LIV Golf Korea Round 2: Bryson DeChambeau Goes Bogey-Free Again and Leads by Four

Bryson DeChambeau has been here before. That is both the encouraging part and the uncomfortable part.

The Crushers GC captain shot a second straight bogey-free 6-under 66 on Saturday at Jack Nicklaus Golf Club Korea and will carry a four-shot lead into the final round of LIV Golf Korea at 13 under. It is the largest 36-hole lead of his LIV career and his fifth 36-hole lead since joining the league, per LIV Golf. He has not converted any of the first four. Cleeks GC's Richard Bland is alone in second at 9 under after a 69, and a crowd at 8 under includes Crushers teammate Charles Howell III, Smash GC's Jason Kokrak and Talor Gooch, and Stinger GC's Dean Burmester. In the team race, Smash GC shot 11 under and opened a six-shot lead at 21 under.

Clean Cards, Big Cushion

After sharing the lead with Gooch on Friday, as covered in our Round 1 recap, DeChambeau simply removed the drama from his own scorecard. Thirty-six holes, zero bogeys. He also averaged 342.9 yards on the two measured driving holes, the best in the field, which is a nice way to make a par 72 feel smaller than it is.

The people chasing him noticed. "This kind of course is tailor-made for him," Bland said. Burmester's plan for Sunday was refreshingly blunt: "Drive it past him, see if I can get into his head."

DeChambeau's own plan was about as uncomplicated as a 54-hole leader can make it. "Just be a kid out there. Have a lot of fun. Go back to my roots. Just get it done," he said.

Bland Holds the Second Chair

Bland quietly put together one of the steadiest two days in the field. The Cleeks GC veteran hit 16 of 18 greens on Saturday, the best mark of the round, and got up and down on both missed greens. A 69 kept Bland alone in second, and Bland did the math on what Sunday requires without any sugarcoating: "I've probably got to shoot something in double digits to get anywhere near him."

Howell made the biggest individual move in the group behind. Howell birdied five of the first seven holes on the way to a 66, the best showing since returning from injury late last season, per LIV Golf, and Howell and Burmester shared the low putting number for the round at 1.28 putts per hole. That gives the Crushers two players inside the top three, which matters a lot more than usual this week, for reasons that have nothing to do with DeChambeau.

The Flagstick From Hell

That reason is Anirban Lahiri. The Crushers man opened with a 68 and was firmly in the mix until his approach at the ninth clanged off the flagstick, shot across the green and finished in the water. Double bogey. A triple followed at the 10th and another double at the 12th, and the round finished at 7-over 79.

Burmester, Lahiri's playing partner, had the line of the day. "How brutal this game can be to anybody," Burmester said. Burmester's own round had its share of luck going the other way, including a chip-in to save par at the eighth, and his 68 kept the hole-in-one hero from Friday firmly in the hunt.

Smash Pulls Away

With every score counting, one blowup can sink a team, and Lahiri's 79 is the main reason the Crushers sit six back. Their 6-under round included 66s from DeChambeau and Howell and a 71 from Paul Casey, but they are now tied for second at 15 under with Torque GC and RangeGoats GC.

Smash had no such problem. Kokrak's 67 led the way, Graeme McDowell went bogey-free for a 69, captain Brooks Koepka shot 70 and Gooch added a 71. Four under-par cards, 11 under for the day, 21 under for the week.

Torque posted the best team round of the day at 13 under. Carlos Ortiz shot a bogey-free 66, Sebastián Muñoz a bogey-free 67, and Joaquin Niemann and Mito Pereira each shot 71, the latter Pereira's first sub-par round in 12 tries. RangeGoats shot 7 under behind 69s from Bubba Watson and Matthew Wolff. Stinger GC are fifth at 13 under, with Charl Schwartzel's 68 joining Burmester's.

Further back, Jon Rahm shot a bogey-free 66, capped by an eagle at the par-5 18th, to climb into a tie for ninth after sitting tied for 42nd through 17 holes on Friday. Legion XIII shot 10 under and sits sixth at 10 under overall. Cameron Smith also shot 66 for Ripper GC. Cleeks went the wrong way, a 4-over team round with Martin Kaymer's 77 doing the most damage.

What Sunday Asks

A four-shot lead over 18 holes is a real cushion, and DeChambeau has played 36 holes without a bogey. It is also the fifth time he has stood in this spot in LIV, and the first four did not end with a trophy. That history does not hit a single shot on Sunday, but it is the question everyone in Incheon will be asking.

Bland needs a low one. The 8-under group needs a lower one. In the team competition, Smash has a six-shot cushion and the Crushers have a two-man engine at the top of the board. Sunday will tell us whether Saturday's leads were solid or just loud.

All the second-round team scores are in the LIV Golf Round 2 recap (opens in a new tab).

Sources: LIV Golf (Round 2 recap), FOX Sports, Reuters, Business Today. More golf coverage on Undrafted.

Photo: LIV Golf.