Major renovations at TPC Craig Ranch weren’t enough to keep the golf course from being besieged by the PGA Tour’s biggest players at the 2026 CJ Cup Byron Nelson. The onslaught continued on Friday, with Kim Si-woo scoring a 60 and jumping into a five-stroke lead.
Kim had a great 2026 season and has long been known as one of the most aggressive players on the PGA Tour, but his combination of form and willingness to attack the flagstick on a soft, accessible golf course created the perfect storm on Friday. Kim got off to a good start with six birdies on the front nine, turning in a 30, and considering the scores already seen in the second round, he was solid on his vaunted 59.
Still, one of the hardest things in golf is maintaining momentum after making a turn, and Kim never let up. Kim added five birdies in the first six holes of the back nine to go -11 to 15 on the par-71 layout, but needed just one birdie in the final three holes to get into rare air.
After a great drive and quality approach, he pushed his birdie putt to the left edge to stay at 11 under, but the 132-yard par-3 17th had a great chance to get the birdie he needed. Perhaps my adrenaline got the best of me on my tee shot, and I shot my pitching wedge too far to the left of the backstop flag, getting it stuck on the edge of the fairway cut into the green. As a result, he became a right-to-left downhill swinger, but filled the center with perfect pace to reach 12 under for the round with one hole left.
With this birdie, all Kim needed was a par at the end for his 16th sub-60 round in PGA Tour history, but a birdie could have tied him with Jim Furyk for the lowest round in PGA Tour history. Unfortunately for Kim, it wasn’t meant to be. After splitting the fairway, I went 200 yards and hit a 6-iron, but just like my tee shot on No. 17, it had a little too much momentum and pulled slightly to the left, creating a difficult up-and-down.
He clipped his chip too well and had to be checked and stopped before he got to the hill, seeing his par alignment slide on the low side and recovering his only bogey of the day to shoot a 60. It’s hard to be disappointed with an 11-under round of golf, but Kim will feel like he missed out on a chance to make PGA Tour history. Still, he entered the weekend at 18 under with a five-stroke lead and will be looking for his fifth career win, but his first since 2023.
Kim’s 134 (64-60) was the second-lowest 36-hole score in PGA Tour history, behind Justin Thomas’ 133 at the 2017 Sony Open, and tied with Scottie Scheffler last year for the lowest score in tournament history.
Kim has opened up a sizable lead, but he won’t have time to pursue a win in his adopted home of Texas this weekend, especially considering the names chasing him, including Scheffler. Weather will be a factor over the weekend. With inclement weather predicted for the afternoon, the tee time for Saturday’s third round will be moved up and players will start from the split tees in threes, but Kim will have to battle the elements, herself and the stiff competition that follows her to claim her fifth career win.
weekend candidates
T2. Scotty Scheffler, Im Sung-jae, Windham Clark, Kensei Hirata (-13)
T6. Jordan Spieth, Keith Mitchell, Tony Finau, Tom Hoge, Jackson Super Tyler Duncan (-12)
T12. Taylor Moore, Zach Bouche, Chan Kim, Sheamus Power (-11)
T16. Brooks Koepka and 6 others (-10)
Heading into the weekend, you’d be hard-pressed to create a much better leaderboard on Byron Nelson. Almost every big name in attendance is in serious contention after two rounds of play.
Scheffler and Kim played together a lot in Dallas and seemed like a good fit to pair together (along with Brooks Koepka) in the first two rounds. Scheffler was able to bring out some of Kim’s incredible play on Friday, scoring three birdies and an eagle in four holes from 11th to 14th on the back nine, posting a 63 and jumping into a share of second place. Scheffler has finished second in three of the last four events, so she will spend the weekend trying to break free from that runner-up record, but it will take something special this weekend to get Kim involved.
Im Sung-jae and Jordan Spieth played the roles of Kim and Scheffler in the early waves, with Im starting on the back nine before finishing the round in style with a hole-in-one on the seventh and an eagle on the ninth.
In this late-game flurry, Im entered the clubhouse with a 10-under 61, beating Spieth’s 9-under 62 in the same combination. These two have moved into the top 10 thanks to their performance in the second round and will be heading into the weekend looking to break their long win/loss streak. Yim hasn’t won on the PGA Tour since 2021, while Spieth is still chasing his first win since picking up his 13th career win in 2022. Both fighters have been moving in a positive direction as of late, but are also struggling to complete four rounds to have a real chance at winning.
Koepka was a story from the first round. Although he managed to shoot 8 under despite missing 11 fairways in the first round, he wasn’t as lucky on Friday, watching Kim and Scheffler pass him on the leaderboard. His 2-under 69 was still good enough to stay in the top 20, but he was now eight shots behind Kim and three shots behind Scheffler heading into the weekend. While the rough wasn’t too much of a penalty this week, Koepka found himself in too many fairway bunkers, leaving some bad angles and not being able to keep pace with his playing buddies.
Tournaments within tournaments
This week’s cut line didn’t draw many big names in the field — though a six-undercut is incredible to watch — but the drama outside of the top players chasing Kim is the effort of Blaise Brown, who turned 19 on Thursday and is looking to earn special temporary exemption status this week. Brown has been playing great golf this year and earned a spot after finishing in the top 10 in Myrtle Beach two weeks ago. To qualify for exemption for the remainder of the season, a player must finish 21st or higher. This means that you can receive unlimited sponsor exemptions. That’s a big deal for a young player, and after two rounds of play, Brown is in 38th place this week at 8 under. To break into the top 20 and earn status, he will need to rack up birdies as the weekend progresses.
2026 CJ Cup Byron Nelson odds and picks updated
- Kim Si Woo (2/3)
- Scotty Scheffler (13/5)
- Jordan Spieth (20-1)
- Im Sung Jae (25-1)
- Windham Clark (25-1)
- Keith Mitchell (33-1)
What’s working in Kim’s favor this week is the fact that he’s been aggressive enough to invite and reward such plays when going for birdies on the golf course. He also feels comfortable playing with Scheffler (and Spieth), which is a good thing considering there’s a good chance he’ll be in the final pairing with the world No. 1 on Sunday. The bad news is Scheffler loves playing with Kim, too. When playing with Kim, Scotty usually gets the upper hand because they motivate each other. At this point, I think my money is on Scheffler, even if he faces a five-stroke lead. Scheffler is in second place heading into the weekend, but the odds are longer than when the tournament began. The heart says Spieth or Kim, but the head says Scheffler.
