Bhatia closes with birdie-birdie to be in fray for Tour Championship

Owings Mills (US), Aug 16 (PTI) Indian-American golfer Akshay Bhatia is on the edge of qualifying for the Tour Championship as he shot 1-under 69 and improved from Tied-46h to Ted-37th at the midway stage of the BMW Championship here.

Bhatia (75-69) is now 4-over for 36 holes and is just outside the Top-30, who qualify for the grand finale.

After a superb first day with the putter, Scotsman Robert MacIntyre, who added a 6-under 64 to his first round 8-under 62, took a five-shot lead over Scottie Scheffler (66-65) going into the weekend.

Bhatia, a Hero golfer, who played with Viktor Hovland in the second round, was sixth last week at St. Jude Championships.

He had three bogeys and a birdie on the front nine and then two birdies and one bogey over the next six. He was 1-over at that stage.

A birdie-birdie finish with putts from six feet and 12 feet on the last two holes saw him salvage the round to 69. He is now projected to finish on 32nd and needs to get into Top 30 to play the Tour Championship for the second year running.

MacIntyre, who closed with six straight birdies in the opening round for a 62, started the second round with a shot to 5 feet on the 476-yard first hole for another birdie. He kept bogeys off his card this time and set a massive target at 14-under 126.

MacIntyre, with 62-64, set career low 36-hole score on the TOUR and it was his second 36-hole lead/co-lead in stroke-play events on TOUR.

The previous was at the 2024 RBC Canadian Open, which he won. He has five top-10 finishes in 21 starts this season including a runner-up finish at the US Open.

Scheffler spent the steamy afternoon trying to stay in touch. He had six pars at the end for a 65 and is now 9-under 131. He will play in the final group. Ludvig Åberg shot 64 and is another stroke back.

The five-shot lead is the largest 36-hole lead at the BMW Championship since Jason Day led by five shots in 2015 at Conway Farms. Day went on to win by six.

In addition to the six birdies, three on either side of the Caves Valley course, MacIntyre missed a 5-foot birdie on the 18th and another birdie chance inside 8 feet on the eighth hole.

Scheffler had his 15th consecutive sub-70 round and pulled within five shots on No. 12 when he hit a 4-iron from 221 yards to seven feet for birdie. But he had only two other makeable chances from a 15-foot range.

Hideki Matsuyama has yet to make bogey over 36 holes, even more remarkable because he has been feeling ill this week. He shot 64 and was alone in fourth place, still seven shots behind.

Michael Kim had a 66 and was in the group tied for fifth that included Tommy Fleetwood (69), still eight shots behind. Kim needs to finish around this spot to advance to Top-30.

Rory McIlroy, playing for the first time since The Open Championship, was paired with Scheffler for two days. He overcame an early double bogey to post a 66, leaving him 10 shots behind. PTI Cor SSC SSC SSC