Talor Gooch and Peter Uihlein fired matching 66s on Saturday to supplant the leaders after 36 holes at LIV Golf Mayakoba in Playa del Carmen, Mexico.
Gooch and Uihlein sit at 9-under-par 133, one stroke ahead of Charles Howell III, who also shot 66 at El Camaleon Golf Course.
First-round co-leader Paul Casey of England (second-round 71) remains within striking distance at 6 under, tied for fourth. Friday’s other co-leader, Jason Kokrak, fell out of contention with a 75. He’s now seven shots off the lead at T13.
South African Branden Grace (68) is tied with Casey in fourth place, three shots off the lead. Three players sit at 5 under in a tie for sixth.
Uihlein had a superb round going before recording bogeys on two of his last three holes. He finished with seven birdies.
“All you can do really out here is just keep it between the trees, and I did that quite well today,” Uihlein said. “Drove it nice. Had a lot of good chances on the front and holed some nice putts. The back is tough. It’s a tough nine. … But yeah, all in all, it was a solid day.
“Seven birdies is definitely very solid on a day like today.”
Gooch turned in a clean card, posting five birdies for his round.
“Anytime you can go bogey-free on a course like this, you’ve played some good golf,” Gooch said. “The wind wasn’t quite as strong out there today, so I think the scoring conditions were a little bit more doable. 67, 66 to start the week, it’s tough to beat.”
Casey and team captain Howell have Crushers GC in the lead in the team category at 14 under, two strokes ahead of Dustin Johnson’s and Uihlein’s 4Aces GC, the defending champions. Fireballs GC sits third at 10 under.
“We’d love to grab our first win somehow, and we’ve been close a few times, but boy, the 4Aces sure have had a bit of a monopoly on winning, but the Fireballs are up there, too, which are great players,” Howell said. “With the team thing and three scores counting, you can get some pretty big swings.”
–Field Level Media