DETROIT (AP) 鈥� birdied seven of his first eight holes in the second round of the Rocket Classic and thought he had a shot at the lowest score in history.
鈥淚 was thinking 55,鈥� he said.
Young cooled off with two birdies on his back nine in a bogey-free round, closing with a Detroit Golf Club-record tying 61 to reach 10 under for the tournament to tie (66) and Patrick Fishburn (66) atop the leaderboard Friday.
鈥淵ou hate to call it a disappointing 61,鈥� he said, lamenting missing many birdie opportunities that preventing him from breaking that has stood for a decade.
Young, the No. 3 player in the world with three wins this season, shot a 59 in 2024 at the Travelers Championship and had a chance to join Furyk with multiple sub-60 rounds on the PGA Tour.
鈥淚t felt like I had a 10-footer for birdie on pretty much every hole,鈥� Young said.
A lot of players took advantage of one of the easiest courses on the PGA Tour.
Matt Wallace (64) and Rickie Fowler (68) were two shots back.
Fowler surged into the lead 鈥� briefly 鈥� at 11 under before falling back to the pack. He three-putted from 24 feet to bogey No. 11 and went from thigh-high fescue to a greenside bunker at No. 13, leading to his second of three bogeys on the back nine.
鈥淣ice to finish with birdie on 18,鈥� said Fowler, whose sixth and last win was the . 鈥淎 lot of good stuff today and nice to be in a good spot for the weekend.鈥�
First-round leader , who followed up his 61 on Thursday with a 71, was another stroke back in a large group that included Xander Schauffele (66).
Hideki Matsuyama (68) extended the PGA Tour鈥檚 longest active cuts streak to 30 by getting to 5 under with a slew of players, including Tony Finau (67), who is hoping to improve his positioning to be among the top 70 players in the FedEx Cup standings after next week’s Wyndham Championship.
鈥淚 check it pretty much every tournament just kind of see where I鈥檓 at, even on off weeks,鈥� said Finau, the champion, who entered the tournament No. 87 in the standings.
Matt Kuchar was another stroke back, getting a boost from his with a 9-iron on the 156-yard, par-3 5th hole. Kuchar invited a kid to join him inside the ropes to retrieve the ball, which he signed with a black marker.
鈥淚 saw a little boy that was kind of the right age where you know they鈥檙e so excited to be out here, just very impressionable,鈥� Kuchar said. 鈥淥ne of those things where it鈥檚 easy to make their day. I think anytime you get to make a kid鈥檚 day, it makes your day.鈥�
The Rocket Classic, which is in its , drew a stronger than usual field and some notable names missed the cut at 3 under.
U.S. Open champion (74) was 5 over. , a three-time winner this year and ranked No. 7 in the world, was 1 over to end his streak of making the cut in 14 straight starts. (71) 鈥� No. 12 in FedEx Cup standings 鈥� also dropped out at 1 under.
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