Cal Golf: Three Ex-Golden Bears All Make the Cut at the FedEx St. Jude Event
All three former Cal golfers competing at the FedEx St. Jude Championship made the cut on Friday, with James Hahn enjoying the best performance through two days.
Hahn sits in a tie for 17th place, Max Homa is one stroke back in a tie for 28th and Collin Morikawa one more stroke behind tied for 33rd heading into the weekend at TPC Southwind in Memphis, Tennessee.
Only three strokes separate the top 46 golfers from a share of ninth place.
The St. Jude is the first of three tournaments in the FedEx Cup playoffs. The BMW Championships in Wilmington, Delaware is next week, followed by the Tour Championship at Atlanta, which will determine the FedEx Cup champion
The second-round leader is J.J. Spaun, who followed Thursday’s 8-under 62 with a 67 and is at 11 under par. Austrian Sepp Straka and Troy Merritt share second place at minus-10.
Hahn, 40, who attended Cal for one year in 2003 before turning pro, barely qualified for the FedEx playoffs, to which the top 125 players in the standings are invited to this week’s first leg.
Hahn was at No. 117 and must climb to the top-70 in order to play next week. He entered play this week 214 points out of 70th place on the FedEx Cup list, meaning he would need at least a top-15 finish Sunday — possibly higher — to qualify.
The owner of two career PGA tour victories, Hahn played bogey-free golf Thursday while shooting a 5-under 65, then made birdies on Nos. 3 and 4 on Friday to inch up to sixth place.
He made his first bogey after 24 straight holes on No. 7 and had another on the 14th, finishing the day at 1-under 69 and is tied for 17th place with 10 others at minus-6.
Homa, 31, who entered the week ranked No. 13 in the FedEx Cup standings, was 2-under for the day through eight holes before a double-bogey 6 on the par-4 ninth. He sandwiched a pair of birdies around a bogey on the back nine and wound up at 69 for the day, 5 under through two rounds.
Homa is part of a five-way tie for 28th.
Morikawa, 25, ranked No. 23 in the FedEx Cup standings, shot a 3-under 67 in the first round that had him tied for 31st place. On Friday, after a bogey on No. 10, he assembled four straight birdies and finished the first nine holes at 32.
Morikawa climbed into sole possession of sixth place at 7 under after making the turn and posting a birdie on No. 2.
But the two-time major winner struggled after that, making a double-bogey 5 on the par-3 fourth hole then a bogey on No. 5. He finished his round with a birdie on No. 8 then a bogey on the ninth for a 1-under 69 on the day.
He resides in a 14-way tie for 33rd place at minus-4, six strokes back of the leaders. Jon Rahm and Xander Schauffele also are at 4 under.
FedEx Cup standings leader Scottie Scheffler was at minus-1 through two rounds and missed the cut.
Cover photo of James Hahn by Marc Lebryk, USA Today
Follow Jeff Faraudo of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jefffaraudo