Walker Lee, Ross Steelman share lead through Round 2 at The Bahamas Great Abaco Classic at The Abaco Club

The second round of The Bahamas Great Abaco Classic at The Abaco Clubwas suspended due to darkness on Monday at 5:41 p.m. ET and concluded Tuesday morning.

Things to Know

• Second-year member Ross Steelman and Korn Ferry Tour rookie Walker Lee are tied for the lead at 5-under
• Steelman, No. 4 in the PGA TOUR University Class of 2023, logs his sixth consecutive round of even-par or better to begin the season
• Lee, making his second career start on the Korn Ferry Tour, has five holes remaining in his second round to complete Tuesday morning
• 18-hole solo leader Kyle Westmoreland cards a second-round 2-over 74 and sits one shot behind the lead
• Kris Ventura logs the low round of the day with a 6-under 66 after opening with a first-round 9-over 81
• The 36-hole cut will be made upon the conclusion of the second round Tuesday morning, with the projected cut line currently at 3-over par (15-way T63 at 3-over)

Ross Steelman (Co-leader/-5)

• Making the 10th start of his Korn Ferry Tour career, bidding for his first career lead/co-lead of any kind
• Followed his first-round 4-under 68 with a second-round 1-under 71 via five birdies and four bogeys
  • Five birdies Monday came at two par 5s (Nos. 1, 8) and three par 4s (Nos. 2, 5, 16)
• Entered this week coming off a solo third finish at last week’s The Bahamas Great Exuma Classic at Sandals Emerald Bay, the first top-10 finish of his young career
  • In Exuma, logged a career-low 9-under 63 in the final round which tied the tournament’s 18-hole scoring record
• Has not recorded an over-par score in any of his six rounds played this season
• A second-year member on the Korn Ferry Tour, Steelman earned membership last year after finishing No. 4 in the PGA TOUR University Class of 2023
• In eight starts last season, made four cuts and logged one top-25 finish (T25/Utah Championship presented by Zions Bank)
• Finished T28 at Final Stage of 2023 PGA TOUR Q-School presented by Korn Ferry, guaranteeing him starts in the first 12 Korn Ferry Tour events this season
• Played two and a half seasons at University of Missouri (2019-21 – redshirted after enrolling in January 2019) and transferred to Georgia Tech (2021-23) for his final two seasons
  • While at Georgia Tech, earned 2023 All-Atlantic Coast Conference honors; also earned All-Southeastern Conference in 2021 while at Missouri
  • Additional collegiate honors include 2023 Golfweek First-Team All-American and GCAA Second-Team All-American
• Plays from Columbia, Missouri, and now resides in Alpharetta, Georgia

Walker Lee (Co-leader/-5)

• Korn Ferry Tour rookie who currently sits 5-under par with five holes remaining in his second round to complete Tuesday morning
• Through 13 holes in his second round, has tallied three birdies against one bogey
  • Three second-round birdies came at Nos. 1, 3 and 6 while his lone bogey was at the par-4 ninth
• Opened the tournament with a 3-under 69 after logging seven birdies against two bogeys and one double bogey
• Making his second career Korn Ferry Tour start this week
• Missed the cut in his Korn Ferry Tour debut at last week’s The Bahamas Great Exuma Classic at Sandals Emerald Bay
• Earned status this season by finishing No. 3 in the 2023 Totalplay Cup standings on PGA TOUR Latinoamérica (now PGA TOUR Americas after merging with PGA TOUR Canada)
  • In 12 PGA TOUR Latinoamérica starts, made 11 cuts and picked up three top-10s, including his first career victory
• Turned professional in 2022 after playing collegiately at Texas A&M University for five seasons (2018-22) where his honors include 2020 PING Third-Team All-America honors, as well as 2020 Second-Team All-SEC honors
  • College teammates with 2023 Korn Ferry Tour graduate Chandler Phillips, as well as fellow Korn Ferry Tour member Sam Bennett
• At the age of 19, qualified for the 2017 U.S. Open immediately after graduating from high school
• Member of the United States men's team at the 2022 Arnold Palmer Cup alongside Bennett and Gordon Sargent, current No. 1 ranked amateur in the world
• 25-year-old native of Houston, Texas

Quotables

Ross Steelman on the windy conditions this week… “I love playing in the wind. Missouri's really, really windy. Especially kind of in the winter months, it blows 15 to 20 most days. So a phrase I like to think of is, ‘you have to pitch instead of throw.’ So you kind of have to work shots against it, work it with it and just kind of make a game out of it even more so than it already is. So I just try to have fun and kind of see where it goes sometimes.”

Steelman on being more comfortable in his second season… “Much more comfortable just from showing up and knowing more people, especially going from being a senior in college and knowing everybody that I'm playing with to all of a sudden I've met maybe five to 10 people out here. There's just so many new experiences from the time I turned pro last year until really Q-School. Now that I've kind of got some experience under the belt, it's been a lot more comfortable this year so far.”

Steelman on his mindset when playing through ups and downs… “Golf's a weird game. I just try to look out the windshield, not the rearview mirror. If you look back, you're just going to drive yourself crazy. The only thing you can do is move on to the next shot and be where your feet are. To borrow from Ted Lasso, you just have to be a goldfish and let it go. It's really windy, it's really hard. You're going to miss putts that you'd rather make and the quicker you can let it go, the easier it is to move on and play well going forward.”

Notes

• Trevor Werbylo (T3/-4) cards his second consecutive 2-under 70 after logging three birdies against one bogey in the second round
  • Werbylo is in his second season on the Korn Ferry Tour and first since 2022 when he finished 16th on the season-long points list to earn his first career PGA TOUR card
• Kyle Westmoreland (T3/-4), who held the outright 18-hole lead after a first-round 6-under 66, carded a second-round 2-over 74 after recording three birdies against two double bogeys and one bogey
  • Entered the week coming off a solo-fifth finish at last week’s The Bahamas Great Exuma Classic at Sandals Emerald Bay
• Korn Ferry Tour rookie Austin Hitt (T3/-4) was 1-over par at the turn in the second round before carding a bogey-free back nine that included five birdies
  • Hitt earned Korn Ferry Tour membership for the first time this year with a No. 4 finish in the 2023 PGA TOUR Latinoamérica Totalplay Cup standings
• Kris Ventura (T62/+3) opened with a first-round 9-over 81 but followed up with a bogey-free 6-under 66 in the second round, the lowest round by any player Monday
  • A two-time winner on the Korn Ferry Tour (both wins in 2019), Ventura is making his third appearance in The Bahamas Great Abaco Classic at The Abaco Club (2023/T46, 2022/MC)