Sungjae Im takes lead in California after flawless round of 65

The 2019 PGA Tour Rookie of the Year is now 11 under at The American Express

Sungjae Im has a one-shot lead after the second round at The American Express. File photograph: Getty Images
Sungjae Im has a one-shot lead after the second round at The American Express. File photograph: Getty Images

South Korea's Sungjae Im eked out a one-shot lead at The American Express after a 65 on Friday saw him at the top of a stacked leaderboard at La Quinta.

The 2019 PGA Tour Rookie of the Year followed on from his 68 to put him 11 under for the tournament, with the 22-year-old’s blemish-free second round on the Stadium Course including a pair of birdies on the 7th and 8th.

Overnight leader Brandon Nagy is one of five tied for second place on 10 under after he missed a chance to join the South Korean at the top with a bogey on his last hole of the day.

Also on 10 under are Abraham Ancer, Tony Finau, Nick Taylor and Si Woo Kim, with three others a shot further back.

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Paul Casey is the highest placed Briton after his round of 65 pushed him up to a tie for 18th on seven under, while Scotland’s Russell Knox is two shots further back and tied for 37th.

Brooks Koepka, Kevin Na and Phil Mickelson were among those failing to make the cut at four under.

Collated second round scores and totals (USA unless stated, par 72):

133 Sung-Jae Im (Kor) 68 65

134 Abraham Ancer (Mex) 69 65

134 Tony Finau 68 66, Si-Woo Kim (Kor) 66 68, Nick Taylor (Can) 68 66, Brandon Hagy 64 70

135 Doug Ghim 67 68, Emiliano Grillo (Arg) 69 66, Francesco Molinari (Ita) 69 66

136 Brian Harman 68 68, Charley Hoffman 70 66, Max Homa 66 70, John Huh 68 68, Andrew Putnam 67 69, Adam Schenk 68 68, Roger Sloan (Can) 69 67, Brendan Steele 68 68

137 Ryan Armour 70 67, Paul Casey (Eng) 72 65, James Hahn 68 69, Luke List 69 68, Sam Ryder 67 70, Rory Sabbatini (Svk) 68 69, Josh Teater 68 69, Richy Werenski 69 68

138 Byeong-Hun An (Kor) 65 73, Austin Cook 68 70, Cameron Davis (Aus) 68 70, Adam Hadwin (Can) 72 66, Matt Jones (Aus) 70 68, Chris Kirk 68 70, Adam Long 68 70, Alexander Noren (Swe) 67 71, Kyle Stanley 70 68, Matthew Wolff 71 67, Gary Woodland 70 68, Ben Martin 67 71

139 Bronson Burgoon 71 68, Tyler Duncan 67 72, Rickie Fowler 73 66, David Hearn (Can) 68 71, Kramer Hickok 70 69, Patton Kizzire 69 70, Russell Knox (Sco) 69 70, Andrew Landry 70 69, Kyoung-Hoon Lee (Kor) 68 71, Jamie Lovemark 68 71, Tyler McCumber 69 70, Henrik Norlander (Swe) 71 68, Charl Schwartzel (Rsa) 67 72, Chase Seiffert 72 67, Brian Stuard 74 65, Michael Thompson 67 72, Erik van Rooyen (Rsa) 70 69, Jimmy Walker 69 70

140 Patrick Cantlay 69 71, Sebastian Cappelen (Den) 70 70, Wyndham Clark 70 70, Rhein Gibson (Aus) 70 70, Talor Gooch 74 66, Will Gordon 72 68, Harry Hall (Eng) 70 70, Bo Hoag 71 69, Zach Johnson 72 68, Martin Laird (Sco) 66 74, Hank Lebioda 69 71, Nelson Ledesma (Arg) 70 70, Maverick McNealy 67 73, Rob Oppenheim 69 71, Doc Redman 70 70, Vaughn Taylor 73 67, Cameron Tringale 68 72

The following players below missed the cut

141 Bill Haas 70 71, Anirban Lahiri (Ind) 68 73, Ryan Moore 70 71, Chengtsung Pan (Tai) 70 71, Pat Perez 70 71, Chez Reavie 71 70, Scottie Scheffler 70 71, Scott Stallings 74 67, Vincent Whaley 69 72, Tim Wilkinson (Nzl) 70 71

142 Akshay Bhatia 72 70, Luke Donald (Eng) 72 70, Jason Dufner 74 68, Brian Gay 74 68, Fabian Gomez (Arg) 70 72, Lanto Griffin 69 73, Charles Howell III 72 70, Joo-Hyung Kim (Kor) 69 73, Danny Lee (Nzl) 70 72, Troy Merritt 69 73, Xinjun Zhang (Chn) 70 72

143 Aaron Baddeley (Aus) 68 75, Sam Burns 77 66, Joel Dahmen 69 74, Russell Henley 72 71, Jim Herman 73 70, Satoshi Kodaira (Jpn) 69 74, Brooks Koepka 72 71, Denny McCarthy 73 70, Ted Potter Jr. 72 71, Patrick Reed 68 75, J. J. Spaun 70 73, Kevin Stadler 72 71, Ben Taylor (Eng) 71 72, Kristoffer Ventura (Nor) 68 75

144 John Augenstein 72 72, Lucas Glover 71 73, Mark Hubbard 68 76, Kelly Kraft 70 74, Grayson Murray 69 75, Kevin Na 75 69, Sean O’Hair 71 73, Cameron Percy (Aus) 73 71, Scott Piercy 70 74, Patrick Rodgers 69 75, Kevin Streelman 68 76, Kevin Tway 72 72

145 Mark Anderson 70 75, Beau Hossler 73 72, Peter Malnati 73 72, Bo Van Pelt 75 70, Aaron Wise 71 74

146 Tom Hoge 71 75, Phil Mickelson 74 72, Seung-Yul Noh (Kor) 74 72

147 Michael Block 74 73, Scott Brown 72 75, Robby Shelton 74 73, Brandt Snedeker 73 74, Hudson Swafford 71 76, Martin Trainer 70 77, Nick Watney 74 73

148 Chris Baker 77 71, Brice Garnett 70 78, Michael Gligic (Can) 71 77, Scott Harrington 73 75, Camilo Villegas (Col) 69 79

149 Sepp Straka (Aut) 72 77, Steve Stricker 75 74

150 Keegan Bradley 73 77, Chesson Hadley 77 73, J. T. Poston 70 80

151 Michael Kim 78 73, Nate Lashley 73 78, Rafael Campos (Pur) 74 77

152 Cameron Champ 77 75, Michael Gellerman 72 80

153 Steve Jones 73 80, Hunter Mahan 76 77, Matthew NeSmith 78 75

154 Sung-Hoon Kang (Kor) 77 77

155 Joseph Bramlett 79 76, John Senden (Aus) 81 74

156 Matthew Every 84 72