Aug. 7 (UPI) -- Haotong Li hit only four fairways Friday at TPC Harding Park but still managed to take a two-stroke lead at the PGA Championship in San Francisco.
Li followed up his first-round 67 with a 5-under 65 on the second day of the tournament to become the first Chinese player to hold the lead after any round at any major. The 25-year-old Li had a bogey-free round to sit at 8-under 132 after 36 holes.
"I didn't even [think] I could play like this ... got no confidence," Li said. "Probably it helped me clear my mind a little bit."
Li was two shots ahead of the six-man group behind him, which includes two-time defending champion Brooks Koepka. He was at 6-under 134, along with Justin Rose, Tommy Fleetwood, Jason Day, Daniel Berger and Mike Lorenzo-Vera.
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Brendon Todd, who was tied with Day for the lead after the opening round, was one shot back of that group at 5-under par. Cameron Champ and Paul Casey also sat at 5-under after 36 holes.
Further back from the lead was Tiger Woods, who found more fairways than Li but struggled on the greens. He missed a 7-foot birdie putt on his first hole, an 8-footer on hole No. 4, a 10-footer at the fifth and a 15-footer at the seventh.
Woods then bogeyed the ninth after missing a 15-foot putt for par. He had two birdies and two bogeys on the back nine to follow up his opening-round 68 with a 2-over 72 Friday to sit at even par and tied for 44th.
"I really struggled with getting the speed of the greens today," Woods said. "They looked faster than what they were putting. They were firm coming into the greens, but they weren't putting as fast as they looked. As the day wore on, they got a little more fuzzy and got even slower, and I struggled even a little bit more hitting the putts hard enough."
Rory McIlroy ran off four consecutive birdies around the turn but lost momentum with a triple bogey on hole No. 12. He had six birdies and two bogeys -- along with his triple bogey -- to finish with a 69.
Justin Thomas (70) -- the world's top-ranked player -- along with Phil Mickelson (69) and Jordan Spieth (68) were at 1-over par to sit just above the cut line. Bryson DeChambeau shot 70 and was at 2-under 138.
Rickie Fowler, Jim Furyk, Sergio Garcia and Zach Johnson were among those who failed to make the cut.
