GOLF: Si Woo Kim's 60 helps him move 5 strokes clear at CJ Cup Byron Nelson

Si Woo Kim flirted with a sub-60 round and surged well clear of the rest of the CJ Cup Byron Nelson leaderboard in the second round on Friday in McKinney, Texas.

Kim's only bogey came on the 18th hole, where he overshot the green on his approach and left his chip short, missing an 18 1/2-foot par putt.

Still, it was an exceptional round for Kim, who birdied 12 of the first 17 holes, finishing at 11-under-par 60 to sit at 18-under 124, five strokes clear of the rest of the field after tying the best round of his career with the 60 he shot in the second round of the 2016 Wyndham Championship.

Had he birdied the final hole, he would have tied Jim Furyk's PGA Tour record 58 he shot at the 2016 Travelers Championship.

"I hit it great and putted great," Kim said after his round. "Everything was perfect, other than the last hole. I'll still take it. 60 is hard, but I was (doing) a little bit of thinking about the 59 after I make that (birdie) on 17. It was a little bit of like adrenaline."

The South Korea native is halfway to his first PGA Tour win since January of 2023 at the event approximately 30 miles outside of Dallas, where he now resides.

Defending Byron Nelson champion Scottie Scheffler (63) is one of five players tied for second at 13 under, alongside Wyndham Clark (63), Japan's Kensei Hirata (65), South Korea's Sungjae Im (61) and Jackson Suber (61).

Scheffler, who was in a group with Kim, finished Friday's round a bogey-free 8 under. Five of those gained strokes came on Nos. 11-14, where he birdied the 11th, 13th and 14th and bombed a 46-foot putt for eagle at No. 12.

"I feel like, when you're watching somebody like Si Woo, especially when you're paired with him, just watching somebody birdie every hole and you feel like the tournament is getting further and further away from you, I think I did a good job of staying patient and not forcing things," Scheffler said.

" ... Got a roll in there with birdie on 11 and rolled a long one in on 12. Nice to see the ball go in there and gave me some good momentum for the rest of the day."

Kim's remarkable late-day round overshadowed the morning-session round from Im which appeared destined to be the round of the day.

Im, who shot 10 under, started on the back nine and was 6 under through 16 holes before finishing his round with an ace at the par-3 seventh and an eagle at the par-5 ninth, rolling in a 14 1/2-foot putt to conclude his round.

Im has two wins on tour, but his last came at the 2021 Shriners Children's Open. With two top-five finishes under his belt this season, he's once again in contention to end that drought.

"Of course, being in contention brings some pressure, but I want to use those experiences in a positive way this week," Im said.

Suber also shot 10 under, pairing eight birdies with an eagle at No. 12 in one of the final pairings of the day to join the second-place clump.

Round 1 leader Taylor Moore, who began the day at 9 under, followed it with a 2 under to land in a tie for 12th.

Brooks Koepka, who was 8 under in Thursday's round, also shot a 69 and is tied for 16th at 10 under.

-Field Level Media/Reuters