Aaron Rai finished the front nine strong to post a 4-under-par 67 Friday and take a one-stroke lead into the weekend of the ONEflight Myrtle Beach (S.C.) Classic.
Rai is one of only a handful of competitors in the opposite-field event, which serves as an alternate for this week's Truist Championship, who has already qualified for next week's PGA Championship. The winner of this event will earn a spot, if they haven't already qualified.
Starting on the 10th hole, the Englishman was just 1 under on the back
nine before carding birdies on four of the first seven holes on the front nine. He finished his round with back-to-back pars to climb to 10-under 132.
While Rai is the highest-ranked player in the field (No. 42), he couldn't let that affect how he approached the event at Dunes Golf and Beach Club.
"Everyone starts at the same playing field on Thursday, and everyone who is in this field is good enough to win. No one has any rights to walk in and play well and compete," Rai said. "Just try to approach it as I would any tournament. Prepare as well as I can and, yeah, just run through as many good routines as I can during the week."
One stroke behind Rai are Brandt Snedeker (66) and Mark Hubbard (67) at 9 under. Snedeker was bogey-free with five birdies Friday, while Hubbard had three bogeys and three birdies on the front nine before scoring 4 under on the back nine, including consecutive birdies on Nos. 9-12.
"Overall just found something in my putting," Hubbard said. "I wasn't really feeling that great early with it. Then just kind of found a little setup cue that turned things around and gained some confidence from there."
Kevin Roy (66) and South Africa's Christiaan Bezuidenhout (67) round out the top five at 8 under.
Round 1 leader Martin Laird of Scotland posted a 4-over 75 Friday to fall into a tie for 30th at 3 under.
Brooks Koepka, who was paired with Rai each of the first two days, shot 1 under in the second round to sit in a tie for 22nd at 4 under entering the weekend.
--Field Level Media
