Richard T. Lee leads after Day 2 of LIV Golf Indy; hopes to have a surprise for his wife

WESTFIELD -- Richard T. Lee followed up a strong first round with a 4-under par 66, putting him atop the leaderboard after Day 2 of LIV Golf Indy at Chatham Hills in Westfield on Friday.

Lee shot 7-under par on Thursday. His second round moved his total score to 11-under par, giving him a one-stroke lead over Thomas Detry (4Aces GC).

Detry shot 6-under par on Friday. Teammate Thomas Pieters shot 5-under par helping 4Aces shoot 18-under as a team, giving them a 31-under team total after two rounds and a five-stroke lead over Torque GC.

Lee credited his wife with picking his walk-up song "Gold Digger" by Kanye West. Lee isn't looking past the next two days, but if he continues his strong play, he could be taking home the prize money.

 "I don't want to think too ahead for myself, but yeah, definitely a victory would be amazing," Lee said. "It's always been a dream to play with these guys and have a big victory out there. Hopefully if I win, I have a little surprise for my wife this week."

Lee became the first Canadian-born player to join LIV, winning the Black Diamond Ranch tournament in January and earning a spot on the main tour through the LIV Golf Promotions series. He finished second at Singapore in March, but struggled over his next six events before finding his groove at LIV New York earlier this month, finishing tied for 11th.

Lee said he's been working on his irons and is using his time around big names like John Rahm and Bryson DeChambeau to pick up as many tips as he can. Those big names on the tour will be a key part of the tour's future, but for now, Lee is trying to establish himself with another strong round.

On the team side, 4Aces are led by close friends Pieters and Detry. The two have a competitive friendship that fuels their play on the course.

"Yeah, we go a long way," Detry said. "We've sort of followed the same path since we started really. We played the same junior tournaments. We played in the same International Team. Then we both went to Illinois. We ended up both playing on DP World Tour, then both PGA TOUR. We did a lot of the same. We had the same agent as well. We sort of followed a very similar path.

"We've been good friends and a very competitive friendship forever, and it's been a really fun ride."

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Richard T. Lee leads after Day 2 of LIV Golf Indy; hopes to have a surprise for his wife