| -9 K Kitayama (US); -7 J Speith (US); -6 X Schauffele (US), C Conners (Can); -5 D Riley (US), P Cantlay (US), M Fitzpatrick (Eng), J Thomas (US) |
| Selected others: -4 Scottie Scheffler (US); -3 J Rahm (Spa) -2 R McIlroy (NI), A Rai (Eng), S Lowry (Ire) |
| Full leaderboard |
American Kurt Kitayama shot a second-round four-under-par 68 to take a two-shot lead at the Arnold Palmer Invitational after overnight leader Jon Rahm slipped down the leaderboard.
World number one Rahm had a two-stroke advantage after round one but shot a four-over-par 76 in rough conditions which saw winds of up to 30mph.
Kitayama had five birdies to lead on nine under from Jordan Spieth.
“It’s always a fun challenge keeping yourself in the moment,” he said.
“I feel like when you get conditions like this it’s easy to kind of let things get away from you – for me it’s just keeping myself focused the entire way.”
Spain’s Rahm dropped to three under, a shot ahead of world number three Rory McIlroy who climbed the leaderboard with a 69.
World number two and defending champion Scottie Scheffler is at four under after shooting a 72.
The event also saw a hole in one from Norway’s Viktor Hovland, who nailed his 183-yard shot on the seventh hole and eventually finished on two under.
Chris Kirk – who won the Honda Classic last week – was another who fell victim to the weather, dropping down the field to two under after being tied for second overnight.
England’s US Open champion Matt Fitzpatrick is the best-placed Briton, on five under after a 69, with compatriot Aaron Rai and Ireland’s Shane Lowry three shots further back.
The tournament is one of the PGA Tour’s designated elevated events with players competing for a purse of $20m (£17m), $3.6m of which goes to the winner. Scheffler received $2.16m from a $12m prize fund for winning last year.
