No worries. He got a free drop, and thought it was hilarious. He made par there, then birdied two in a row to get things cooking again. Through two rounds, he's missed just two greens in regulation, carrying over the momentum from last week, when he played the final two rounds at the Travelers Championship with world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler and Tom Kim; Scheffler beat Kim in a playoff.

"It's cool to see what it's like," Bhatia, world No. 29, said of playing alongside Scheffler. "He's obviously playing on a different level than many of us out here.

"He just kind of plods around and doesn't make many mistakes and doesn't let anything get to him."

The same could be said of Bhatia this week, who has made more eagles (one) than bogeys (none) this week, a year after he missed the cut at Detroit Golf Club.

His iron game is on point, with his average proximity to the hole on his approach shots just over 20 feet. No surprise, that's among the best in the field, even when he's coming out of the rough. Now, he's halfway to becoming the second wire-to-wire winner in Rocket Mortgage Classic history, after Nate Lashley did it in 2019.

He's still got plenty of competition, and there could be a battle with the weather Saturday. It's supposed to storm, and tournament officials moved up the tee times, and will play threesomes off both the first and 10th holes.

Rai, Montgomery and Young all are looking for their first PGA Tour wins, while Merritt is seeking his third but first since 2018. (He lost to Davis in a playoff here in 2021). Van Rooyen is seeking his third.

"Still a huge amount of golf to play," said Rai, a right-hander who wears a golf glove on both hands and tied for ninth at last year's Rocket Mortgage Classic.

"But it's a great position to be in, and a lot of positives to draw on over the last two days."

Rai, 29, also has come in playing some good golf, with top-20s at the Canadian Open and U.S. Open, and a tie for fourth in early May at the Byron Nelson. He's second this week in approach shots, and tied for first in scrambling. Rai also is bogey free.

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