England's Rai and USA's Bhatia share PGA Detroit second round lead

Aaron Rai of England finished the second round of the US PGA Tour Rocket Mortgage Classic with back-to-back birdies to tie American Akshay Bhatia for the lead.

Rai, a two-time winner on the DP World Tour, shot a seven-under-par 65 to reach 13-under 131 after 36 holes at Detroit Golf Club.

Bhatia, who shot 67, also finished on 131 without a bogey this week. Rai said, "Felt like I drove it pretty well. Hit a lot of good approach shots. Felt like I hit a lot of greens.

I gave myself a lot of looks and nice to finish off that way on 17 and 18." Rai, who had five-foot birdie putts at the third and par-3 11th holes, reeled off three birdies in a row to close the front nine.

He drove the par-5 17th in two to set up a tap-in birdie and sank a birdie putt at 18 from just outside 20 feet to seize a share of the halfway lead. Americans Troy Merritt, Cameron Young and Taylor Montgomery shared third on 131 with South African Erik van Rooyen.

Bhatia won playoffs to capture both his PGA titles, at last July's Barracuda Championship and last April's Texas Open. Bhatia sank a three-footer to birdie the 10th hole then rolled in a birdie putt from just over 30 feet at the par-3 15th.

Bhatia expressed his satisfaction with his performance, stating, "I am pleased with my score today. It was an enjoyable round."

One of the most memorable moments of his game was when his ball landed in a small drain hole after his tee shot on the 17th hole.

Reflecting on the incident, Bhatia remarked, "That was quite unexpected. I have never witnessed anything like that before. Even the rules official was surprised. It was a rare occurrence for the ball to end up in such a small hole in the drain. It was quite amusing."

American golfer Joe Highsmith, who had missed the cut in his last five PGA starts, managed to score a hole-in-one on the par-3 fifth hole during his round of 64, bringing his total to 135.

Another American player, Neal Shipley, who had previously been the low amateur at the Masters and US Open, also stood at 135 in his professional debut.

Fifteen-year-old American amateur Miles Russell made his PGA Tour debut, shooting 74 and 70, but unfortunately missed the cut.