FILE PHOTO: Mar 8, 2019; Orlando, FL, USA; Tommy Fleetwood hits a tee shot on the 15th hole during the second round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational golf tournament at Bay Hill Club & Lodge. Mandatory Credit: Reinhold Matay-USA TODAY Sports
(Reuters) – Englishman Tommy Fleetwood set the early pace and American Keegan Bradley played catch-up as they soared to a joint four-stroke lead in the second round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational in Florida on Friday.
Fleetwood, last year’s U.S. Open runner-up, collected a pair of eagles at par-five holes to shoot six-under 66 and Bradley followed with a 68 as they wound up on nine-under 135 at Bay Hill.
“If you can score on the par-fives, you can shoot a good score and that’s basically where I made all my numbers up today,” Fleetwood, who has a close friend living on the course, told Golf Channel.
“It was just nice to have a day like that and just constantly feel at ease really with hitting good golf shots.”
Six players were tied for third at five-under including last week’s Honda Classic winner Keith Mitchell (68).
Billy Horschel (71), Venezuelan Jhnonattan Vegas (70), Italian Francesco Molinari (70), American Kevin Kisner (69) and Canadian Roger Sloan (69) also were at 139.
But the tournament ended early for five times major winner Phil Mickelson, who failed to make the cut after a six-over 78 that included three bogeys and two doubles after an opening 68 on Thursday.
South African Ernie Els (75-146) and American Brooks Koepka (73-147) also missed the cut.
Reporting by Gene Cherry in Raleigh, North Carolina
