Updated May 22, 2026, 8:13 p.m. ET
- The TPC Craig Ranch course has been redesigned with new bunkering and green complexes to increase the challenge.
- The projected cut line for the tournament was 6 under par as of 11:30 a.m. ET Friday morning.
- The total purse for the 2026 CJ Cup Byron Nelson is $10.3 million, with the winner receiving $1.854 million.
McKINNEY, Texas —The cut has come at TPC Craig Ranch, with the playing of the second round of the CJ Cup Byron Nelson.
Scottie Scheffler ran away with the title a year ago, posting an eight-shot win over Erik van Rooyen that matched the PGA Tour record with a 253 total — 31 under par. But on Thursday, Scheffler’s 66 didn’t even have him within a shot of the lead as Taylor Moore shot a 62 to set the pace, with Brooks Koepka a shot behind.
Here’s what’s happened at TPC Craig Ranch on Friday:
Byron Nelson leaderboard
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Here’s a look at the leaders as of 5:45 p.m. ET.
How to watch CJ Cup Byron Nelson
Here’s the broadcast schedule for Friday’s second round of the CJ Cup Byron Nelson:
What’s the cut line at the Byron Nelson?
The cut line will come in at 6 under, according to Data Golf.
Here’s a look at six players who missed the cut.
Don’t look now, but while Sungjae Im and Jordan Spieth wowed us in the early wave, it looks like Si Woo Kim is preparing to leave them all in the dust in the afternoon.
Kim birdied eight of the first 11 holes on Friday and was at 15 under as of 4:45 p.m. Kim has had a stellar season, with eight top-25 finishes in 14 starts.
Kim finished with a 60, tying his best round on Tour and put him in a five-stroke lead.
Sungjae Im aces, climbs into lead
Although local favorite Jordan Spieth stole the spotlight for a bit on Friday morning, Sungjae Im found a pretty dramatic way to pull that spotlight away. On the 224-yard seventh hole, Im hit a perfect fade that landed softly on the front left side of the green and gently rolled toward the cup. Boom.
“I was surprised, but I hit a really good shot,” Im said. “I didn’t expect it was going to go in, so I was very surprised.”
He finished with a 61 and was tied for the lead at 13 under as of 2:30 p.m.
Jordan Spieth is working into contention
Jordan Spieth came out ready to play on Friday, as he birdied five out of six holes around the turn and as of 11:45 a.m. ET, he has climbed to 9 under, just a couple shots off the lead.
Spieth, whose last top-10 in a major was at the 2023 Masters, hasn’t won on the PGA Tour since 2022.
Brooks Koepka, who shined on Thursday with a 63, dropped a shot on his second hole of the day on Friday, dropping him to 7 under. Incredibly, as of 2:30 p.m. ET, that puts Koepka perilously close to the cut line, which is now expected to fall to 6 under by day’s end. Koepka has had five top-20 finishes in 10 starts.
He finished with a 69 and is still in the mix at 10 under.
Who is Kensei Hirata? He’s near the lead
Japanese product Kensei Hirata was the leader of the Japan Golf Tour in 2024, then played on the Korn Ferry Tour in 2025, where he qualified for one of 20 PGA Tour cards. The 25-year-old rookie hasn’t made much noise since jumping into the world’s best circuit, but he’s changing his luck at TPC Craig Ranch. Hirata, who has missed the cut in six of 11 starts this season, raced out to the lead on Friday morning, posting four birdies in his first eight holes of the day.
“It’s a great experience so far,” he said on Friday. “Every week, even some bad weeks, I learn to not give up, and it help a lot on the season. Just don’t give up. Just give some chance. Yeah, just keep going.”
He finished at 13 under, even for the lead after the opening wave of play.
CJ Cup Byron Nelson tee times
All times Eastern.
- 8:00 a.m. (1 tee) – Peter Malnati, Lee Hodges, Ben Martin
- 8:00 a.m. (10 tee) – Adam Svensson, Dylan Wu, Mac Meissner
- 8:11 a.m. (1 tee) – Brice Garnett, James Hahn, Hank Lebioda
- 8:11 a.m. (10 tee) – Patton Kizzire, Kevin Streelman, Harry Higgs
- 8:22 a.m. (1 tee) – Austin Eckroat, Austin Cook, Will Gordon
- 8:22 a.m. (10 tee) – Ryo Hisatsune, Matti Schmid, Pierceson Coody
- 8:33 a.m. (1 tee) – Garrick Higgo, Davis Thompson, Ryan Palmer
- 8:33 a.m. (10 tee) – Chris Kirk, Jordan Spieth, Sungjae Im
- 8:44 a.m. (1 tee) – William Mouw, Joe Highsmith, Matt Kuchar
- 8:44 a.m. (10 tee) – Taylor Pendrith, Billy Horschel, Max Greyserman
- 8:55 a.m. (1 tee) – Matthieu Pavon, Tyler Duncan, Lanto Griffin
- 8:55 a.m. (10 tee) – Rafael Campos, Max McGreevy, Thorbjorn Olesen
- 9:06 a.m. (1 tee) – Luke List, Taylor Moore, Takumi Kanaya
- 9:06 a.m. (10 tee) – Camilo Villegas, Danny Willett, Sam Ryder
- 9:17 a.m. (1 tee) – Nick Dunlap, Nick Hardy, Troy Merritt
- 9:17 a.m. (10 tee) – Ryan Brehm, Beau Hossler, Danny Walker
- 9:28 a.m. (1 tee) – Dan Brown, Gordon Sargent, Preston Stout (a)
- 9:28 a.m. (10 tee) – Zecheng Dou, Kensei Hirata, Luke Clanton
- 9:39 a.m. (1 tee) – Jesper Svensson, Paul Peterson, Davis Chatfield
- 9:39 a.m. (10 tee) – Trace Crowe, John Parry, Yongjun Bae
- 9:50 a.m. (1 tee) – Taylor Montgomery, A.J. Ewart, William Sides
- 9:50 a.m. (10 tee) – David Skinns, Zach Bauchou, Ronin Banerjee (a)
- 10:01 a.m. (1 tee) – Patrick Fishburn, Chan Kim, Adrien Dumont de Chassart
- 10:01 a.m. (10 tee) – Kris Ventura, Keita Nakajima, Nathan Petronzio
- 10:12 a.m. (1 tee) – Jimmy Stanger, John VanDerLaan, Greg Gregory
- 1:10 p.m. (1 tee) – Tom Kim, Cameron Champ, Mark Hubbard
- 1:10 p.m. (10 tee) – Emiliano Grillo, S.Y. Noh, Doug Ghim
- 1:21 p.m. (1 tee) – Erik van Rooyen, Mackenzie Hughes, Robert Streb
- 1:21 p.m. (10 tee) – Martin Laird, Keith Mitchell, Ben Silverman
- 1:32 p.m. (1 tee) – K.H. Lee, Tom Hoge, Rasmus Hojgaard
- 1:32 p.m. (10 tee) – Seamus Power, Jonathan Byrd, Ben Kohles
- 1:43 p.m. (1 tee) – Scottie Scheffler, Brooks Koepka, Si Woo Kim
- 1:43 p.m. (10 tee) – Michael Brennan, Kevin Yu, Davis Riley
- 1:54 p.m. (1 tee) – Stephan Jaeger, Wyndham Clark, Blades Brown
- 1:54 p.m. (10 tee) – Cam Davis, Aaron Wise, Charley Hoffman
- 2:05 p.m. (1 tee) – Jhonattan Vegas, Tony Finau, Michael Thorbjornsen
- 2:05 p.m. (10 tee) – Adam Schenk, Steven Fisk, Karl Vilips
- 2:16 p.m. (1 tee) – Chad Ramey, Fabián Gómez, Patrick Rodgers
- 2:16 p.m. (10 tee) – Christiaan Bezuidenhout, Zac Blair, Chandler Phillips
- 2:27 p.m. (1 tee) – Eric Cole, Vince Whaley, Carson Young
- 2:27 p.m. (10 tee) – Scott Piercy, Justin Lower, Kevin Roy
- 2:38 p.m. (1 tee) – Joel Dahmen, Rico Hoey, Jordan Smith
- 2:38 p.m. (10 tee) – Adam Hadwin, Henrik Norlander, Johnny Keefer
- 2:49 p.m. (1 tee) – Alejandro Tosti, Noah Goodwin, Neal Shipley
- 2:49 p.m. (10 tee) – Haotong Li, Chandler Blanchet, Mason Howell (a)
- 3:00 p.m. (1 tee) – Jackson Suber, Jeffrey Kang, Jackson Buchanan
- 3:00 p.m. (10 tee) – Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen, Pontus Nyholm, Marcelo Rozo
- 3:11 p.m. (1 tee) – Hayden Springer, Adrien Saddier, Alex Huang (a)
- 3:11 p.m. (10 tee) – Jeremy Paul, Christo Lamprecht, Adam Headley
What are the hole locations for Friday?
Here are the pin placements on TPC Craig Ranch on Friday.
TPC Craig Ranch has a new look
During his redesign, Lanny Wadkins refigured all the bunkering and green complexes.
Most of the bunkers at Craig Ranch before were not really right against the putting surfaces. They were set back, which is really more of a hindrance to the guys who don’t play as well. So, you’re hurting the members,” Wadkins said. “Our bunkering is right up against the greens for the most part, at least around the greens. The greens have a lot more movement in them than they did before.
“We’ve got a green that emulates No. 14 of Augusta on No. 11. So, it’s a big false front you’ve got to carry up over, but there’s plenty of room back there. So, the one thing we did was most of the locations where the holes are going to be placed, they’re only 1 or 2 percent. So, they’re very, very puttable and very fair, but there is movement in the rest of the greens. So, I think that’s going to be the biggest thing they’re going to notice. The bunkers will be deeper.”
Although Craig Ranch is fairly flat, it’s not short, as the private club has previously played to 7,414 yards with a par of 72 for the Tour. The distance didn’t radically change, but the waste bunkers and tighter fairways should give pros more of a challenge.
What’s the weather for Friday at the CJ Cup?
AccuWeather is predicting warmer temperatures and a healthy dose of sun in McKinney, Texas.
What’s the total purse for the 2026 CJ Cup Byron Nelson?
The total purse for the 2026 CJ Cup Byron Nelson is $10.3 million.
The winners of the CJ Cup Byron Nelson each receive $1.854 million.
CJ Cup Byron Nelson 2026 prize money payouts