Kim Si-woo stormed to the top of the leaderboard with a brilliant 60 at the Wyndham Championship — but Lucas Glover threatened to spoil his party.
The 21-year-old South Korean leapt 40 places in the overnight standings after finding an eagle and eight birdies — including six on the back nine — on the Sedgefield Country Club course to reach 10-under, a feat which lifted him two strokes above Kevin Na, Hideki Matsuyama and Jim Furyk.
Graeme McDowell improved on his first round 68 with a four-under-par 66, leaving him in a tie for 11th. He finished his day in style with an eagle on the 15th and two birdies in his final three holes.
Shane Lowry also moved up the leaderboard with a second round of 65 to leave him five-under-par overall, a shot behind his fellow Irishman. Lowry birdied four of his first five holes and will need another improved round on Saturday as he aims to make a late play for Ryder Cup selection.
Glover, the 2009 US Open champion, would also settle for a share of second place but for a while on Friday it looked like the South Carolina-born player might achieve 59 or better thanks to a superb haul of 10 birdies in Greensboro, North Carolina.
The pressure told on the last two holes, though, where he made par and then bogeyed to take a 61.
Glover later claimed 59 would not have been all that satisfying given his fellow American Furyk, who followed up his first-round 66 with a 64, had set the bar too high by becoming the first man to make 58 on the PGA Tour, at the Travelers Championship earlier this month.
“Furyk kind of made 59 obsolete!” he told golfchannel.com, before outlining his plans for Saturday.
“You’ve got to go low here, especially if you get some rain and it softens up. You’ve got to get it on the fairway first as you can’t get it close out of this rough.
“The focus tomorrow will be getting on the fairway at all costs and then attacking from there.”
Former joint leader Rafael Cabrera Bello could not improve on his 63 and took 68 thanks to two bogeys, while Luke Donald's hole-in-one heroics from Thursday counted for little as he drifted to seven-under, five strokes off the halfway lead.
