World No. 141 Xinjun Zhang fashioned a 3-under-par 34-35=69 in the second round of the Corales Championship for a two-day total of 9-under 135, good for T5 on the leaderboard, which is where he began the day.
After opening with 66-69, the 33-year-old sits three back of 36-hole leader Hudson Swafford (65-67), who was one of four first-round co-leaders. He digressed to eight (of 14) fairways in R2, but improved to 15 greens in regulation, posting a commercial 1.800 putts per GIR with 30 total putts. Zhang scribbled down five birdies at holes 4, 8, 12, 14 and 16, taking some luster off with two bogey-5s at 10 and 18, both 3-jacks. He’ll play out of the fourth-to-last twosome on Saturday with 18-hole co-leader Sepp Straka, as he looks for his first TOUR win (and first top 3) in 58 career events.