LIV Golf South Africa Round 2: Bryson DeChambeau Chips In for Eagle and Takes a Two-Shot Lead

Bryson DeChambeau started Friday by chipping in from a spot most players would have been happy to escape with bogey. By the end of the day the Crushers GC captain owned the 36-hole lead at LIV Golf South Africa, and the rest of a crowded leaderboard was still trying to catch up with that opening swing.

DeChambeau shot 6-under 65 at The Club at Steyn City to reach 14 under, two clear of Southern Guards GC's Branden Grace and Fireballs GC's David Puig. Four players sit at 11 under, and 11 players are within four shots. In the team competition the story flipped: Torque GC posted 22 under for the day to take over at 36 under, two ahead of the Southern Guards and three ahead of the Fireballs.

The Chip on One

The par-4 first measures 393 yards, and DeChambeau's tee shot settled in the thick Kikuyu rough nearly 62 feet from the hole. The ball came out and dropped for an eagle 2. That kick-started a blistering opening stretch that had DeChambeau 5 under through five holes.

Then the round went quiet. DeChambeau played the next 10 holes at even par, the kind of spell that can let a chasing pack back in, before tapping in for birdie at the par-5 18th to finish two clear. The 14-under total is DeChambeau's lowest 36-hole score in LIV, and it is the seventh time the Crushers captain has led at the halfway mark. Two of those turned into wins, per LIV Golf.

The scene was the bigger talking point for DeChambeau, who said the Friday atmosphere already felt like a final round and that the venue had exceeded expectations.

Grace Under Pressure

Grace, tied for second, is carrying a lot more than a scorecard this week. The South African posted six birdies against one bogey for a 66 and admitted to getting "a little teared up there on the first hole" in front of the home gallery. Through 36 holes Grace has hit 33 of 36 greens, best in the field.

"This is exactly where I want to be going into the weekend," Grace said.

Dean Burmester supplied the moment of the day for the locals. Wearing a freshly released Bafana Bafana jersey at the par-3 17th, the hole known as the Lion's Den, Burmester stuck a tee shot to one foot, the closest of the week, and tapped in for birdie on the way to a bogey-free 64 that shared the low round of the day. That moved Burmester to 11 under.

"I'm having a hell of a lot of fun, I'm not going to lie," Burmester said.

Puig Joins the Party

The other 64 belonged to Puig, who paired it with Thursday's 66 to tie Grace at 12 under. Rahm stayed bogey-free through two rounds with another 66 and sits at 11 under alongside Burmester, Abraham Ancer and Charles Howell III, who could not repeat Thursday's magic and shot 68.

Ancer hit all 14 fairways for a 65. Talor Gooch, Joaquin Niemann, Carlos Ortiz and Richard Bland share eighth at 10 under. Ortiz also rolled in the longest putt anyone will want to talk about, a 77.7-foot birdie at the par-3 third.

Phil Mickelson bounced back from Thursday's 75 with a bogey-free 67, and wild card Scott Vincent of Zimbabwe added a 68 to sit tied for 15th.

Torque Takes Over

All four scores count in every round, and Torque GC showed why depth wins that game. Ancer, Niemann and Ortiz each shot 65, and Sebastian Munoz added a 67 for a 22-under team round. That pushed Torque to 36 under through 36 holes.

Southern Guards slipped to second despite a 16-under day. Burmester's 64 and Grace's 66 did the heavy lifting, Louis Oosthuizen shot 68, and Charl Schwartzel, nursing the back problem that nearly forced a withdrawal on Thursday, posted 70. The team's 34-under total is still its lowest 36-hole score at any LIV event, beating the 33 under it posted in Chicago last year, according to LIV Golf.

The Fireballs are third at 33 under after an 18-under round led by Puig and a 65 from Josele Ballester, who needed just 23 putts and got up and down on all eight missed greens. Sergio Garcia, so sharp on Thursday, slipped to 70. DeChambeau's Crushers are fourth.

Saturday Gets Loud

The stat sheet tells its own story about how this course is playing. Eleven players are within four of the lead, Kikuyu rough is punishing misses, and a crowd that LIV says sold out Saturday will be packed around a shotgun start. DeChambeau has led after 36 holes plenty of times. Doing it with two South Africans in close pursuit, one of them playing on home soil with the whole gallery behind every putt, is a different kind of test.

Torque has the team lead, but a two-shot gap in a four-score format can vanish in a single nine. Southern Guards would like nothing better than to make that point on Saturday.

Catch up on Round 1 at Steyn City, and see LIV Golf's Round 2 recap (opens in a new tab) for the full numbers.

Sources: LIV Golf (Round 2 recap), FOX Sports, Arab News. More golf coverage on Undrafted.

Photo: Charles Laberge/LIV Golf.