Chandler Blanchet takes solo lead at The Bahamas Great Exuma Classic at Sandals Emerald Bay

Editor's note: The second round was suspended due to darkness at 5:47 p.m. ET and will resume Tuesday at 7 a.m. with 14 players needing to complete the second round. Third-round tee times will run from approximately 9 a.m. through 11 a.m. off the first and 10th tees.

Weather: Partly Cloudy. High of 80. Wind SE 10-17 mph with gusts up to 25 mph.

Things to know

• Chandler Blanchet claims the first outright lead of his Korn Ferry Tour career and holds a three-shot lead.
• Logan McAllister and Tim Widing card matching 7-under 65s for the low rounds of the day.
• Cody Blick, who finished runner-up in this event last year, currently sits T9 at 7-under par.
• Eight players will enter Tuesday at 8-under par or better.
• Only one of the top 12 players on the leaderboard has previously won on the Korn Ferry Tour (Max McGreevy).
• The 36-hole cut will be made upon the conclusion of the second round Tuesday morning, with the projected cut line currently at 1-under par (12-way T55 at 1-under).
• This week’s season-opening The Bahamas Great Exuma Classic at Sandals Emerald Bay is making its seventh appearance on the Korn Ferry Tour schedule, with 2017 being the inaugural playing.

Second-round lead notes

• Zero second-round leaders/co-leaders to win The Bahamas Great Exuma Classic at Sandals Emerald Bay.
• Four second-round leaders/co-leaders to win on Tour throughout the 2023 season.

Charting the leader (stats entering the week)

Chandler Blanchet (Leader/12-under)

• Clinches his first outright lead of any kind on the Korn Ferry Tour.
• Previous best position following any round prior to this week was T3 after each of the first three rounds of the 2020 Utah Championship presented by Zions Bank.
• Only player in the field to remain bogey-free through 36 holes.
• Carded a second-round bogey-free 4-under 68 with eight birdies.
• Birdies came at two par 5s (Nos. 1, 9), four par 4s (Nos. 7, 8, 16, 17) and two par 3s (Nos. 6, 11).
• Earned a share of the 18-hole lead alongside KK Limbhasut after a first-round 8-under 64
• Thirty-six-hole score of 132 is the second-lowest in the tournament’s history, only trailing John Oda’s 131 in 2019.
• Making his 53rd career start on the Korn Ferry Tour this week.
• Has seven top-25 finishes and two top-10s, with his best career finish being is a T4 at the 2020 LECOM Suncoast Classic in his debut on the Tour
• Korn Ferry Tour member during the 2020-21 and 2022 seasons and finished 95th and 115th on the Points Lists, respectively.
• Won the 2023 Totalplay Cup on PGA TOUR Latinoamérica (now PGA TOUR Americas after merging with PGA TOUR Canada) to secure fully exempt status on the Korn Ferry Tour in 2024.
• In 11 starts last year, Blanchet recorded five top-10 finishes, including two victories, en route to earning Player of the Year honors.
• Played collegiately for four seasons at the University of West Florida (2014-18), winning an individual national title at the 2017 NCAA Division II Championships and the 2017 Division II Jack Nicklaus Award, presented to the top Division II golfer.
• Became the first NCAA Division II player to win the overall Golfstat Cup with his 68.76 scoring average for the 2016-17 season.
• Finished his collegiate career with 12 career wins and was co-medalist in another. In addition to being a three-time first-team All-America selection (2016-18), was a 2017 CoSIDA first-team Academic All-American honoree. Was also a three-time Gulf South Conference Player of the Year (2016-18)

Quotables

Chandler Blanchet on his play through 36 holes: “I've had quite a few months at home since the Latin Tour ended so been able to work on some good things. The game's feeling pretty good. I feel kind of at home here. Been out of the country for the last year playing and right back out of the country to start this year. So been hitting it well, stayed patient, 12 birdies and a lot of pars. It's been good.”

Blanchet on his success last season to earn fully exempt Korn Ferry Tour status: “This last year was great. I feel it was a culmination of all the learning I did the previous three years out here on the Korn Ferry Tour. I'm going to kind of keep that going and keep doing the same thing this year.”

Fred Biondi on learning lessons from his rookie season last year: “Yeah, I mean, I think it's huge. I struggled a ton last year. Right out of college I didn't have a lot of success on the Korn Ferry Tour and it was a ton of learning. It was tough learning for sure. I kind of remember sitting down just trying to think what was I doing and what I needed to do to get over the stuff. I've been doing some things differently and these first two days worked out my way. Not always going to be this way, but just I feel like I give myself a better chance if I do those things right.”

Biondi on scrambling to stay bogey-free on his back nine:“I put myself out of position a couple of times, a couple of balls out of the rough. The greens got pretty firm, so I was just having a hard time hitting them close. Yeah, some of them I saved. I had two good up and downs, nothing crazy, but then on nine it was a good save, just laid up a pretty bad shot, just laid up in the left rough. Ended up making par.”

Notes

• After a first-round 7-under 65, Max McGreevy (T2/-9) carded a 2-under 70 via four birdies and one double bogey and sits 9-under par through two rounds.
• Making the 80th Korn Ferry Tour start of his career, Kevin Roy (T2/-9) sits T2 after 36 holes following a first-round 5-under 67 and second-round 4-under 68.
  • In his only previous start in this event, Roy finished T19 in 2020.
• Mason Andersen (T4/-8) followed up his opening round 7-under 65 with a 1-under 71, making birdies on the par-5s ninth and 15th against one bogey on the par-4 tenth.
• John VanDerLaan (T4/-8) followed his opening round 6-under 66 with a second-round 2-under 70.
  • VanDerLaan is making his fourth start at The Bahamas Great Exuma Classic at Sandals Emerald Bay and has past finishes of T21 (2023), T33 (2022) and T11 (2020).
• 23-year-old Brazilian Fred Biondi (T4/-8) carded a bogey-free 5-under 67 Monday and will sit inside the top 10 after 36 holes for the first time in his career (making 10th start this week)
  • Biondi finished T10 at Final Stage of 2023 PGA TOUR Q-School presented by Korn Ferry, guaranteeing starts for the first 12 events of the season.
  • Played collegiately at the University of Florida where he won the individual national title at the 2023 NCAA Championship and finished No. 2 in the PGA TOUR University Class of 2023, only behind Texas Tech alum and PGA TOUR winner Ludvig Åberg.
• Cody Blick (T9/-7), who finished runner-up in this event last year, logged a 3-under 69 Sunday with four birdies (Nos. 1, 4, 7, 15) against one bogey on his final hole of the day at the par-5 18th.
• First-round co-leader KK Limbhasut (T4/-8) has two holes to finish in his second round Tuesday morning and currently is four strokes behind the leader.
• Tim Widing (T9/-7) and Logan McAllister (T13/-6) posted the low rounds of the day with 7-under 65s.
  • McAllister is tied with Joe Weiler (T9/-7) for the most birdies this week with 14 apiece.
• Tommy Gainey (T21/-5), winner of the 2020 The Bahamas Great Exuma Classic at Sandals Emerald Bay, has recorded six birdies against just one bogey through 36 holes.
• Bud Cauley (T30/-3), making his first start in a PGA TOUR-sanctioned event since 2020, is 3-under par after 36 holes following a first-round 2-under 70 and second-round 1-under 71.
  • An alum of the University of Alabama, Cauley is a past champion on the Korn Ferry Tour (2014 Hotel Fitness Championship) and played primarily on the PGA TOUR from 2011-20, making 183 total starts on TOUR during that stretch and recording 23 top-10 finishes.