Branden Grace made four birdies on his closing nine on Friday to surge into contention in the PGA Tour’s Puerto Rico Open as his four-under-par 68 put him two shots off the halfway lead.
He started his round slowly from the 10th, making pars all the way to the 15th, where he dropped a shot with a three-putt on the par-five. He quickly regathered himself, getting up and down from the greenside bunker for a birdie on 18 to make up for the bogey.
He took advantage of that momentum ahead of the turn, and he made birdies on two, four, five and seven on his way in, with two of those birdies coming on the par-fives on the opening nine.
The lead is held by American Brandon Wu on 11-under-par for 36 holes, with Australian Greg Chalmers in second, one stroke back.
Grace shares third with Puerto Rican Rafael Campos, who added a second-round 69 to his opening 66.
