Robert MacIntyre surged into a five-shot lead at the halfway stage of the BMW Championship as he added a second-round 64 to his opening 62 at Caves Valley Golf Club.
Scotland’s MacIntyre produced six birdies in his flawless second round to reach 14 under in the second FedEx Cup play-off event.
That left him five clear of world number one Scottie Scheffler, who carded a 65 to sit one ahead of Sweden’s Ludvig Aberg.
MacIntyre birdied the first after a fine approach to inside five feet, before further gains from 14 feet at the fourth and seven feet at the seventh.
He picked up another shot at the 11th after driving the green at the par four, holed from 30 feet at the 14th and completed his scoring by reaching the par-five 16th in two and two-putting for birdie as he chases a third PGA Tour title.
“I’ve always said when I’m comfortable with a putter in my hands, it’s a dangerous thing,” MacIntyre said in quotes reported on the PGA Tour website.
“The priority is getting that putter face as square as I can at impact, which is not rocket science, but it’s difficult to do.
“For me, that’s the priority now, just to go and do that. Then when you get in a certain range, it’s all pace putting and touch, and my touch is normally pretty good.
“I feel like this week I’ve really done a good job of getting it underneath the hole to be able to be aggressive with an uphill putt.”
England’s Tommy Fleetwood, who had been second overnight, slipped into a tie for fifth with a second-round 69 in Maryland.
Fleetwood’s compatriot Harry Hall put himself just inside the projected cut mark for the season-ending Tour Championship as a 67 left him in a share of eighth place.
Only the top 30 in the FedEx Cup standings will proceed to East Lake in Atlanta with Hall currently projected to climb 15 places and take the final spot in the field.
