Justin Thomas turned right into a two-shot lead at the halfway stage of this CJ Cup in Korea a great nine-under 63 in the next round.
Thomas managed to build onto his hot start, holing his ninth birdie putt of the day to climb to 13 under par two ahead of Korean-born New Zealander Danny Lee and leader Byeong Hun An birdied the first four holes.
Jordan Spieth enhanced his prospects of a first win since The Open but champion Brooks Koepka went from another direction for a series of mistakes contributed to a 75 which left him 11 strokes off the speed and outside the top 50.
There were no such problems for entire world No 5 Thomas, the winner on Jeju Island in 2017, as he followed his own flyer with a different gain in the eighth and three in five holes after the turn.
Thomas maintained the mistakes in bay and atoned for his bogey-six in the 18th on Thursday using a solid birdie to close out a 63 he described aseffortless.
That was, Id say, complete one of the rounds Ive played in a while, he explained. It came really easy. I felt like all of the putts I made actually were not anything crazy.
The putt on 10 was probably the hardest one that I had, but for the most part, I had them in the appropriate places for where they were fairly easy putts or closer to the gap. I never really had to worry too much on the market, which is definitely a bonus
An slept on the overnight lead and started two with a nervy bogey at the 10th, but the house paintings were soon cheering as he recovered with a birdie at the 12th and then created four in a row by the 17th, lifting him to 12 under with seven holes and two par-fives – to playwith.
But the former BMW PGA winner fought over the final third of his round and lost his second shot of the championship in the first time before parring in for a 69 to remain at 11 under, a dent afterwards matched by Lee later he shot a tiny gloss off his 66 with a bogey at the last.
Four birdies in six holes from the 12th lifted Lee, who was playing with Thomas and Phil Mickelson, to 12 below, but he grabbed a leash heavy from inside 100 yards in the final and came short of the green, a mistake that led to a final six months.
Id a 95-yard third chance, it was back, and I had been trying to strike own 60-degree wedge a bit too hard and struck it a tiny bit, said Lee. Got short-sided and that I did not create up the up and down. But apart from that, it was a really positive round.
Spieth, still chasing his first victory considering lifting the Claret Jug in Royal Birkdale, recovered from a bogey in the first with four birdies on the back nine and, after another blot at 11, he birdied five of their final seven holes to return a 65 which steered him under along with Emiliano Grillo (66).
As he included a 68 to his opening 69 together with fascinating young Norwegian talent Viktor Hovland one further behind after having a pair of 69s tyrrell Hatton directs the British battle.
But Koepka made two birdies from five bogeys at a 75 that renders him outside the top-50 of the 78-man field and continued to fight for form.
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