China No. 1 Li Haotong outshone the big guns on Friday to lead at the halfway stage of the PGA Championship, but two-time defending champ Brooks Koepka appears poised to strike.
Li, who is trying to become the first player from China to win a men’s major championship, fired a bogey-free 65 to take a two-shot lead in the first major championship of the pandemic-interrupted season.
Li is at eight-under 132 heading into the weekend making him the first player from China to lead in a major.
Koepka kept his pursuit of a three-peat on track by shooting a hard-fought 68 to join five others in tie for second at six-under at TPC Harding Park in San Francisco.
First round co-leader Jason Day, England’s Tommy Fleetwood, Daniel Berger, England’s Justin Rose, and France’s Mike Lorenzo-Vera are all at six-under 134, two shots back of Li.