Cantlay keeps FedEx lead, but Rahm puts on pressure

For the second day in a row, no one had a better score than Jon Rahm at the Tour Championship. That’s just what he needed to make up ground on Patrick Cantlay going into a weekend chase for $15 million.

Rahm birdied his last three holes Friday for a 5-under-par 65. Cantlay birdied his last two holes for a bogey-free 66 to keep one shot ahead.

It’s not quite a two-man race for the FedEx Cup with 36 holes still to play at East Lake in Atlanta. Bryson DeChambeau was the next closest player, and his 67 lost ground Friday. He was six shots behind.

“We definitely feed off each other,” Rahm said. “And that’s probably why you see the difference in the scoreboard right now.”

Cantlay looked as though he was protecting a lead, often playing to the fat of the green. That was more a product of showing respect to an East Lake course that punishes even slight misses on the wrong side of the hole. He hit 16 of 18 greens, and only twice did he have par putts from about the 5-foot range.

“I’m playing really well, and I think I’m playing the golf course the right way,” Cantlay said.

Cantlay started the Tour Championship at 10-under par because he was the No. 1 seed in the FedEx Cup. Rahm began four shots back.

Asked if the idea was to chip away at the lead, Rahm replied, “What other strategy is there?”

Cantlay was at 17-under. He and Rahm will be in the final group again. DeChambeau had more work to do, as did Justin Thomas, who made two bogeys and failed to birdie the par-5 18th in his round of 67. He was seven behind.

Harris English had five bogeys in his round of 69, leaving him in the large group at 9-under.

Jordan Spieth was going for his fourth straight birdie to get right in the mix, facing a 10-foot putt on the 13th hole. He three-putted and ended with a 67. Spieth, Rory McIlroy (66) and Louis Oosthuizen (67) were at 8-under.

European Tour: Australia’s Min Woo Lee shot a 3-under 68 and opened up a two-shot lead at 10-under 132 after the second round of the Italian Open near Rome.