hahn (USA) 68 72, Kevin Kisner (USA) 69 71, Brice Garnett (USA) 70 70, Ryan Moore (USA) 71 69, Henrik Stenson (Swe) 69 71, Patrick Reed (USA) 71 69
141 Andrew Putnam (USA) 70 71, Ted Potter, Jr. (USA) 74 67, Branden Grace (Rsa) 70 71, Gary Woodland (USA) 67 74, Kevin Chappell (USA) 69 72
142 Danny Lee (Nzl) 70 72, Justin Thomas (USA) 73 69, Whee Kim (Kor) 72 70, Jason Kokrak (USA) 72 70, Scott Stallings (USA) 73 69, Adam Scott (Aus) 71 71, Patrick Cantlay (USA) 73 69, J.J. Spaun (USA) 74 68
143 Nick Watney (USA) 72 71, Pat Perez (USA) 71 72, Bronson Burgoon (USA) 74 69, Tom Hoge (USA) 73 70
144 Brian Stuard (USA) 72 72, Charley Hoffman (USA) 73 71, Andrew Landry (USA) 73 71, Aaron Wise (USA) 71 73, Stewart Cink (USA) 72 72, Phil Mickelson (USA) 72 72, Daniel Berger (USA) 73 71, Jimmy Walker (USA) 70 74, Patton Kizzire (USA) 74 70
145 Kevin Na (USA) 70 75, Luke List (USA) 76 69, Brendan Steele (USA) 72 73, Zach Johnson (USA) 73 72, Ian Poulter 73 72, Kelly Kraft (USA) 76 69, Jhonattan Vegas (Ven) 71 74
146 Ollie Schniederjans (USA) 77 69, Chesson Hadley (USA) 79 67, Troy Merritt (USA) 74 72
147 Michael Kim (USA) 72 75, Anirban Lahiri (Ind) 74 73
148 Satoshi Kodaira (Jpn) 76 72, Chez Reavie (USA) 73 75
149 Jason Day (Aus) 76 73
150 Joel Dahmen (USA) 77 73, Kevin Streelman (USA) 78 72
151 Jason Dufner (USA) 80 71, Ryan Palmer (USA) 73 78
