WGC-Workday Championship 2021: Brooks Koepka Takes 1-Shot Lead with 2nd-Round 66

Bryson DeChambeau was the big winner of the second round at the WGC-Workday Championship, but Brooks Koepka holds the lead heading into the weekend.

After opening with a 77 on Thursday, DeChambeau moved up 44 spots into a tie for 20th thanks to a course-record score of 64. The Scientist is now three-under par overall for the tournament. 

Koepka began the day in a four-way tie for third place, but took sole possession of the lead at 11-under par. He finished the second round with a 66. 

Here's the top of the leaderboard from the Concession Golf Club in Florida, via PGATour.com: 

1. Brooks Koepka (-11)

T2. Cameron Smith (-10)

T2. Billy Horschel (-10)

T2. Collin Morikawa (-10)

T5. Tony Finau (-9)

T5. Matthew Fitzpatrick (-9)

T5. Webb Simpson (-9)

T8. Patrick Reed (-8)

T8. Kevin Kisner (-8)

DeChambeau was all over the course on Thursday. His five-over par included one triple-bogey, six bogeys and four birdies. His only real hiccup in the second round came on his 10th hole when he missed a 10-foot putt that forced him to settle for bogey. 

That blemish was quickly erased when DeChambeau went on a run that included six birdies over his final eight holes. The 27-year-old is very familiar with this course dating back to his college days at SMU:

It seems unlikely that DeChambeau will be able to make up the ground necessary to compete for a win, but not missing the cut is a victory considering how poorly he played in the first round. 

Koepka continued his recent hot streak that started three weeks ago with a win at the Phoenix Open. He did stumble last week with a 77 in the third round of the Genesis Invitational but has otherwise been unflappable this month. 

The key to Koepka's success on Friday—and all season—has been putting. He came into Friday ranked seventh on the PGA Tour in one-putt percentage and 19th in overall putting average. 

Koepka gained 2.74 strokes with the putter in round one. He two-putted eight holes and didn't have one three-putt on Friday. The Florida native had one bad moment on the 18th hole when he pulled his second shot to the far side of the green. 

Per Justin Ray of 15th Club, Koepka's 36-hole score of 11-under is his best at any tournament in two years:

Even though Koepka's final hole didn't go as smoothly as the rest of his round, he fared much better in that regard than Viktor Hovland. The Oklahoma State alum looked to be in line for a round in the mid-60s after back-to-back birdies on his 16th and 17th holes. 

Teeing off on the ninth hole looking to finish his day close to the lead, Hovland's tee shot found a fairway bunker that sent him on a downward spiral before finally finishing with a quadruple-bogey eight. 

While Hovland may have cost himself a chance at victory, there is no shortage of potential contenders chasing Koepka with 36 holes to play. Cameron Smith, Billy Horschel and Collin Morikawa are only one shot off the lead. 

Tony Finau, Webb Simpson and Matthew Fitzpatrick are all tied for fifth place, two shots behind Koepka.