FLOWTOWN, Pa. — Keith Mitchell has stepped out of the top spot after taking a first-round lead in three tournaments earlier this season. He shows his sustainability in the Truist Championship.
Mitchell continued his career-high round at a 3-under 67 on Friday, maintaining a one-shot lead after two rounds at the Wisahi Concourse at the Philadelphia Cricket Club.
Mitchell, who led the way at age 61 on Thursday, offset two bogeys with two birdies.
Shane Lowry was second at 11 after a 5-under 65, and Cep Straka (67) had another stroke. Defending champion Rory McIlroy shot a 3-under 67 and was in a large group tied for four and five shots.
Mitchell said he feels more comfortable in the top position. And that showed.
“I think it’s a little more comfortable in that position,” Mitchell said. “I played a lot on the last few Thursdays and I feel like I’ve just got there three or four times now, so I’m trying to build it up and build it on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
“It’s a four-round tournament. They don’t give you points or money on Thursdays, so I have to keep doing that.”
A day after 64 of the 72 golfers on the uncut field defeated the PAR in near-perfect weather and scoring conditions, the course dealt with overnight rain and 50’s on and off showers and temperatures. The result: Philadelphia Cricket’s modest par-4 and longer irons to the more difficult 7,100-yard PAR-70 test for the sixth signing event of the PGA Tour season.
Raleigh was unshakable in the weather and posted the lowest round of the day, but McIlroy was joined by Justin Thomas (67), Morikawa (70), and Patrick Cantrey (68).
Mitchell was always stable and never wavered from the design strategy of the AW Tillinghast, which opened in 1922.
“If you move in the wrong direction with momentum on a day like today, you can really catch you,” he said.
Opening at 64, Raleigh birded four of his first eight holes. After a bogey on the 10th, he made a 53-foot birdie putt on No. 11, and added another birdie on the 15th to bounce back.
He discounted the notion that he has an advantage over most players in chilly, damp conditions simply because he is from Ireland.
“Everyone tells me it when it rains,” Laurie said. “I live in South Florida and I’m going to be there right now. …I think I’m probably able to handle them better than a few people, but I don’t particularly like them and don’t go out or play in these conditions.”
McIlroy has had an uneven round of six birdies and three bogeys while playing in his first individual tournament since completing a career grand slam with the Masters last month.
He wasn’t shaking with his aggressive approach to playing Wisahikon’s course, but on Friday Northern Ireland’s long-distance success came with the Greens. He drained putts from 12 feet below 12 feet, nearly 29 feet at 14 and 17 feet, 4 inches at 15 feet, and nearly 18 feet. He finished with a 126½-foot putt.
McIlroy has won three times this season at Pebble Beach, Players Championship and Augusta National, and is the four-time champion of the event. He admitted that after taking a break for most of the past two weeks, his game needs to be tweaked. He is also preparing for the PGA Championship at Quazul Hollow next week, winning the Wells Fargo Championship four times.
“I felt that today was a different kind of crude,” McIlroy said. “I thought what I felt was a few distinctive mistakes compared to how I played most of the year. So I tried to iron it over the next few days. I tried to shoot some scores without a lot of bogeys on the cards.
After the opening round, Denny McCarthy, who had been stroked once from the lead, fell out of the pace and went 5 under after 73 in the second round.