Rickie Fowler shows old sparkle to take share of lead at halfway stage of ZOZO Championship

Rickie Fowler has signalled a possible resurgence in recent weeks and that upturn in form continued as he charged to the top of the leaderboard at the ZOZO Championship.

Fowler is a five-time winner on the PGA Tour and Ryder Cup stalwart, but his form deserted him completely and he dropped as low as 173 in the world.

A reset was required. He hooked up with his old coach Butch Harmon, and there have been positive signs.

“The last two days I wouldn’t say I had my best swing wise,” Fowler said. “I kind of did a good job of managing my way around. But I’ll get some work in tomorrow before the round and try and exaggerate a few things where I’m a little bit tighter in lines and flights that I want. But I can’t complain about a 63.

“I’m very happy with where we’re at. Obviously didn’t have the week we wanted last week, drove it poorly, but with some of the changes we’ve made and to have the finish that we did at Napa and kind of seeing a lot of good things, I’m definitely happy about it and excited to be here and off to a good start.”

Second Round Leaderboard

• T1. Andrew Putman, 10-under
• T1. Rickie Fowler, 10-under
• 3. Keegan Bradley, nine-under
• 4. John Huh, eight-under
• 5. Keita Nakajima, seven-under
• T6. Matthew NeSmith, six-under
• T6. Sam Ryder, six-under
• T8. Adam Schenk, five-under
• T8. Collin Morikawa, five-under
• T8. Joel Dahmen, five-under
• T8. Viktor Hovland, five-under
• T8. Luke List, five-under

Fowler will be alongside Andrew Putnam in the final group on Saturday after he too got to 10-under thanks to a sizzling round of 62.

But Putnam’s effort was not good enough to hold the course record for long, as John Huh went 10 shots better than his opening 71 to get to eight-under.

Keegan Bradley has a fine record on the track and he eased his way into contention with a round of 65.

Keita Nakajima is the highest placed of the home challengers on seven-under, while defending champion Hideki Matsuyama is 10 shots off the pace after a round of 69.

Collin Morikawa eased round in 64 blows to get into a group on five-under, while pre-event favourite Xander Schauffele is two further back.