PGA Tour: Martin stretches lead to two shots at Corales Puntacana Championship, as China’s Li Haotong suffers meltdown
- Li comes apart in second round with a 7-over 79 to finish a 8-over for the tournament
- Martin, chasing first win on Tour since 2014, shot a 6-under 66 to lead at halfway stage
Ben Martin, chasing his first PGA Tour title since 2014, fired a 6-under par 66 on Friday, stretching his lead to two strokes at the Corales Puntacana Championship.
The 34-year-old American, whose only PGA victory came eight years ago in Las Vegas, stood on 12-under at the halfway stage at the Dominican Republic resort.
American Alex Smalley fired a 65 to stand second on 134, one stroke ahead of compatriots Adam Schenk and Chad Ramey with Northern Ireland’s Graeme McDowell, the 2010 US Open champion, fifth on 136.
But for China’s Li Haotong, a day that started full of promise, quickly turned into a nightmare. Li opened with birdies on the first and third to move to 1-under for the tournament, but then bogeyed the last three holes on the front nine.
A run of four pars stopped the bleeding, but he played out the final five holes in 6-over, including double bogeys on 17 and 18. Ultimately he missed the cut by nine shots.
Martin, who led by one after 18 holes, started on the back nine with three consecutive birdies, sandwiched bogeys at 13 and 16 around a birdie at 15 and closed with birdies on four of his last six holes.
“Birdied the first three and birdied six, seven and eight to finish, so it was a nice way to start and a nice way to finish,” Martin said.