The Australian Marc Leishman continues to lead and extend his pursuit advantage by three strokes by accumulating 126 strokes, 16 under par, in the two rounds of the BMW championship, held in Lake Forest (Illinois, USA) , corresponding to the American circuit.
Leishman (62 + 64) has eight birdies for a bogey, and extends his lead over Australia’s Jason Day and American Rickie Fowler, who finished with 65 and 64 respectively.
Day, ninth in the world, added two ‘eagles’ (holes 14 and 17, the latter a pair that settled in a spectacular hit), five birdies and three bogeys, while Fowler, tenth in the world rankings, got an ‘eagle’ on the 15th hole – a pair of four -, six birdies and a bogey.
The Spaniard Rafa Cabrera Bello (65 + 71) went down from fifth to 22nd place after being on par of the field with 71 strokes. The Gran Canario scored three birdies for as many bogeys.
In the same position is also the Spanish Sergio García after concluding this second round as the first, with 68 hits, in a route that resolved with four birdies by a bogey like the Bizkaian Jon Rahm (69 + 68) who rose to the twenty-ninth place.
The BMW is the third tournament of the four that make up the playoffs of the FedExCup PGA Tour, which will decide the winner of the Fedex Cup.
Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama leads the Fedex Cup standings, but is in the 47th position (72 + 68) of the BMW, just ahead of the champion of the last edition and current world number one, the American Dustin Johnson, who is in the 60 (71 + 72) and is fourth and direct rival in Fedex Cup.
The Japanese are more threatened his post in these playoffs by Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas, third and second respectively, and that in the BMW after the round today occupy the twelfth and twenty-ninth position.
In these playoffs, the American Fowler occupies the fifth position while the Spanish Rahm the sixth.
The fourth and final tournament, to be played next week, is the Tour Championship.
Classification after the second round:
.1. Marc Leishman (AUS) 126 (62 + 64) (-16 Hits)
.2. Jason Day (AUS) 129 (64 + 65)
. +. Rickie Fowler (USA) 129 (65 + 64)
.4. Patrick Cantlay (USA) 132 (67 + 65)
.5. Francesco Molinari (ITA) 133 (68 + 65)
. +. Stewart Cink (USA) 133 (67 + 66)
.7. Jamie Lovemark (USA) 134 (64 + 70)
. +. Bredan Steele (USA) 134 (68 + 66)
. +. Hudson Swafford (USA) 134 (68 + 66)
. +. Gary Woodland (USA) 134 (67 + 67)
. +. Cameron Smith (AUS) 134 (66 + 68)
12. Jordan Spieth (USA) 135 (65 + 70)
22. Rafa Cabrera Bello (ESP) 136 (65 + 71)
. +. Sergio Garcia (ESP) 136 (68 + 68)
29. Jon Rahm (ESP) 137 (69 + 68)
. +. Justin Thomas (USA) 137 (67 + 70)
44. Jhonattan Vegas (VEN) 139 (71 + 68)
47. Hideki Matsuyama (JPN) 140 (72 + 68)
54. Emiliano Grillo (ARG) 142 (70 + 72)
61. Dustin Johnson (USA) 143 (71 + 72).