PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — Daniel Berger no longer needs to answer questions about how his back his feeling. The scorecard is telling the story.
Berger — playing what amounts to a home tournament for him, with his residence in nearby Jupiter — was the early leader through two rounds of the Honda Classic, after shooting a second consecutive 65 on Friday to move clear of the field before the afternoon wave of players took the course.
His 10-under 130 is tied for the third-lowest score through 36 holes since the Honda moved to PGA National in 2007; Aaron Wise was 12 under through two rounds last year, Rory McIlroy was 11 under at the midway point in 2014 and Brendon De Jonge was 10 under that same year.
None of them went on to win. McIlroy lost in a playoff to Russell Henley, Wise shot 75-73 on the weekend to finish tied for 13th and De Jonge went 76-78 on the weekend to freefall all the way to a tie for 63rd.
That said, Berger is showing no signs of trouble so far this week.
Berger had a five-birdie, zero-bogey opening round on Thursday and was nearly as flawless on Friday, with six birdies and one bogey. The only stroke he gave back was on the par-3 15th, his sixth hole of the day, when his tee ball landed in a bunker and he wound up missing a 15-foot par putt.
If his lead holds — and with wind expected to pick up in the afternoon, it certainly might — it would be Berger’s first 36-hole lead in a PGA Tour event since the Travelers Championship in August 2016. He is a four-time winner on tour, most recently at Pebble Beach in 2021.
But the back issues that flared up in recent weeks kept him from playing Pebble this year and defending that title. He played the Phoenix Open two weeks ago, testing his back and declaring afterward that he would be good to play at PGA National — a place where he played a ton of junior golf — and get a home week at the Honda.
So far, so good. Very good, in fact.
Among those going off in the afternoon wave Friday were
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