Rocket Mortgage Classic Day 2: Tony Finau in 2nd, Patrick Cantlay makes a charge

Sometimes, even the best players can't quite explain it.

It's just a feel.

And right now, Tony Finau may be having the best "feel" of his career.

Coming off a victory at the 3M Open a week ago, his third on the PGA Tour, Finau hasn't missed a beat.

As he walked off the course Friday with a 6-under 66, Finau was tied for the lead with Taylor Pendrith and had temporarily set the tournament record at 14-under heading into the weekend.

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Pendrith, from Richmond Hill, a four-hour drive away  in Ontario, Canada, birdied No. 17 to fire a 7-under 65 and sit atop the leaderboard at 15-under.

But Finau doesn't have a bogey in the tournament and missed just two greens Friday after going 18-for-18 in greens Thursday; he and caddy Mark Urbanek discussed the zone he's in.

"I think that was like a milestone for us, it's something I've never done," Finau said of Thursday's achievement. "It was just cool to kind of go through and talk about the quality shots and the quality of shots I've been hitting.

"Anytime you win, you breed confidence. I was just happy to carry that confidence from last week right into this week."

Finau said not everything is going perfectly, lamenting a few missed putts — from 12 feet on No. 3, 9½ feet on No. 7, 11 feet on No. 16 and 9½ feet on No. 18.

But then, he was asked what has allowed him to go this well.

"It's nice to make some putts," he said. "I guess I'm contradicting myself, I missed a bunch of putts, but to be at the top of the leaderboard on the PGA Tour, that still means you're making enough. I feel like I've been striking the golf ball well... and to be able to capitalize on that by making some putts is probably where I would point to as part of my game that's nice to see."

Finau started slow. After an opening par, he made birdie on No. 2, before making par on each of the next seven holes.

Finau stuck his approach on No. 10 inside of 10 feet and drained the putt sparking his back-nine push. He made three consecutive birdies on No. 12-14 , sticking approaches on No. 12 and 14 inside of five feet and draining an 11-footer on the par-4 13th.

He picked up his last stroke of the day on No. 17, flopping his third shot out of the bunker to 11 feet before making the come-backer.

Finau is ranked No. 3 in strokes gained off the tee and tee-to-green, and is first in putts and greens in regulation. He said it's not just this course that favors "bombers" — he believes all long hitters have advantages each time out.

But he hasn't made any significant changes and hasn't done anything differently; he's "just working extremely hard."

So ask him why he's so locked in — it's hard to  get a detailed answer.

"When you're playing well, sometimes you can't put your finger on it," he admitted. "I don't really know how much has changed other than it was nice coming off a win last week and carrying that momentum into this week."

Patrick Cantlay makes a charge

Meanwhile Patrick Cantlay, the reigning FedEx Cup Champion rebounded from an opening-round 70 to fire a 7-under 65, tied for the second-best round of the day (behind Cameron Young's 63), and move into a tie for seventh at 9-under par.

The world No. 4-ranked golfer made seven birdies in a 12-hole stretch between Nos.  3-14.

It started by draining a 26-foot birdie putt on No. 3. He took advantage of the par-5 fourth despite putting his drive in the rough, and made a 10-footer to make it two birdies in a row.

After consecutive pars, he exploited the easiest hole on the course, the par-5 seventh, tapping in a birdie inside of two feet. Taking less than a driver on No. 8, he found the middle of the fairway then put another approach inside of 10 feet and rolled it in.

But his best shot of the day came on No. 9, when he chipped in from off the green on the 200-yard par-3 to get a nice roar from the crowd.

He picked up strokes on 13 and 14, gave one back on 15, and picked up the last after he nearly holed his approach on the par-4 18th and tapped in from four feet.

Pendrith setting a record pace

All the while, Pendrith joined a crew of other rookies, Lee Hodges (12-under), Young (10-under) and Sahith Theegala (9-under) inside the top seven at the leaderboard.

He has played just twice since finishing tied for 13th at the Players Championship in March. He earned the same result at the Barbasol Championship in early July and tied for 11th at the Barracuda Championship the following week.

This is his second time holding an outright lead — he did so after the second and third rounds of the Bermuda, in which he finished tied for fifth, the only top-five or top-10 finish of his career.

Handful of big names miss weekend

Although a handful of the tournament's big names — Finau, Cantlay, Young and Adam Scott — find themselves in the top 10, some of the headliners will not be around for the weekend.

Rickie Fowler, Matt Kuchar, Kevin Kisner, and Gary Woodland all missed the cut.

Fowler, who opened the tournament with a 73 on Thursday, carded a 2-over 74 on Friday. After making birdie on No. 4, he gave a stroke back on Nos. 5 and 6, double-bogeyed 10 and bogeyed No. 15.

He bounced back with consecutive birdies on 16 and 17 to close out the weekend, but finished tied for 136.

Kuchar, who opened the day tied for 33rd at 3-under and needed just an even 72 to make the cut, opened his round with 10 straight pars before he dropped strokes on Nos 11 and 12.

He finished with six straight pars, failing to card a birdie on the day and finish tied for 92nd at 1-under.

Kisner never got things going at Detroit Golf Club. He fired an even-par 72 on Thursday and shot 1-under 71 on Friday. Kisner wasn't under par on the tournament until he birdied No. 7 (his 16th hole) Friday afternoon.

Woodland, the 2019 U.S. Open champion, flirted with the cut line all day. After entering play at 2-under, he picked up a stroke on the par-5 fourth hole, before bogeying the par-3 fifth.

He closed his round with 13 consecutive pars, including on No. 18, when he put his approach just inside of nine feet, but the birdie putt that would've kept him around for the weekend lipped out on the high side of the cup.

It's the third time in as many appearances in Detroit that Woodland has not made the weekend.

Contact Tony Garcia at apgarcia@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter at @realtonygarcia.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Rocket Mortgage Classic: Finau hot, Cantlay makes a charge