Indian-American Bhatia Teid-5th on PGA Tour

Khel Today Bureau

FORT WORTH, Texas: Akshay Bhatia shot a superb second round 4-under 66 to go up to tied fifth at the Charles Schwab Challenge at Fort Worth.

The Indian-origin player Bhatia played a bogey free round with four birdies. He had two birdies on each side of the turn at the Colonial Country Club.

Bhatia picked up his first birdie of the round on the fifth hole and then followed that with another on the sixth. On the back nine Bhatia gained two more shots on the 12th and 16th holes. Bhatia’s total after two days is seven-under par and is sitting four behind the leaders, Ben Griffin (63) and Matt Schmid (63).

Indo-British Aaron Rai played one-over par for the day. Having played a round of even par on the first day, he was one-over for two days and the cut for the tournament fell at even par. Rai missed out by one.

First day leaders John Pak dropped down to third with a total score of nine under par as Ben Griffin and Matti Schmid continue to have identical scores for both the first and second rounds to share the lead at 11 under par.

Griffin made eight birdies and one bogey for his round of seven under on the second day while Schmid played a bogey free round with seven birdies for his score.

Griffin won the Zurich Classic of New Orleans a month ago with Andrew Novak. Schmid, 27, is seeking his first TOUR victory.

The leaders are five ahead of Rickie Fowler, who made the turn in 29 before settling for a 64. Fowler has just one victory since 2019, the Rocket Classic two years ago.

Scottie Scheffler, who won the PGA Championship last weekend, shot 71 and was 10 shots off the lead as the world No. 1 tries to become the first player since Dustin Johnson in 2017 to win three consecutive starts.

It was close, but Scheffler made the cut with a shot to spare, which extended his streak to 55, second to Xander Schauffele’s 64.

Jordan Spieth birdied the 17th and made the cut on the number at even par.