Xander Schauffele moved into the halfway lead at the Men’s Olympic Golf competition at the Tokyo Olympics, as Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry both jumped up the leaderboard.
The American heads into the weekend on 11 under and with a one-shot advantage over Mexico’s Carlos Ortiz, who had set the initial clubhouse target with a second-round 67, with Alex Noren and Masters champion Hideki Matsuyama in the group of four players three off the pace in tied-third, which also included surprise first round leader Sepp Straka from Austria, who added a second round 71 to his opening 63.
Matsuyama was six under for his round with two holes to complete when play was suspended for a second time due to the threat of lightning, having been halted for nearly two-and-a-half hours earlier in the day, with the home favourite now needing to return on Saturday morning to finish his second round. He was tied
The Japanese player was one of 16 players unable to finish on Friday, with Team GB’s Paul Casey four off the pace with one hole to play and South African Christiaan Bezuidenhout addressing a putt on the final green when the horn sounded around 5.20pm local time.
Casey is joined on seven under by Lowry, who mixed seven birdies with a bogey during his six-under 65, with McIlroy also four off the pace despite closing his second-round 66 with a final-hole bogey.
Open champion Collin Morikawa, Patrick Reed and Tommy Fleetwood are all in the group on three under, while Justin Thomas was one under for the tournament with one hole to complete of his second round.
A frustrated Fleetwood dropped a shot on the 18th hole for the second time this week after closing with two-under 69. “Knocking that three of four footer in on the last and I would feel completely different. I got a lot of work to do over the weekend.”
To check out the leaderboard from the Men’s Golf Competition, click here.