Daniel Berger followed his opening-round of 63 with a 4-under 68 to extend his lead to five-stroke at the Arnold Palmer Invitational.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
His 13-under 131 total sees him leading Akshay Bhatia, who fired the day’s low round 66.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Berger has suffered a run of injuries, including a back issue which sidelined him for 18 months and fractured a finger at the BMW Championship in August last year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The four-time PGA Tour winner, hit nine birdies in a flawless display. The 32-year-old American hit three straight birdies starting on the 10th, before adding another with an 11-foot putt at the par-three 14th, and two more birdies on the 16th and 18th for a bogey-free round of 63.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A further stroke behind Bhatia are Ludvig \u00c5berg, Collin Morikawa and Sahith Theegala.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Theegala carded a 5-under 67, his lowest score in 14 rounds at Arnold Palmer\u2019s Bay Hill Club & Lodge and the only bogey-free round of the day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
World No. 5 Morikawa owns two top-10 finishes in five prior starts at the event is within striking distance and is seeking to become the first player since Robert MacIntyre to finish runner-up and win the same tournament the next year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Morikawa, a two-time major winner who ended a two-year title drought with a victory at Pebble Beach last month, surged late for his six-under round.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Defending champion Russell Henley is tied-seventh at five under while Rory McIlroy is a further stroke behind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
World No. 1 and 20-time PGA TOUR winner Scottie Scheffler is T15 at 3-under.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Meanwhile, PGA TOUR rookie and first-round leader Chandler Blanchet continued his fine run at the Puerto Rico golf championships. He carded a 5-under 67 to hold a four-stroke lead after the second round.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Seeking to become the second first-time winner on Tour this season after Jacob Bridgeman, he leads Gordon Sargent, who posted a 2-under 70.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Blanchet missed the cut in all five of his previous starts this year but he’s flipped the script in Puerto Rico, posting 16 birdies over his first 36 holes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Elsewhere. Argentina\u2019s Ricardo Gonzalez leads reigning Charles Schwab Cup winner Stewart Cink by one stroke after opening with 6-under 66 at the James Hardie Pro Football Hall of Fame Invitational.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Meanwhile, it is a three way tie atop the Korn Ferry Tour’s Chile Classic. Doc Redman, Davis Shore and Augusto N\u00fa\u00f1ez are on nine-under 133 atop the leaderboard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Second-Round Leaderboard (Arnold Palmer Invitational)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Second-Round Leaderboard (Puerto Rico Open)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n First round Leaderboard (James Hardie Pro Football Hall of Fame Invitational<\/strong>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Second round Leaderboard<\/strong> (Chile Classic)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Daniel Berger followed his opening-round of 63 with a 4-under 68 to extend his lead to five-stroke at<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10196,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[44],"tags":[58],"class_list":["post-10258","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international","tag-golf"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\tPos.<\/strong><\/td> Player<\/strong><\/td> R1<\/strong><\/td> R2<\/strong><\/td> Total<\/strong><\/td><\/tr> 1<\/td> Daniel Berger<\/td> 63<\/td> 68<\/td> 131 (-13)<\/td><\/tr> 2<\/td> Akshay Bhatia<\/td> 70<\/td> 66<\/td> 136 (-8)<\/td><\/tr> T3<\/td> Ludvig \u00c5berg<\/td> 66<\/td> 71<\/td> 137 (-7)<\/td><\/tr> T3<\/td> Sahith Theegala<\/td> 70<\/td> 67<\/td> 137 (-7)<\/td><\/tr> T3<\/td> Collin Morikawa<\/td> 66<\/td> 71<\/td> 137 (-7)<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n Pos.<\/strong><\/td> Player<\/strong><\/td> R1<\/strong><\/td> R2<\/strong><\/td> Total<\/strong><\/td><\/tr> 1<\/td> Chandler Blanchet<\/td> 64<\/td> 67<\/td> 131 (-13)<\/td><\/tr> 2<\/td> Gordon Sargent<\/td> 65<\/td> 70<\/td> 135 (-9)<\/td><\/tr> T3<\/td> Ricky Castillo<\/td> 68<\/td> 68<\/td> 136 (-8)<\/td><\/tr> T3<\/td> Jesper Svensson<\/td> 67<\/td> 69<\/td> 136 (-8)<\/td><\/tr> T3<\/td> Blades Brown<\/td> 69<\/td> 67<\/td> 136 (-8)<\/td><\/tr> T3<\/td> Jeremy Paul<\/td> 69<\/td> 67<\/td> 136 (-8)<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n <\/td> Player<\/strong><\/td> To Par<\/strong><\/td> Scores<\/strong><\/td><\/tr> 1<\/td> Ricardo Gonzalez<\/td> -6<\/td> 35-31 \u2013 66<\/td><\/tr> 2<\/td> Stewart Cink<\/td> -5<\/td> 34-33 \u2013 67<\/td><\/tr> T3<\/td> George McNeill<\/td> -4<\/td> 33-35 \u2013 68<\/td><\/tr> <\/td> Steve Allan<\/td> -4<\/td> 33-35 \u2013 68<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n Pos.<\/strong><\/td> Player<\/strong><\/td> R1<\/strong><\/td> R2<\/strong><\/td> Total<\/strong><\/td><\/tr> T1<\/td> Doc Redman<\/td> 67<\/td> 66<\/td> 133 (-9)<\/td><\/tr> <\/td> Davis Shore<\/td> 66<\/td> 67<\/td> 133 (-9)<\/td><\/tr> <\/td> Augusto N\u00fa\u00f1ez<\/td> 65<\/td> 68<\/td> 133 (-9)<\/td><\/tr> T4<\/td> Dylan Menante<\/td> 66<\/td> 68<\/td> 134 (-8)<\/td><\/tr> <\/td> Bronson Burgoon<\/td> 69<\/td> 65<\/td> 134 (-8)<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"