Tony Finau trying to run away from Houston Open field, fires second-round 62

HOUSTON – Last year, the winning score in Houston was 10 under. The year before, 13 under.

As of now, it looks like golfers at the 2022 Cadence Bank Houston Open will blast past that number.

The Houston Open at Memorial Park Golf Course continued Friday, the penultimate FedEx Cup event of the PGA Tour's fall slate. The first round concluded early, as a handful of players had to come back and finish their opening 18 holes before starting their second round later in the morning.

However, a name at the top of the leaderboard hasn't changed since Thursday night.

Here's a look at some takeaways from the second round of the Cadence Bank Houston Open.

Tony Finau off to blistering start

Last week in Mexico, Tony Finau missed the cut. This week in Houston, everyone is chasing him.

And he’s making it clear early: good luck trying to catch me.

Finau shot a career-tying-best 8-under 62 on Friday, carding 10 birdies en route to a four-shot lead after the morning wave. He had six birdies on the front nine and led by as many as five shots at one point. He finished with three consecutive birdies, as well.

During an 18-hole stretch that started on his 11th hole Thursday (No. 2) and concluded on No. 10 Friday, Finau made 12 birdies.

“I finished 5 under on my last nine yesterday, and I just rolled that momentum right into today,” Finau said. “I made a huge putt for par on No. 1, and then I was off to the races. I almost made a hole-in-one on No. 2 and just kind of cruising from there. It was a really nice round of golf.”

Finau chalked his missed cut last week up to being rusty, coming off what he said was the longest break of his career. He hasn’t played since the Presidents Cup, but he has shown no signs of rust in Houston.

He’s making a difficult golf course look really easy, and he got the advantage of a good wave. Finau says he prefers the late-early tee times on Thursday and Friday, and that may help him out this week, as there’s storms and a wind shift in the forecast for Friday afternoon that could make conditions more difficult.

Patrick Rodgers goes low

Had it not been for Patrick Rodgers, there’s a chance Finau’s lead could be even bigger.

Rodgers fired a 7-under 63, shooting to 9 under for the tournament and four back of Finau after the morning wave. He started on the back nine and went out in 2-under 33, but an eagle on the par-5 third sparked a 5 under back nine to put him into solo second. He birdied his final two holes to briefly take the clubhouse lead.

“I had great control today, which is wonderful,” Rodgers said. “It obviously starts with the tee shots. I was able to put the ball in the fairway a lot, which makes an enormous difference. I stayed disciplined on my approach shots, but took advantage when I had opportunities to attack. It added up to a pretty good one.”

Rodgers is in great position to play in the final pairing come Saturday.