LA QUINTA, Calif. – Charley Hoffman and Rico Hoey shot a 9-under 63 on the Nicklaus Tournament Course to share the lead after two rounds at The American Express on Friday.
Hoffman and Hoey were both at 16-under 128 at the halfway point of this three-course tournament in the Coachella Valley desert, although both Southern California natives had yet to play on the more challenging PGA West Pete Day Stadium Course. They were a step ahead of Justin Lower, Mark Hubbard and Sepp Straka. Jason Day and JJ Spaun were under 14 years old.
Rickie Fowler entered the fray with 10 birdies and a second-round 62 on Nicklaus, moving him even past Justin Thomas and Sony Open champion Nick Taylor at 13-under 131. Patrick Cantlay, Will Zalatoris and Doug Ghim were 12-under.
First-round leader JT Poston dropped down the leaderboard with a 4-for-76 at the Stadium Course.
Hoffman, 48, won his first PGA Tour title at the event in 2007, when it was still called the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic. He took the lead this week after an eventful second round that included two bogeys and two eagles.
Hoffman hasn’t won since 2016, but he feels healthy after years of back problems, including two fragmented discs. He is determined to make the most of his remaining time on the Tour.
“Competitions are fun,” Hoffman said. “I like walking down the fairways and guys are like, ‘How old are you?’ (I say) “I’m 48,” and they look at you like, “What, you’re 48 and you’re still playing?” In today’s age of 100 players, playing on the PGA Tour with 48 players is a thing of the past. I don’t think you’ll see that much on the PGA Tour. But I will try to fight here as long as I can.”
Hoey, who grew up in Rancho Cucamonga, 80 miles away, and played at the University of Southern California, is chasing his first victory in his second full year on the PGA Tour. He has been playing golf courses around Palm Springs since he was five years old, and Nicklaus is one of his favorites.
“I’ve played a lot of junior tournaments here, so I feel like I’m at home,” Hoey said. “That’s great. The weather is great, so we don’t have too many difficult conditions with wind and stuff like that. This made it much easier to score points. … I’m still very impressed with a lot of these guys, Hoffman, Cantlay, Rickie and so on. For me, it’s really cool to just put my name out there and just keep up with them, so that’s all I try to do. “
