For the first time in his PGA Tour career, Nico Echavarria will head into the weekend of a tournament with the 36-hole lead. Carding back-to-back rounds of 6-under 64, the 30-year-old stands at 12 under at the halfway point of the 2024 Zozo Championship and two strokes clear of first-round leader Taylor Moore and Justin Thomas.
Thomas, of course, seeks to break a drought of his own as the two-time PGA Championship winner has been held without a trophy since earning his second Wanamaker at Southern Hills in 2022. Through two rounds at Accordia Golf Narashino Country Club, however, Thomas is looking much more like that version of himself.
“I felt like I maybe played a little better yesterday, as weird as it is,” Thomas said following his second-round 64. “I just, I didn’t hit my wedges or short irons as close as I would have liked. I made some nice putts today, a couple of ’em, but I stayed really, really patient. I felt like I had some pretty good scoring opportunities there on the front nine, and to only be 1 under was … I don’t want to say disappointing but felt like closer to the higher end of what I could have or should have shot. I know how this place is if you drive it well, and I have a lot of confidence in how I was driving it. Just tried to keep putting it in the fairway and attack from there.”
The former world No. 1 was flawless on Friday. After turning in 1 under, he flipped on the afterburners and raced through the back nine of the par 70. A couple early birdies on the inward half set the stage for a fast finish as Thomas played his final three holes in 3 under — including an eagle on the par-5 18th — to close Echavarria’s advantage to just two.
Thomas’ statistical profile through 36 holes is expected. He ranks first in strokes gained tee to green, fifth in strokes gained approach and 34th in strokes gained putting. As with any tournament with Thomas, the putter will ultimately prove to be the key which unlocks the door into the winner’s circle. So far, he’s done just enough on the greens to keep pace, but if he expects to surpass the frontman over the next 36 holes and claim his first victory in over two years, Thomas may need more.
“I’m eager to win any tournament, I always want to,” Thomas said. “When things are going well, you feel like you should do that quite often and every year, but it’s just the reality of how difficult the sport is. Also, I think the Tour is quite a bit deeper than even when I first came out. You have a lot of guys that are freakishly talented and have no fear and are hungry to win like all of us are. It’s not entirely different than it has been for a little while, but just trying to play the best I can and hopefully that results in that.”
The leader
1. Nico Echavarria (-12)
Not only does Echavarria’s advantage represent his first 36-hole lead on the PGA Tour, but it also equals the 36-hole low score in this tournament set by Tiger Woods in 2019. Woods also led by two at this stage en route to victory five years ago, and the Colombian will aim to follow in the footsteps of the 15-time major champion.
After winning the Puerto Rico Open his rookie year, Echavarria has experienced a sophomore slump that has included just one top-10 finish with that coming in the team-style Zurich Classic. It is easy to ascertain why when looking at his statistics; his ball-striking is often inconsistent. That has not been the case this week, however, as he ranks third in strokes gained tee to green and first in strokes gained approach. If he keeps that up, he’ll be tough to beat.
“There’s got to be some pressure, there’s still halfway there though,” Echavarria said. “Hopefully a good round tomorrow can keep me in the lead or around the lead. And how I said yesterday, the goal is to be close with nine holes to go.”
Other contenders
T2. Justin Thomas, Taylor Moore (-10)
T4. Seamus Power, C.T. Pan, Eric Cole (-9)
T7. Max Greyserman, Rickie Fowler (-8)
T9. Andrew Novak, Jhonattan Vegas, Kevin Yu, Taisei Shimizu (-7)
For the second time in three years, Fowler is using the Zozo Championship as a launch pad. He has been stellar so far this fall with a pair of top-25 finishes in two starts, and he looks for more this weekend. It has been a two-pronged approach for the five-time PGA Tour winner as he ranks third in strokes gained approach and second in strokes gained putting. The driver will need to get tighter (only hitting 50% of fairways), but all signs point up for Fowler, who is coming off one of the worst seasons of his career.
“[I was] a little better kind of across the board,” Fowler said. “Drove it a little bit better than yesterday and hit some better iron shots. Yeah, not a whole lot different, tried to keep it fairly simple. Hit a lot of greens, which makes it fairly stress free. Yeah, did a good job of kind of keeping it in play and moving in the right direction.”
Schauffele’s birthday bounce back
Xander Schauffele has now played 35 holes in a bogey-free fashion following his second-round 65. Unfortunately, his lone mistake — or mistakes — led to a quadruple-bogey 8 in Round 1 and looms large as he stands at 2 under and 10 strokes off the pace. The two-time major champion hasn’t finished outside the top 15 in an individual tournament since April. This streak appears to be in jeopardy as he is currently tied for 42nd, but don’t be surprised if his name slowly moves onto the first page of the leaderboard over the weekend.
“It was supposed to be kind of windy and ended up being kind of cloudy and not too windy, so the greens are staying soft,” Schauffele said. “Your iron shots are kind of hitting and staying wherever you hit ’em. If you’re hitting the ball nicely you can definitely shoot some low scores. Just got to keep the ball in front of me tomorrow and Sunday and try to give myself a chance.”
2024 Zozo Championship updated odds and picks
Golf betting odds below provided via DraftKings Sportsbook. Check out the latest DraftKings promo to get in the game.
- Justin Thomas: 3-1
- Nico Echavarria: 9/2
- Taylor Moore: 13/2
- Seamus Power: 9-1
- Eric Cole: 10-1
- C.T. Pan: 12-1
- Max Greyserman: 14-1
- Rickie Fowler: 16-1
Let’s keep buying stock in Fowler. It was another great performance on Friday as he rattled in seven birdies against just one bogey and continues to get more comfortable with his new LAB putter in hand. Fowler also took a step in the right direction with the driver hitting 9 of 13 fairways, so if that continues, his rise up the leaderboard should as well.
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