Dean Burmester, Carlos Ortiz, Hong Kong’s most crowded leaderboard

Dean Burmester and Carlos Ortiz hold the 36-hole lead at LIV Golf Hong Kong, one stroke ahead of Thomas Detry and two strokes ahead of surging Jon Rahm heading into the weekend.

South Africa’s Burmester and Mexico’s Ortiz are tied for first place at 14-under 126. Ortiz shot a 60 in the opening round and followed it up with a 66 on Friday. Burmester finished with 64 strokes with 7 birdies and 1 bogey.

Detri, who arrived late in Hong Kong after escaping from the Middle East earlier this week, shot a bogey-free 63 and was 13 under par. Rahm of Spain shot 62 with 7 birdies, an eagle, and 1 bogey, and rose to 4th place with a tie for 12 under par.

A group of three players at 11 under par and two players at 10 under is chasing them.

Ortiz was not as sharp as the first round, recording 7 birdies and 3 bogeys. He said he’s still trying to get a feel for the modified swing.

“It was a difficult start,” he said. “I was not in a good position for the first few holes. I had to scramble. I watched it a few times. But honestly, I’m just trying to get good grades. My swing changed a little bit and the feel of it changed. I’m really getting used to my new swing. It’s also getting a little uncomfortable to feel how the swing holds up, and it’s actually holding up pretty well.”

Burmester opened with a 62 on Thursday and said after the second round that he liked the Hong Kong course.

“I think I’ve been swinging it well for a while. Sometimes I tend to try to hit it too hard, and that’s when I get out of rhythm and out of sync,” he said.

“But when you go to a golf course like this, it’s great because you don’t have to hit it that far. You just have to position the ball correctly. Obviously distance helps sometimes, but it’s the positional play and the second shot that are important.”

Rahm started the match on the sixth hole and birdied four of the last four holes to shoot a 62 at 8 under par.

“It’s a great day for golf, there’s no other way to describe it,” Rahm said. “I think that’s one of the keys here. It’s not the longest golf course, so you can put your tee shot in the fairway and you’ll have a lot of opportunities to attack it, and that’s what we did.”

“The MVP of the day was the putter. I made a lot of good putts, a lot of mid-range putts from 15 to 20 feet, which is something you can’t take for granted. It’s a good day on the green.”

In the team event, Smash GC (Talor Gooch, Jason Kokrak, Graeme McDowell, and Harold Varner III) combined to score 16 under par for the round and 35 under par for the tournament. Smash is five strokes ahead of captain Joaquin Niemann’s Torque GC.

–Field level media