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Hot Hoffman goes clear at Bay Hill

Charley Hoffman in action at the Arnold Palmer Invitational

Charley Hoffman overtook Emiliano Grillo and Matt Fitzpatrick to claim a one-shot lead after the second round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational.

Hoffman, a four-time winner on the PGA Tour, carded a six-under 66 to move to 10 under for the tournament and assume sole leadership at Bay Hill, after Grillo and Fitzpatrick had shared it following the first round.

The American capped an impressive round by sending a 125-yard approach shot to within 10 feet of the pin on the 18th, comfortably sinking the putt for a seventh birdie of the day.

His closest rival is Grillo. The Argentine looked set to retain a share of the lead after a pair of eagles on his first nine, but he slipped to second with a dropped shot on the penultimate hole.

Fitzpatrick sits third after carding a three-under 69, which included two birdies in the last three holes.

Marc Leishman matched Hoffman's round to surge 16 places up the leaderboard for a share of fourth with Lucas Glover and Kevin Kisner.

Defending champion Jason Day dropped down to 13th where he is joined by Justin Rose and five others, while Rory McIlroy improved to one under for the tournament, sealing a spot for the weekend.

A dreadful day for Henrik Stenson included a triple-bogey seven on the 11th, where he took four shots to get his ball away from the edge of the water and over a steep bank – the Open champion subsequently missing the cut despite improving on his first-round showing by one stroke.

Meanwhile, after Cody Gribble showed tremendous bravery to remove an alligator from the fairway on Thursday, Smylie Kaufman was not as courageous as the sight of such a fearsome beast sent him running.

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