CareerBuilder Challenge 2017: Friday Leaderboard Scores and Highlights

The 2017 CareerBuilder Challenge rolled along on Friday with Hudson Swafford taking the lead after 36 holes with his second consecutive 65 to put his two-day score at 14 under par. 

Dominic Bozzelli, who held the lead on Thursday after shooting a 64, posted another solid round with a 67. The 25-year-old is tied for second place with Danny Lee with a score of 13 under par. 

Here's the full leaderboard for the PGA Tour's annual trip to La Quinta, California, after the second round, via PGA.com:

Swafford has built up a lot of momentum so far in 2017. He finished 13th at the Sony Open last week but shot under 70 in each of the first three rounds before a 71 on Sunday knocked him off track. 

The 29-year-old was spotless on Friday with seven birdies and no bogeys to earn his 65. He was terrific off the tee with a driving accuracy of 78.6 percent and reached the greens in regulation 88.9 percent of the time, per PGATour.com. 

There's plenty of competition nipping at Swafford's heels, so he will need to keep up the pace he's established for himself through 36 holes to claim his first victory on the PGA Tour. 

Bozzelli didn't have any issues playing the La Quinta course on Friday. He had a bogey-free day that included five birdies, only falling out of the lead because Swafford performed so well. 

There was a tough spot on No. 10 when it appeared Bozzelli would have to settle for a bogey before this excellent chip shot saved him, via the PGA Tour:

Considering Bozzelli is a rookie still trying to establish himself on the PGA Tour, this is an excellent start for the young man. 

Lee was fantastic on Friday, putting himself in contention with a 64 that included eight birdies. His final birdie of the day came on the 18th hole and was set up by a fantastic approach shot, via the PGA Tour:

Steele shot up 23 spots on the leaderboard Friday thanks to posting a 64, tied with Lee for the low score of the day. He finished sixth two weeks ago at the Tournament of Champions and is showing no signs of slowing down. 

Lower down the leaderboard, Phil Mickelson had another strong performance in his first tournament back after having two sports hernia surgeries with the second coming in December.

Lefty shot a 66 to bring his two-day total down to 10 under par. His day started out on a high note with an eagle on No. 11 after opening on the back nine thanks to this pair of shots, via the PGA Tour:

Seeing Mickelson perform well is an encouraging sign, but it's not indicative he's put his game back together. He finished third at this tournament last year before ending up with no wins and six top-10 finishes in 22 events.

Given where Mickelson's health appeared to be just one month ago, this is still a terrific effort from the 46-year-old as he looks for his first victory on the PGA Tour since 2013.

Post-Round Reaction

Swafford offered a simple key to his success in round two. 

"Managed to keep the ball in the fairway," Swafford said, per the Associated Press (via ESPN.com). "That gives you a lot of nice approach shots into greens. I'm driving the ball beautifully."

Coming off his stellar round, Mickelson noted he wasn't completely satisfied with the way things played out on Friday. 

"I hit a lot more good shots today than I did yesterday, but I'm still hitting some really bad ones," Mickelson said. "And that's fine. It's to be expected. I knew that was going to happen, but I've been able to kind of manage those and get away with some pars."

Rain was a key factor in the round, as tee times were moved up, but Mickelson felt the conditions weren't a huge hindrance.

 "I actually made some birdies in these conditions, so I felt very fortunate with the score that I had in this weather," Mickelson said. "The back nine I played some really good golf."