Hovland and Gerard Share Lead as Tour Championship Heads to Weekend in Atlanta
Viktor Hovland and Ryan Gerard are tied at 10 under par after two rounds of the 2026 Tour Championship at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta, with $10m (£7.4m) waiting for the winner on Sunday.
Gerard, who shot a five-under 65 on Friday, produced the round's most jaw-dropping moment when he rolled in a 78-foot birdie putt on the seventh green — a putt longer than the width of a tennis court. Hovland matched the surge with a four-under 66 of his own, capping it with a birdie on the final hole to join Gerard at the top. BBC Sport
Hovland knows this stage. He was crowned FedEx Cup champion in 2023, the prize awarded to the player who tops the PGA Tour's season-long points race, and he arrived at East Lake this week riding a hot putter — the club that had been the weakest part of his game — to a personal-best opening round of 64. Golfweek
The Norwegian's 2026 season has been lean by his standards: only three top-10 finishes on the PGA Tour all year, though one of them was a commanding five-shot win over Xander Schauffele. Compare that with 2023, when he stacked eight top-10s before his dominant close to the season. PGA Tour
Right behind the leaders, Collin Morikawa and Chris Gotterup sit joint-second on nine under, one shot back. Scottie Scheffler, the world number one who has been a near-permanent presence atop leaderboards for two years, fired a 67 and is two off the pace at eight under — in a tie with Cameron Young, whose second-round 62 was the round of the week. Young made seven birdies and an eagle on the par-five 18th, a scorecard that reads like a fever dream. He arrived at East Lake as the reigning Players Championship winner, having claimed that title in March.
Justin Rose and Matt Fitzpatrick are three strokes adrift at seven under. Rose got there the clean way: a bogey-free 65, not a single dropped shot on his card. BBC Sport
Not everyone found East Lake so kind. Robert MacIntyre signed for a six-over 76, and he was one of only three players — alongside Min Woo Lee, the first-round leader, and Xander Schauffele — to finish the second round over par. The cut line, the score that decides who plays the weekend, was not a factor: the Tour Championship has a limited, invitation-only field, so all 30 starters continue regardless.
Rory McIlroy, the 2026 Masters champion, has ground to make up. He sits tied for 23rd on three under, seven shots behind the leaders.
For pure theatre, though, the afternoon belonged to Jacob Bridgeman. His stray tee shot found its way inside a stall selling pizza — the kind of miss that turns a tournament into a story, and gives the rest of the field a reason to smile on a tense Friday. BBC Sport
Two rounds remain. Thirty players, $10m on the line, and a leaderboard bunched tight enough that one good round — or one bad swing — changes everything.
