Three tie for Wyndham lead

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Aug. 6—GREENSBORO — When he walked off his first hole in the Wyndham Championship after a quadruple bogey on Thursday, Joohyung Kim tried to laugh it off.

He was all smiles on Friday after a birdie on three of his last four holes and tying for the second-round lead at Sedgefield Country Club.

Kim, who was 13 shots behind leader John Huh after his opening 8 on a par-4, finished at 67 Thursday and continued his sterling play Friday in shooting a 6-under 64 for a 131 total, matching Brandon Wu and former Wyndham winner Ryan Moore.

All completed their play well before a late-afternoon, 90-minute lightning delay that led to four golfers being unable to finish because of darkness.

"It was just one bad hole," Kim said. "I told myself, 'You know what, I've got plenty of holes to bring it back if I just play well on my next 35 holes,' and that's exactly what I did. I played better than I thought I was going to, so it's a bonus."

Kim's comeback included making 301 feet of putts, a record for the first two rounds of the Wyndham since it returned to Sedgefield from Forest Oaks in 2008.

Playing the back nine first and just 2-under-par at the turn, Kim added a birdie on No.2 after nearly holing his second shot, then shot up the leaderboard with birdies from 10 feet on 6, 30 feet on 7 and seven feet on 8.

"I played solid, seven birdies and one bogey," Kim said. "That last hole, I still hit a great putt, just didn't go in, but I played really solid. If you would have told me after the first hole yesterday where I'd be after two days, I definitely would have taken it, so pretty happy."

Wu, who began at 6 under, played the front nine in 3 under with birdies on 5, 6 and 9, then played the back nine in even par.

"I think I tried to keep it as easy as possible, hit the fairways, hit a lot of greens, definitely made some putts today, so that was super helpful, and yeah, hoping for more of the same this weekend," Wu said.

Moore, seeking his second Wyndham title, shot 66, making two early birdies and a bogey, then pushing through for birdies on 15 and 17.

"Today was a little bit more scrappy out there," Moore said. "I missed a few more fairways. Fortunately, a lot of them were in the first cut so you could still kind of deal with that around here."

The top three are a shot ahead of Huh (71), Russell Henley (65) and Sungjae Im (69). Brian Stuard, Anirban Lahiri and Davis Riley are another stroke behind.

Huh, taking 10 more strokes than on Thursday, ground through a round that included five birdies, a bogey, a double bogey and a triple bogey.

"I think that's golf," Huh said. "One day I get a good break, another day I don't get a good break. I did what I can do and hopefully as of right now I'm only one shot off, so I'm in a great spot."

Henley was just 1 under over his first nine holes but made four birdies in a seven-hole stretch coming in.

Im also reached 9 under during his round, but he lipped a par putt on No. 12. He lipped another par putt on the par-5 15th after putting his tee shot in a creek and hitting a scorching third shot that ran across the green and into a sand trap. He birdied 17, but his chances of a round-ending birdie and joining the tie at the top faded when he sent his second shot on 18 over the green.

Will Zalatoris, the highest-rated player in the field according to the World Golf Ranking, staged a furious rally and made the weekend cut, which will fall at either at 2 under or 1 under. Zalatoris was 2 over before he holed his second shot from 137 yards for eagle on No. 13 and then rolled in a putt from 61 feet for eagle in No. 15. He then birdied 17 and finished at 3-under.

Former winner Webb Simpson and defending champion Kevin Kisner withdrew during the weather delay, with a hole to play and no chance to make the cut.

Simpson, who won in 2011 and consistent contender since, started at 1-over, never reached red figures and made his chances of making a 13th straight Wyndham cut improbable with a bogey-double bogey combination on 12 and 13 that put him at 3-over. Kisner was 6-over.

Jason Day and Adam Long withdrew after the first round because of illness.

gsmith@hpenews.com