LOS ANGELES — Charley Hoffman, seeking a fifth US PGA Tour title at the age of 48, had 10 birdies in a nine-under-par 63 on Friday (Saturday in Manila) to share the halfway lead in the American Express tournament with Rico Hoey of the Philippines.Hoffman finds himself in the hunt for his first victory since 2016 in the same tournament in which he bagged his first, back in 2007.The US veteran said there was little to draw on since the courses in use for the event at La Quinta, in the California desert near Palm Springs, have changed.But he still loves the pro-am format and the mild, dry weather suits him down to the ground.'I think somewhere inside me I embrace the pro-am aspect,' said Hoffman, who has experienced the various iterations of the event that once drew celebrity amateurs but now features mostly golf enthusiasts from the corporate world playing alongside the pros.'I really do enjoy playing with amateurs, getting to know them, trying to help them play a better round of golf than I do,' Hoffman said.That would have been difficult on Friday, when Hoffman's 10 birdies included four in a row from the fifth through the eighth on the Nicklaus Tournament course, where Hoffman had teed off on 10 and played his closing nine in six-under to reach a 16-under total of 128.'Solid,' Hoffman said of his round. 'I was hitting fairways and then I was able to attack into the greens, hitting some wedge shots close and obviously making a few putts.' Hoey, chasing his first US tour title, also played the Nicklaus course, charging up the leaderboard with a 63 that featured 10 birdies.He opened with a birdie at the first and bounced back from a bogey at the third with birdies at the fourth and fifth.Hoey then piled up six birdies in a seven-hole stretch from the seventh through the 13th, gaining a share of the lead with a birdie at the 16th.He got up and down for par from a greenside bunker at 18 to stay on top.'I was kind of just keeping it in front of me,' said Hoey, who played plenty of junior golf in Southern California but said that in his second year on tour he's still 'kind of starstruck' playing alongside veterans like Hoffman, Patrick Cantlay and Rickie Fowler.'Keeping up with them, that's all I'm trying to do,' he said.Americans Justin Lower and Mark Hubbard and Austrian Sepp Straka shared third on 15-under-par 129.Lower posted a six-under 66 on the Nicklaus course while Hubbard and Straka both carded impressive bogey-free eight-under-par 64s on the tougher Stadium Course, where Straka finished with three straight birdies.Australian Jason Day and American J.J. Spaun were tied for sixth on 130, with Justin Thomas, Fowler and Canadian Nick Taylor a further shot back on 131.Blades Brown, an American 17-year-old making his professional debut, had 10 birdies in his eight-under par 64 to give himself a shot at making the cut, which will be made after the third round. AFP
