PGA Tour: Scott leads the field, Bhatia is Tied-10th; Hideki Matsuyama withdraws

Castle Rock (USA), Aug 24 (IANS) Japanese star Hideki Matsuyama withdrew from the second round of the BMW Championship on Friday with a lower-back injury as Korean duo Sungjae Im and Si Woo Kim remained in the top 10 of the leaderboard in the penultimate tournament of the 2024 FedEx Cup Playoffs.

Matsuyama, who won the FedEx St. Jude Championship last week, had opened his campaign at Castle Pines Golf Club in Colorado with a 67 on Thursday before being forced to pull out of the US$20 million showpiece.

Australia’s Adam Scott fired a blistering 63 on the site where he made his PGA TOUR debut some 24 years ago to open up a three-shot lead over first-round leader Keegan Bradley (68) with his 13-under total. Sweden’s Ludvig Aberg also shot a 63 for a solo third, four off the pace.

Indian Americans Akshay Bhatia (72-68) and Sahith Theegala (73-71), who are both projected to stay in Top 30 for the Tour championships, moved up in the second round. Bhatia is now T-10 and Theegala is now T-32. Aaron Rai (74-70) is also T-32 and he is currently projected to be T-25, which should put him in for the Tour Championship.

World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler (71-72) is T-29 and Rory McIlroy (70-71) is T-15.

Korea’s Sungjae Im carded a 70 for a 6-under total in tied sixth position following a round that featured six birdies against four bogeys. He is projected to remain in 10th position on the FedEx Cup points list as he prepares to make his sixth straight appearance in the TOUR Championship, which is limited to the top 30 players.

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