McGreevy storms ahead

American Max McGreevy left his rivals trailing in his wake after a sensational nine-under-par 62 saw him surge to a four-shot lead after the second round of the Dunlop Phoenix Tournament on Friday.
 
Hideki Matsuyama had a closing eagle to thank for lifting him to a share of second place with Taiga Semikawa after they signed for matching 65s while South Africa’s Shaun Norris carded a 67 to take solo fourth place at the JPY 200,000,000 event which is also the third event remaining on the 2024 JGTO season.
 
Playing on a sponsor’s invite, McGreevy justified their selection by delighting the crowd gathered at the Phoenix Country Club with a masterclass in golf after he marked his flawless card with nine birdies.
 
The 29-year-old American entered the second round one shot off the pace. He stormed off the block in his back-nine 10 with four birdies on holes 12,13,16 and 18 for an outward 31.  
 
He parred the first hole after the turn and charged further ahead with four birdies on the trot, starting from the par-four second before adding his ninth birdie of the round on the seventh hole.
 
"It was a great round today. Scoring 62 shows that I played well. My putting was on point, which kept my momentum strong. It would be an honor to have my name listed alongside all the past champions of this tournament. It was my goal coming to Japan, and I'll aim to make that happen over the next two days,” said McGreevy.
 
Meanwhile, Crowd favourite Matsuyama, who won the 2014 edition of the Dunlop Phoenix Tournament, dropped his only one shot of the day on par-four second but made up for it with five birdies and one eagle.
 
"It was impressive to see McGreevy playing well today. But I’ll focus on trying to play catch-up as much as possible over the weekend,” said Matsuyama.
 
Leading second round scores
All Japanese nationals unless indicated otherwise 
 
128 - Max McGreevy (USA) 66-62
132 - Hideki Matsuyama 67-65, Taiga Semikawa 67-65
133 – Shaun Norris (RSA) 66-67
134 - Akshay Bhatia (USA) 66-68
135 – Mikumu Horikawa 69-66, Satoshi Kodaira 69-66, Mikiya Akutsu 66-69, Yuta Sugiura 70-65, Hiroshi Iwata 71-64, Ryutaro Nagano 67-68, Taisei Shimizu 71-64
 
Ends.