PGA TOUR rookie Taylor Pendrith (1st/-15) set the Rocket Mortgage Classic 36-hole scoring record (career-low 129) for a one-stroke lead.
Four rookies are T7 or better (Pendrith, Lee Hodges, Cameron Young and Sahith Theegala); Chad Ramey is the only rookie to win this season.
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Pendrith recorded a career-low opening 36-hole score (129); previous: 131, 2021 Butterfield Bermuda Championship (finished T5).
Related: Being in contention a new experience for Taylor Pendrith
Set Rocket Mortgage Classic 36-hole scoring record at 15-under 129; previous: 130 (Nate Lashley, 2019; went on to win).
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He holds the 36-hole lead/co-lead for the second time on TOUR; led this season’s Butterfield Bermuda Championship after the second and third rounds before finishing T5 (lone career top-10 on TOUR).
Pendrith finished T13 at THE PLAYERS Championship in March before taking time off to heal a fractured rib; notched two top-15 results in his two starts since returning to the TOUR in July (T13/Barbasol Chmpionship, T11/Barracuda Championship).
Earned his PGA TOUR card for this season by finishing in the top 25 on the 2020-21 Korn Ferry Tour Regular Season Points List (No. 5) and was one of three players to do so without a victory (Nick Hardy, Ben Kohles).
Tony Finau (2nd/-14) captured his third PGA TOUR title at last week’s 3M Open.
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Two players have won in back-to-back starts this season (Xander Schauffele/Travelers Championship/Genesis Scottish Open, Scottie Scheffler/World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play/Masters Tournament).
The last player to win back-to-back tournaments on TOUR: Patrick Cantlay in 2021 (BMW Championship, TOUR Championship).
Last player to win back-to-back tournaments during the FedExCup Regular Season: Brendon Todd in 2019 (Butterfield Bermuda Championship, World Wide Technology Championship at Mayakoba).
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Career-low opening 36-hole score (130); previous: 131, five times (most recent: 2021 FedEx St. Jude Championship, went on to win).
Hodges (3rd/-12), playing in the same group as leader Pendrith, carded his second consecutive 66; in the top 10 after the second round for the second consecutive week (stood T9 at last week’s 3M Open and finished T16).
Young (T4/-10) carded a 9-under 63, tying the tournament record for lowest 18-hole score; other 63s in tournament history (est. 2019): Nate Lashley (R1/2019), J.T. Poston (R2/2019), Lashley (R3/2019), Davis Thompson (R1/2021).
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Young holed out from 135 yards at the par-4 13th, the second-longest hole-out of his PGA TOUR career (longest: hole-in-one from 165 yards at the 2022 U.S. Open).
