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Marc Leishman continued his run of outstanding golf on Friday, enabling him to take a three-shot lead into Saturday's third round of the BMW Championship in Lake Forest, Ill. After firing a 9-under-par 62 in the first round at Conway Farms Golf Club, the Australian shot a 7-under 64 in the second round for a two-round total of 16-under 126.
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Leishman has some big names behind him, however, as Rickie Fowler, who shot a 7-under 64 Friday, and Australian Jason Day (65) are three strokes back at 13-under. Those two are three ahead of Patrick Cantlay, who is alone in fourth at 10-under.
But Leishman continues to be the man on an impressive run. Two weeks ago, he was tied for the 54-hole lead at the Dell Technologies Championship and eventually finished third.
Now he is in the driver's seat again.
Leishman did not have a bogey in the second round until he failed to make par on No. 17. But he countered that with a birdie on the 18th hole.
"The game is feeling really good," Leishman said afterward, according to CBSSports.com. "Rolling the putts really well, but you have to give yourself the opportunities.
"Hopefully I can keep doing what I'm doing. Lot of great players just behind me, so I need to keep the foot on the pedal."
Fowler, who matched Leishman's 64 for the best round of the day, played the final six holes in 5-under on Friday. That included an eagle 2 on the 15th.
"Back nine has been great," said Fowler, who played the back nine in 10-under over the first two rounds.
"Just got off to shaky start yesterday. I felt like I got off to a nice start today. Didn't make anything on the front nine, (or it) could have been a really low one."
Day needed one more stroke than Fowler and Leishman did to complete his second round, but he captured the biggest prize of the day.
Day had three bogeys on Friday, but he also had two eagles, including a hole-in-one on the par-3 17th hole, which earned him a BMW.
"It has been awhile since I've been in this position," said Day. "Actually heading in the right direction.
"Hopefully I can keep pushing that forward. The ultimate goal is to win this week. That's the thing I've been trying to do this whole season is be able to at least win once and try to build on that."
Other notables include Jordan Spieth and Phil Mickleson, both of whom are at 7-under; Sergio Garcia, who is at 6-under, and Justin Thomas, who sits at 5-under.
