Rocket Mortgage Classic: Ryan Fox soars up leaderboard after six birdies in second round

Ryan Fox tees off during the second round of the Rocket Mortgage Classic. Photo / Getty Images

Six birdies in his second round at the Rocket Mortgage Classic in Detroit have lifted Kiwi Ryan Fox 38 places up the leaderboard and into a tie for 38th as the early finishers came in after their second rounds.

Fox carded a five-under 67 to now sit at five-under, just seven shots back of leader Akshay Bhatia, who also shot five-under to lead at 13-under. A late surge from Aaron Rai saw him share the lead with Bhatia with a seven-under 65/

Beginning with a birdie as he started on the 10th hole, Fox remained bogey-free until the 17th hole of his round on the par-four eighth.

His six birdies came at regular intervals and were much needed for the Kiwi after a slow start in round one on what is viewed as a course that presents plenty of scoring opportunities.

The solitary bogey may be of some annoyance, though, as Fox has made something of a habit of carding one late in his rounds.

Bhatia and Rai’s lead of two shots over Taylor Montgomery, Troy Merritt, Erik van Rooyen and Cam Young came in bizarre circumstances as he made a hole-in-one of sorts when his golf ball fell into a hole in a fairway drain.

Bhatia’s 328m drive on the 472m, par-five 17th hole ended up underground after it made its way into one of five holes in the drain that were just big enough for a golf ball to fall into.

“Fairly certain that’s a Callaway [ball] at the bottom,” Bhatia told a PGA Tour rules official.

Bhatia got a free drop and a memorable moment. He ended up making par on the way to a five-under 67 that put him atop the leaderboard at 13-under among the early finishers.

“That was wild,” Bhatia said. “No, never seen it. Rules official [had] never seen it.

“It was kind of a one-in-a-million chance that ball goes in that small hole in that drain. So, it was pretty funny.”

The 22-year-old Bhatia picked up his second PGA Tour victory at the Texas Open in April. He tied for fifth last week at the Travelers Championship in Connecticut, where he was in the final group who were disrupted by climate protesters storming the 18th green.

- with AP