Filipino Rico Hoey enjoys birdie binge for co-lead at The American Express

Rico Hoey of the Philippines brilliantly notched a career-best 10 birdies to grab the joint second-round lead at The American Express on Friday and vowed to avoid being starstruck as he chases a dream PGA TOUR win.

The 29-year-old Hoey, who is playing in his second season on TOUR, was in full flow at the Nicklaus Tournament Course in La Quinta, California, as he fired a 9-under 63 en route to a first 36-hole lead/co-lead on TOUR. Hoey sits at 16-under alongside four-time winner on TOUR Charley Hoffman (63).

Japanese rookie Rikuya Hoshino carded a second successive 67 for a share of 20th place, six off the lead to be the next best-placed Asian. Players will play each of their first three rounds on different courses before a 54-hole cut.

A stellar driver of the golf ball, Hoey missed only two fairways and two greens and shot his career-low score for the third time. “I was kind of just keeping it in front of me," he said. "I had a great group. I play a lot of practice rounds with J.J. Spaun, so he's been playing well, and I'm just trying to hop on his train and keep playing well like he is."

He is feeling right at home at this week’s spectacular venue at La Quinta, which is about a two-hour drive from his hometown of Rancho Cucamonga where he lived after moving from the Philippines at a young age.

“I remember growing up and when I was 5 and 6, like there was a Tour called the Coachella Valley Tour, I played those one-day events," Hoey said. "The desert has been great to a lot of junior golfers, hosting a lot of tournament play, so coming back as a pro now and reminiscing on some of the old days that I used to do.

“I wish we were playing like four rounds out here (on the Nicklaus Tournament Course). I just like Nicklaus, I played a lot of junior events out here, so just feels like I'm home and it's great. Weather's awesome, so we don't really have too many tough conditions with the wind and whatnot. Made it a lot easier to score.”

After playing four seasons at the University of Southern California (2013-17), and earning three All-American accolades, Hoey turned professional and secured his PGA TOUR card for the first time via the Korn Ferry Tour at the end of the 2023 season. He changed his citizenship from the Philippines to the U.S. shortly afterward.

In his rookie year on TOUR, he struggled early on in 2024, missing 10 cuts in his first 15 starts before hitting his stride in the second half of the season with four top-10s, including a runner-up finish at the ISCO Championship, and finishing 86th on the FedExCup standings.

With the likes of Jason Day (T6), Justin Thomas (T8), Rickie Fowler (T8) and Patrick Cantlay (T11) featuring on the leaderboard, Hoey intends to remain in the title chase by taking the proverbial one-shot-at-time approach.

“For me, this is my second year on TOUR, so I'm still kind of starstruck with a lot of those guys, Hoffman, Cantlay, Rickie, and whatnot," he admitted. "For me it's really cool just to put my name out there and just keeping up with them, so that's all I'm trying to do. I just want to keep getting better, so that's the goal every day.

“You can never predict how you're going to play. Tomorrow. I'm just going to do what I can, warm up, and just hit the best shot that I can possibly do. I'm just going to let it flow and let it happen,” said Hoey, who will tee up on the challenging PGA WEST's Pete Dye Stadium Course on Saturday.