Rahm shoots 62 to claim share of lead at CJ Cup

RIDGELAND, S.C. (AP) — Jon Rahm thought his 7-iron from 195 yards had come up well short of the pin because of a long shadow across the green. Moments later, he heard the crowd react to a shot that came an inch from going in on the hardest hole at Congaree.

The way his day went, Rahm should have expected that.

He found the middle of the clubface on just about every shot and put on an exhibition Friday at the CJ Cup in South Carolina, making 10 birdies in his round of 9-under 62 that gave him a share of the lead with Kurt Kitayama.

Coming off a victory two weeks ago in the Spanish Open, Rahm hardly looked like a player who is easing his way toward the end of the year.

He ran off four straight birdies on the front nine, all of them inside 10 feet. He holed a bunker shot from 60 feet on the par-4 eighth, made a 35-footer on the par-3 10th and then capped off three straight birdies with his shot into the 17th that grazed the edge of the cup. Only four other players made birdie on that hole in the second round.

So good was this round he mentioned two swings in particular that felt perfect, and those were two he didn't convert for birdie.

“It was a lot of good out there today,” he said.

Needing one last birdie for his career-low round, Rahm's wedge into the 18th rolled off a steep slope and came to rest against a bunker rake. His pitch was strong, rolling 30 feet by and he made his lone bogey.

Kitayama, the 29-year-old Californian who spent his first six years on the Asian and European tours, holed a tough bunker shot for eagle on the par-5 12th for a 65 and joined Rahm at 11-under 131.

Aaron Wise spent time on a putting drill after his opening round and it paid off for him in his round of 66. He was two back, along with Cam