DETROIT — The lefty seems to have found the right stuff.

Akshay Bhatia, whose game has been trending in the right direction for the past three weeks, picked up Friday where he left off Thursday at Detroit Golf Club, firing another bogey-free round, this time a 5-under 67, to hold on to a share of his lead at the Rocket Mortgage Classic.

Bhatia was at 13 under, tied with Englishman Aaron Rai, who shot a 65, thanks to two birdies on his last two holes, including a 20-foot putt at the par-4 18th. That duo is two strokes clear of a group of four players who were at 11 under, including Cameron Young (66), Taylor Montgomery (68), Troy Merritt (64), and Erik van Rooyen (64), at the halfway point of the sixth playing of the Rocket.

Three strokes back at 10 under were 2021 Rocket champion Cam Davis (66), Joel Dahmen (64) and Eric Cole (68).

Bhatia finished tied for 22nd at the Memorial, tied for 16th at the U.S. Open and tied for fifth at the Travelers Championship last weekend. He's gunning for a third PGA Tour title, and second this season. He'd also be the first left-hander to win at the Rocket, where only a select few have seriously contended over the years: Ted Potter Jr., who tied for fifth in 2019; Hank Lebioda, who tied for fourth in 2021; and Brian Harman, who tied for ninth a year ago before he went and won the British Open.

"I don't think it matters," Bhatia said after Friday's round, asked if the course sets up better for lefties or righties. "It's a ball-striker's course, a lot of wedges. That's kind of my strong suit, especially inside I would say 150 yards. So I think that's why I like this golf course.

"I don't think there's a difference, lefty or righty."

Four strokes back of Bhatia and Rai was a group of five at 9 under that included newly turned pro Neal Shipley (68) and Joe Highsmith (64), another lefty whose Friday round was highlighted by the ninth hole-in-one in Rocket Mortgage Classic history, and second in as many days, coming at the par-3 fifth. Wesley Bryan (67), Jake Knapp (65) and Sam Stevens (66) also were at 9 under, rounding out the top 10.

Then came a massive group at 8 under, five back, that included world No. 36 Min Woo Lee, who bounced back from a double-bogey at the par-4 eighth hole (his 17th of the round) with a chip-in for birdie at the par-3 ninth, and two-time major winner Zach Johnson. Both shot a 68, and Nick Dunlap, who won earlier this season as an amateur and has since turned pro, shot 69 and also was at 8 under.

For Bhatia, the driver isn't his strong suit; he hit just 20 of 28 fairways through two rounds. And even when he did hit one fairway on his front nine Friday, it still disappeared, into a drainage hole on the par-5 17th.

No worries. He got a free drop, and thought it was hilarious. He made par there, then birdied two in a row to get things cooking again. Through two rounds, he's missed just two greens in regulation, carrying over the momentum from last week, when he played the final two rounds at the Travelers Championship with world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler and Tom Kim; Scheffler beat Kim in a playoff.

"It's cool to see what it's like," Bhatia, world No. 29, said of playing alongside Scheffler. "He's obviously playing on a different level than many of us out here.

"He just kind of plods around and doesn't make many mistakes and doesn't let anything get to him."

The same could be said of Bhatia this week, who has made more eagles (one) than bogeys (none) this week, a year after he missed the cut at Detroit Golf Club.

His iron game is on point, with his average proximity to the hole on his approach shots just over 20 feet. No surprise, that's among the best in the field, even when he's coming out of the rough. Now, he's halfway to becoming the second wire-to-wire winner in Rocket Mortgage Classic history, after Nate Lashley did it in 2019.

He's still got plenty of competition, and there could be a battle with the weather Saturday. It's supposed to storm, and tournament officials moved up the tee times, and will play threesomes off both the first and 10th holes.

Rai, Montgomery and Young all are looking for their first PGA Tour wins, while Merritt is seeking his third but first since 2018. (He lost to Davis in a playoff here in 2021). Van Rooyen is seeking his third.

"Still a huge amount of golf to play," said Rai, a right-hander who wears a golf glove on both hands and tied for ninth at last year's Rocket Mortgage Classic.

"But it's a great position to be in, and a lot of positives to draw on over the last two days."

Rai, 29, also has come in playing some good golf, with top-20s at the Canadian Open and U.S. Open, and a tie for fourth in early May at the Byron Nelson. He's second this week in approach shots, and tied for first in scrambling. Rai also is bogey free.

Among the closest chasers is Montgomery, who's playing in his first tournament since early May because of torn labrums in both shoulders. The last five tournaments he did play, he was cut twice and withdrew once. He barely played a handful of practice rounds over the last several weeks before deciding last week to play this week.

"Not swinging very hard at it right now," said Montgomery, 29. "But I'm at least advancing it forward."

Young, the highest-ranked player left in the field at No. 23, finished tied for second here in 2022, the year Tony Finau won the championship.

Young has had his ups and downs this season, including a recent stretch of 10 consecutive rounds of 72 or higher. He made that a distant memory with a 59 at the Travelers last weekend. He didn't have his best stuff Friday, he acknowledged, but plowed through it, including a chunked 5-iron at the par-5 17th that still set up birdie.

"Golf's just a funny game," said Young, 27. "I hit some mediocre shots today, and really got away with them."

Of course, you take all the breaks you can get in golf, but especially at the Rocket, where the winning score has been in the 20s under par all but one year.

"You've got to make sure that you're ready," said van Rooyen, 34, who made five consecutive birdies on the back nine Friday, "for whatever that course gives you."

Other notables include Will Zalatoris, who shot a 1-under 71 that was derailed by double-bogey at the par-5 14th (he chipped in the water, from behind the green), and was at 7 under. He was one shot better than defending champion and crowd favorite Rickie Fowler, who followed his opening 66 with a par 72.

Tom Kim, the highest-ranked player in the field at No. 16, missed the cut by a stroke at 4 under, after a second-round 68. Kim, who missed a short birdie putt at the par-5 17th before making birdie at the par-4 18th closing hole, was playing for the ninth consecutive week. This marked his second straight missed cut at Detroit Golf Club, after he burst onto the PGA Tour scene with a T7 in 2022.

Among the other notables to miss the cut, which was 4 under, were up-and-coming pro Michael Thorbjornsen (3 under), Daniel Berger, Webb Simpson and Francesco Molinari (2 under), Robert MacIntyre (1 under) and 15-year-old Miles Russell (even). Gary Woodland (2 over) and Stewart Cink (3 over) also headed home. All three local players in the field this week, Traverse City's Ryan Brehm (1 over), Flint's Willie Mack III (1 over) and Grosse Pointe Woods' Kyle Martin (4 over), missed the cut.

Meanwhile, Davis, 29, is looking for his second PGA Tour win. For the other, at the Rocket in 2021, he beat another 2024 contender Merritt, who has four top-20s here, on the fifth hole of sudden death.

"It does help being comfortable here," Davis said. "I know what game plan does work around here, so that's a mystery that I don't have to deal with that you have to most other events. But from there, it's kind of going about your business and not trying to force it to happen. It's been a lot of hard work to get myself back to a space where I can let the good golf come again.

"It's nice to see that it's some good scores being on the board now."

Bhatia, like most professional golfers, knows all too well the roller coasters of trying to make it on this stage.

Bhatia took a road less traveled toward professional golf, with the California native turning professional as a 17-year-old, rather than going to college. That's common among golfers outside of the United States to turn pro early, but most of the top American juniors play collegiately first.

Bhatia started on the smaller circuits, with occasional appearances in big-time tournaments, before landing on the Korn Ferry Tour. He earned special PGA Tour temporary membership last winter, and then earned his PGA Tour card with a win in the 2023 Barracuda Championship. He followed that win up with another this April, at the Texas Open.

There were critics when he turned pro, but they're pretty quiet these days, especially over the past month, as Bhatia, now 22 and engaged, has gotten hotter and hotter, despite playing a ninth consecutive tournament this week.

"I mean, I think I always believed that my path is going to work out. That's why I decided not to go to school," said Bhatia, who may not have gone to college but easily looks like the most-studious player on the PGA Tour, with those glasses, that beard, and the long hair. "I've got a long time to go before I can say this is the right decision.

"But so far, I've made progress every year I've been a pro. It's nice to see.

"And I'm going to keep learning."

That'd be the right stuff, for the lefty.

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