Utah’s Tony Finau moves into Saturday’s third round of the 107th PGA Championship on a roll, having played the last four holes of his second round with an eagle on No. 15 and a birdie on No. 17.
The other Utahn in the field of 156 at Quail Hollow Golf Club this week, former BYU star Patrick Fishburn, also finished his second round in fine fashion, but won’t be moving on.
Fishburn concluded his first major championship with a score of 4-over 146, missing the cut by three shots.
Finau carded a 69 in Friday’s second round to finish the day at 3-under and easily made the cut, which came at +1. It was a nice bounce back in a major for Finau, who missed the cut at the Masters last month for the first time.
Finau, 35, has now made the cut in 10 of the 11 PGA Championships he’s competed in, and 28 of the 36 majors.
He’s tied for 17th place, and in decent position to challenge for his first major championship if he can keep the momentum going.
Jhonattan Vegas of Venezuela is at -8 and leads the tournament at the halfway mark, having shot a 70 on Friday to go with Thursday’s sensational 64. Matthieu Pavon, Matt Fitzpatrick and Si Woo Kim, who aced the 252-yard par-3 6th hole on Friday, are tied for second at -6.
The top Americans are Max Homa, who shot a 64 on Friday, and Scottie Scheffler. Both are tied for fifth at 5-under.
Finau made an eagle on the par-5 15th, jarring a 41-foot putt after his 255-yard approach from the fairway found the green. That got him to 2-under for the tournament and pretty much ensured he would be playing this weekend.
He sank a 7-foot birdie putt on the 185-yard 17th hole to get to 3-under.
Meanwhile, Fishburn played much better on Friday than he did on Thursday, when he opened with a 77. But it was a case of too little, too late.
He bogeyed his fifth hole Friday, then played the final 13 holes in 3-under, making birdies on 6, 10 and 15.
He even had a good look for a birdie on the treacherous 18th hole, but missed a 13-footer.
Fishburn’s standing on the FedEx Cup points list is expected to drop from 107 to 111. For the tournament, he made 22 pars, five birdies and nine bogeys.
Next up for Fishburn is the Charles Schwab Challenge at Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas. His good friend and playing partner in the Zurich Classic, former BYU golfer Zac Blair, is also entered in the event on a sponsors exemption.
Finau, who has heated up lately with a tie for 38th at the RBC Heritage and a tie for 15th at the Truist Championship, is 43rd in the FedEx Cup rankings and 37th in the Official World Golf Rankings.