Coody keeps superb form

WASHINGTON (AFP) — Pierceson Coody fired a five-under-par 67 to hang on to a two-shot lead in the US PGA Tour ISCO Championship on another low-scoring day in Nicholasville, Kentucky, on Friday.

Coody, who started the day with a three-shot cushion after a superb 61 on Thursday, had six birdies and a bogey in his five-under 67 at Keene Trace Golf Club.

His 16-under total of 128 put him two strokes clear of Belgian Matthis Besard, US veteran Chez Reavie and Rico Hoey of the Philippines.

A raft of early starters were in the clubhouse on 13-under by the time Coody teed off.

He teed off on 10 and regained the solo lead when he rolled in a 21-footer from the fringe for his third birdie of the day at the 17th.

But he bogeyed the next after an errant tee shot led to a lost ball.

Coody, a three-time winner on the developmental Korn Ferry Tour who is seeking his first PGA Tour title, regained a share of the lead with a birdie at the fifth, and pulled away with an eight-foot birdie at the seventh and a five-foot birdie at the eighth.

“It wasn’t quite 61, but 67’s still a really nice score,” said Coody, who added that limiting the damage at 18 was crucial.

“It’s huge knowing that the scores are low, knowing that I needed to go get three, four, five birdies on the back nine to kind of get myself in the position I want to be — out in front in the golf tournament.”

Besard, who played collegiate golf in America before earning his DP World Tour card for this season, had nine birdies in his nine-under 63.

He opened with back-to-back birdies, calling his unlikely 32-foot birdie at the second the highlight of the round.

Besard was joined on 14-under by Reavie, who teed off on 10 and rolled in an 18-foot birdie on the 13th to launch a run of six birdies in seven holes.