Willett well-placed in Ohio

The Sheffield golfer carded a second consecutive three under par round of 69 to stay in touch with the leaders in Ohio.

And his performance was delivered via some superb accuracy which saw him hit 16 of 18 greens in regulation and ten of 14 fairways.

He landed a 15ft putt for birdie on the second but three putted the par three fourth to remain on three under.

Willett got moving on the 11th with a birdie before sinking a 20ft putt on 13 to go to five under for the tournament.

He then hit the green in two on the par five 15th before making a birdie which took him to six under.

It was enough to leave him three shots behind early clubhouse leader Troy Merritt, who was joined on nine under later in the day by South Korea’s Kyoung-Hoon Lee.

Should he stay inside the top 20, it would put Willett on course for his best finish of the season so far. His current top rating was a tie for 25th at the Farmers Insurance Open.

Fellow Sheffield golfer Matt Fitzpatrick made it through into the weekend thanks to a one under par round of 71 which took him back to level par for the tournament.

Fitzpatrick made a strong start to his round with a birdie and an eagle on four and five respectively, only to card back-to-back bogeys on the following two holes.

He kicked off his back nine with a birdie but closed it with a bogey to finish the day on even par.