Austin Smotherman builds three-shot lead at Cognizant Classic heading into weekend

After opening with a 62, Smotherman added a 2-under 69 on Friday at PGA National's Champion Course in Palm Beach Gardens, moving to 11 under for the tournament.

He holds a comfortable cushion over Taylor Moore, who sits three shots back in second following back-to-back 4-under 67s.

"Yeah, leading a PGA Tour event, come on, pretty awesome," Smotherman said.

He made three bogeys on Friday after a bogey-free opening round, but a pivotal run after starting on the back nine kept his momentum intact. The key stretch came from Nos. 17 through 3, where Austin Smotherman rattled off four birdies, ignited by a 54-foot bomb at the par-3 17th.

"Anything under par I thought would have been (good) following up a round like yesterday, which was a special one, and try not to get too far ahead of myself thinking I'm going to make every long putt I'm looking at, like kind of was the feeling yesterday, and then today I still make a 55-footer on 17."

Moore offset a bogey on each side with three birdies on both nines, more than erasing the blemishes and producing his second straight steady round.

"I think very different 67s," Moore said when comparing his rounds. "I didn't hit many fairways yesterday, kind of grinded a lot, had a couple chip-ins, which obviously helps.

"I thought I struck the ball much better today. Drove it in the fairways on the par-5s, I felt like. Yeah, still had a few up-and-downs, obviously, with the tough windy conditions this afternoon, but overall I thought it was solid."

Canada's AJ Ewart posted the round of the day with a 64, vaulting him to 7 under for the tournament. He's tied with Colombia's Nico Echavarria, who carded a 72, while Joel Dahmen sits fifth at 6 under following his second straight 68.