Chan Kim used a late eagle to right the ship and finish the second round with a five-shot lead at the ISCO Championship on Friday in Louisville, Ky.
Kim opened the PGA Tour alternate event at its new venue, Hurstbourne Country Club, with a terrific round of 61 Thursday for a four-stroke advantage. After opening Friday with a birdie at the par-5 10th hole, he gave away his cushion with bogeys at Nos. 11, 16 and 1.
Kim trailed Beau Hossler by a shot when he reached No. 4, where his pitch from 36 yards away came in hot and banged into the hole. He added birdies at Nos. 7-8 to climb to 11-under 129.
Kim, 35, eagled the par-4 fourth hole for the second straight round.
“I don’t know what the odds are of doing that, but boy, if I could make four 2s on that hole I’d be very happy,” he quipped.
Kim — a journeyman who has won 10 titles between the Japan Golf Tour and the Korn Ferry Tour — is halfway to his first PGA Tour triumph.
“I know that, like I said, these guys are so good, somebody’s going to catch up,” Kim said. “I already know that. The best I can do is handle myself the way I did when I won all those events and that’s just to stay patient and play my game, work on sticking to our game plan and I think that should get the job done.”
The closest competitors are Kris Ventura of Norway (64 Friday), Vince Whaley (67) and Thomas Rosenmueller of Germany (69), tied for second at 6 under. Hossler settled for a 68 and a share of fifth, tied with Kevin Kisner (69), Englishman David Skinns (64) and several others.
Ventura had a winding path to his 64, tied with Skinns for the round of the day. He had a double bogey and a bogey among four birdies on the front nine, but he kept the pedal down and birdied five more coming in.
“I think the highlight would have been just turning it around after the double bogey on 4,” Ventura said. “I think the old Kris would have been really pissed off and maybe let that affect me a little too much. I just knew that it’s playing tough so if you just shoot a couple under par, you’re going to be right there.”
