Zach James cards 12 birdies for 60, holds lead midway through Round 2 at Veritex Bank Championship

The first round resumed at 7:16 a.m. local time and was completed at 3:45 p.m. The second round was suspended due to darkness at 8:05 p.m., with 78 players still needing to either begin or complete their rounds. The 36-hole cut will be made upon completion of the second round, which will resume at 7:30 a.m. Saturday.

Charting the leader (stats entering week)

Zach James

(first/-17)

• Follows 11-under 60 with 6-under 65 to total 17-under 125 and hold a two-stroke clubhouse lead with half the field still needing to complete the second round
• Makes 12 birdies en route to 11-under 60, becoming the 10th player in Korn Ferry Tour history to make 12 birdies in an 18-hole round (most recent: Michael Feagles/12 birdies/2023 BMW Charity Pro-Am presented by TD SYNNEX/Round 1)
• Cards 18 birdies and one bogey across 36 holes of competition Friday
• Ties Rick Lamb (The Bahamas Golf Classic at Atlantis Paradise Island) for the second-lowest opening 36-hole score this season, only behind John VanDerLaan’s 124 at the season-opening The Bahamas Golf Classic at Atlantis Paradise Island
• Recorded a T7 finish in his second career start on the Korn Ferry Tour (2025 The Bahamas Great Abaco Classic at The Abaco Club)
• Korn Ferry Tour rookie who finished T26 at Final Stage of 2024 PGA TOUR Q-School presented by Korn Ferry for Korn Ferry Tour membership this season
• Finished No. 116 in the 2024 Fortinet Cup standings on PGA TOUR Americas, which marked his first season with membership on a PGA TOUR-sanctioned tour
• Played five seasons at Southeastern Oklahoma State University (2014-19), an NCAA Division II program in Durant, Oklahoma; he earned nine collegiate victories and finished with a 72.13 career scoring average
• Native of Denton, Texas, who plays in Frisco, Texas

Additional notes

• Patrick Cover (T2/-15), who finished in the top 60 on both the 2023 and 2024 Korn Ferry Tour Points List, totals 15-under 127 for his career-low 36-hole score on Tour (previous: 129/2023 LECOM Suncoast Classic/Rounds 1 and 2).
• Rookie Caleb VanArragon (T2/-15), who has one top-25 finish in eight starts this season, totals 15-under 127, eclipsing his previous career-low 36-hole score on Tour by eight strokes (previous: 135/2025 The Bahamas Great Abaco Classic at The Abaco Club/Rounds 2 and 3).
• Blades Brown (T4/-14), a 17-year-old professional in his third career start on the Korn Ferry Tour, cards 10-under 61 in Round 1, which is the lowest score by a player under the age of 18 in Korn Ferry Tour history (previous: 65/Si Woo Kim, 17 years old/2013 Mid-Atlantic Championship/Round 1).
• Brown’s first-round 61 featured a streak of six birdies and one eagle on Nos. 5-11, making him the 13th player in Korn Ferry Tour history to record a birdie-eagle streak of 8-under par or lower (most recent: John VanDerLaan/2025 The Bahamas Golf Classic at Atlantis Paradise Island/8-under/Nos. 11-17/Round 1).
• Brown is in line for his third consecutive made cut, which would make him the first player in Korn Ferry Tour history to record three made cuts prior to turning 18 years old.
• Veritex Bank ambassador Mitchell Meissner (T4/-14) ties his career-low round on Tour with a first-round 8-under 63 (previous: 2024 Albertsons Boise Open presented by Chevron/Round 2; 2023 Utah Championship presented by Zions Bank and Intermountain Health/Round 2).
• The scoring average for Round 1 was 66.942, marking the third-lowest single-round scoring average in Korn Ferry Tour history, only behind Round 4 of the 2022 Veritex Bank Championship (66.900) and Round 3 of the 2021 Memorial Health Championship presented by LRS (66.908).