Dean Burmester started with a bogey on Friday, but he held things together through the front nine in the second round of the Korn Ferry Tour Championship in Newburgh, Indiana on his way to a four-under-par 68.
In the end, Burmester moved to seven-under for the tournament and a share of 20th as he set himself up for a weekend charge to improve his newly-won ranking ahead of the new season on the PGA Tour. He was seven shots behind the leader, Michael Gligic of Canada. Gligig’s 14-under gave him a two-stroke edge over Thailand’s Kiradech Aphibarnrat, South Korean Byeong Hun An and Will Gordon of the United States.
Burmester followed his opening bogey with a birdie on the second to bring things back under control, but he dropped another shot on the par-three fifth when he was unable to get up and down from a greenside bunker. He made consecutive birdies on eight and nine ahead of the turn. He picked up a third in a row on the 10th, and the machine was purring impressively with two more gains on 12 and 13. There was a momentum-stopping drop on 14 when he left his approach short on the par-four and, again, didn’t get up and down. He followed on the 15th that with his seventh birdie of the day.
He is currently projected to rise one place into sixth on the Korn Ferry Tour Finals list, which will determine his priority ranking for next season’s PGA Tour.
Dawie van der Walt carded a one-under 71 to move to two-under and a share of 49th. His chances of regaining his PGA Tour card are looking very slim. MJ Daffue, who has already earned his playing rights on the PGA Tour, missed the cut after a second round of level-par 72 saw him finish his tournament on five-over.
