Keith Mitchell made six birdies in his first nine holes during the second round of the 2026 Baycurrent Classic ― and it wasn't even the lowest front-nine score in his group.
That's because Ben Kohles made five birdies and an eagle to card a 29 on the outward side, eventually signing for a 9-under 62 Friday at Yokohama Country Club near Tokyo. But it's Mitchell who has the leg up Kohles on the leaderboard, as he shares the 36-hole lead Jacob Bridgeman at 11 under. Kohles, who shot even-par 71 in the opening round, is part of a four-way tie for third at 9 under.
"Watching Ben shoot 29 on the front ― I thought I played amazing and I lost to him, he played unbelievable. I really thought he was going to shoot 59 or 58, he was playing so good," Mitchell
said. "It was great to have that momentum in the group and kind of feed off that, that helped."
Kohles, jokingly, did not feel the same way.
"It's always tough to play with Keith, he's pretty much a pain every time I hang out with him, so just tried to stay away from him as much as I could," Kohles said in his post-round interview, cracking a wry smile as Mitchell looked on from behind the camera. "Just a shame to see Keith make so many putts. Don't think I'll have to play with him tomorrow, which is great."
The man known to die-hard golf fans as Cashmere Keith has been excellent on the greens through two rounds at the Baycurrent Classic, ranking fifth in strokes gained putting and first in putts per green in regulation. His blistering front nine on Friday gave way to a more pedestrian back nine that saw him bogey the 10th and 16th. But he managed to offset those dropped shots with a birdie at No. 15 and another at the 18th.
Mitchell has placed inside the top 30 in each of his three career starts at the PGA Tour's Japan event, which was formerly known as the Zozo Championship. That includes a T-10 finish at the Baycurrent Classic a year ago.
"I love it over here," Mitchell said. "It's always on my schedule, I love Japan. I think just the energy here just helps me play a little bit better for some reason."
Baycurrent Classic leaderboard
See every score posted at Yokohama Country Club with the 2026 Baycurrent Classic live leaderboard. Here's what it looked like at the top after two rounds:
Jacob Bridgeman's hot streak continues
Three weeks ago, Jacob Bridgeman won the Biltmore Championship Asheville. A week later, he sunk the winning putt for the U.S. at the 2026 Presidents Cup. Now, he finds himself at the top of yet another leaderboard, looking to secure his third PGA Tour victory of the year.
Bridgeman followed up an opening-round 63 with a 3-under 68 on Friday at the Baycurrent Classic, good enough to maintain a share of the lead entering the weekend.
"I didn't quite have the same game I had yesterday today so it was a little bit more difficult to make as many birdies, but I think I kind of realized that early and was able to play kind of conservative and plot my way around the course," Bridgeman said. "Navigated it pretty good, was able to post a good number."
As he so often does, Bridgeman is making his money on and around the greens. He ranks 11th in strokes gained putting and he's converted 8 of 9 scrambling opportunities ― the highest percentage of anyone in the field through two rounds.
"I didn't have quite the command of my irons that I did yesterday so that was mainly the difference, but I still knocked in a few good ones," Bridgeman said. "I think birdieing [hole No. 1] was big. I was able to hit what I thought was a pretty good shot and went up there about 30 feet and then knocked it in. It was a nice start to the round."
Bridgeman will try to carry the momentum of his recent hot streak into the weekend in Japan with the hopes of adding another win to an already impressive breakout season.
"Being able to win and hoist the trophy at the end of the week is just the coolest thing," Bridgeman said. "I've been able to experience it twice this year and three would be just magic. I don't know how many times guys win three times in a year, so that would be pretty special."
Max Homa contending in Japan, where he hasn't missed a Dodgers game
While Bridgeman looks to nab his third win in 2026, Max Homa is seeking his first victory in more than three years. The 35-year-old Southern California native is tied for third through 36 holes at Yokohama Country Club. He enters the weekend just two shots off the lead.
Homa bounced back from a shaky start Friday to post a 3-under 68. He started on the back nine, making bogey at the 11th before carding a double-bogey at the par-4 14th. A streak of five straight birdies on the front nine erased all those dropped shots, though.
"I just liked that I hung in there, I didn't panic," Homa said. "Had a really weird like 40 minutes out there around 14, but just happy I didn't try to reinvent the wheel or anything. I was playing well. Hung in there, made a lot of great pars and a double putt. I don't know, just toughed it out, so that was good, and then waited till it clicked and then got rolling on my back nine."
Homa is a noted Los Angeles sports fanatic and being on the other side of the globe hasn't stopped him from supporting his Dodgers as they make another postseason run. They closed out a National League Divisional Series win over the Atlanta Braves on Wednesday to advance to the NLCS for a third consecutive year.
"It's fun, I get to watch before I play so I'm not stressed while I play, so that's nice," Homa said. "Shout out to T-Mobile, they've got the plug for the MLB app so I can still watch over here so that's been fun. Yesterday I had the phone out on the putting green while I was warming up so I got to watch a little bit. It's a unique thing, 7 a.m., 8 a.m. starts is wild. At least when they won it set the day off in the right direction."
Homa will be part of the final group for the third round alongside the co-leaders, Mitchell and Bridgeman. They'll tee off at 10:36 a.m. local time Saturday in Japan, which is 9:36 p.m. ET Friday night in the U.S.
Nick Stavas is a digital producer and commerce writer for Golfweek. Follow him on X/Twitter (@nickstavas).
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Keith Mitchell, Jacob Bridgeman share lead after two rounds at 2026 Baycurrent Classic
