Christiaan Bezuidenhout carded his second-successive two-under-par 69 on Friday as he climbed into a share of 15th at the halfway mark of the PGA Tours Valspar Championship at the Copperhead Course at Innisbrook Resort in Palm Harbor, Florida.
On a day on which scoring was more difficult than in the first round, Bezuidenhout kept things together with three birdies and just a single bogey to move to four-under-par through 36 holes. That put him just two strokes off the lead on a bunched leaderboard as five players shared top spot at six-under-par.
Up top were Americans Kevin Streelman, Chandler Phillips, Stewart Cink and Brendon Todd, together with Canada’s Mackenzie Hughes. There was a nine-way share of sixth place, one shot back on five-under, with one of those players, Rico Hoey of the Philippines, one of those still to complete his second round. Bezuidenhout shared 15th with five other players, while there were nine players on three-under.
The cut, as it sits right now, will be at even-par 142, and will leave some pretty strong players behind. Among those not expected to make the weekend at Vaspar: Jordan Spieth, a past champion who shot 74 Friday to finish at one-over 143; Keegan Bradley, a two-time winner in 2023 who shot 71 Friday to finish at 143; Sam Burns, a two-time Valspar champion who bogeyed his final hole to miss by a shot; 2019 US Open champion and former Valspar champion Gary Woodland (75); last year’s Open Championship winner, Brian Harman (74); another Open champion, Francisco Molinari (73); Tony Finau (75); and 2023 Ryder Cup captains Luke Donald (73) and Zach Johnson (76).
