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Shriners Children’s Open: Sungjae Im leads in Las Vegas as Ryder Cup stars crash out

A round-up of the best stats, quotes and social after 36 holes at TPC Summerlin where the Korean is in a two-way tie at the top on 14-under.

Sungjae Im always seemed a good bet to be prominent on the leaderboard in Las Vegas this week.

Since opening with a modest 72 on his tournament debut in 2018, the Korean's round scores ahead of this year's edition were 65, 69, 65, 67, 63, 69, 68.

Those numbers had helped him achieve tied 15th and tied 13th. This was clearly a course he liked.

Im has stepped it up further in Vegas this week, starting his bid with laps of 63 and 65 to hit 14-under at the midpoint.

That's taken him into a tie for the lead with Chad Ramey, the duo a shot clear of Adam Schenk and last week's Sanderson Farms Championship winner Sam Burns.

While TPC Summerlin is viewed as an easy resort course to give further fun to the tourists trying their luck on the roulette and blackjack tables, it does have one defence: wind.

And although plenty shot low numbers again on day two, the 15-25mph winds that occasionally gusted at 30 proved problematic to some.

A total of 73 players made the cut at 5-under 137 but their number didn't include some notable names.

Four of them contested the Ryder Cup two weeks ago but will be going home early here: Paul Casey (-3), Harris English (-2), Scottie Scheffler (-1) and Ian Poulter (+1).

Former Ryder Cuppers Rickie Fowler (-4), Webb Simpson (-4) and Patrick Reed (+4) also missed the cut.

Here are the best stats, quotes and social from TPC Summerlin after 36 holes.

Click here for the leaderboard

Stats and facts

Im is bogey free after 36 holes for the first time in his 100-tournament PGA Tour career.

This is Im's fourth 36-hole lead/co-lead on the PGA Tour. He's not won or even made the top six from his previous three (2019 Honda Classic - T51, 2019 Corales Puntacana Championship - T7, 2021 The American Express - T12).
Im ranks 3rd for Strokes Gained: Tee To Green (5.853) and 8th for SG: Putting (3.699).
Korn Ferry grad Ramey is playing just his fifth PGA Tour event.
Ramey leads the field in Strokes Gained: Putting (4.554) and 8th Tee To Green (4.998).
Burns would become the first player since Ernie Els in 2003 to win his first two starts of the season.

Quotes

Sungjae Im (-14, 65)

"I feel pretty good about my game overall and I just want to keep these feelings and try to have a good week this week.
"Even though I'm in the lead, I'm top of the leaderboard, there's two days left to play, so I like to try to keep focused on my game and try to take it one shot at a time. It's going to be difficult if it's windy, so I have to be more strategic to the course management.
"It was pretty windy today overall, it was hard for me to play well in the beginning, but I tried to keep composure and tried not to be too aggressive. But when I had like short distance I hit my wedge pretty good and that makes me have lots of birdies today."

Chad Ramey (-14, 65)

"I like being here. That's for sure. I hit it really well off the tee all day. The putter made a lot of putts on my front nine, which was the back nine, and I got off to a good start.
"Putter went a little cold on the back nine, but I was still hitting great putts and managed to make a couple of birdies coming in."

Sam Burns (-13, 63)

"Hit the fairway on the first hole, so that's always nice. Just played solid overall. Kept the ball in the fairway, was able to give myself some good looks and was able to make some putts.
"I feel comfortable. At the end of the day it's golf. It's not anything crazy. So I just try to keep it as simple view. I think for me just coming out here and enjoying myself, having fun, that's what we're supposed to do out here, right? So just trying to do that."

Aaron Wise (-12, 62)

"The biggest highlight happened on my second hole of the day. I had a chip from short of the green and I chipped it over the green, kind of into a dead spot and was able to make that one coming back for par. I feel like that kind of set the tone for the day. It kept me positive.
"And from there, I played some really solid golf. The wind was up this afternoon. It was playing a little tricky, but I made a bunch of kind of 10- to 15-footers, which kept my round going and helped me make a lot of birdies out there."

Matthew Wolff (-11, 67)

"I got off to a really hot start. I feel like I wasn't really making mistakes at the start, was making all the putts that I needed to, those kind of questionable ones that can either make you start or not.
"So really confident with where my game's at, where my head's at, feel like I'm in a good spot and just making sure to kind of minimize those mistakes, and I know if I do that on the weekend, I'll like where I end up at the end."

Best bet at halfway

With Im's record poor when leading at halfway and Ramey heading into new territory, the best bet looks to be last year's runner-up Matthew Wolff, who sounds full of confidence.

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