Golf: Rocky 17th hole costs Danny Lee with quintuple-bogey eight

Danny Lee ran into trouble during his second round at The American Express in California. Photo / Getty

An extremely rocky 17th hole has hampered Danny Lee's chances at The American Express tournament in California.

After racing up the leaderboard by closing with four straight birdies in a bogey-free seven-under first round at the PGA Tour event, Lee ran into trouble during his second round today in La Quinta.

The Kiwi started solidly enough on the back nine and picked up a shot on the 12th. Once he made eagle on the par-five 16th, Lee was within two shots of the lead.

That was when calamity struck for the 31-year-old, however, as he emerged on the losing side of a prolonged battle with the rocks and lake on the par-three 17th.

First, Lee's tee shot bounced off the rocks on the edge of the green and rebounded all the way across the lake surrounding the green, landing barely in bounds.

Much worse was to come, as Lee's second shot went straight into the water, costing him a penalty stroke. The Kiwi then compounded that error by overcooking his next shot, sending it into the rocks at the back of the green to be left in need of another penalty drop.

Finally finding the green from his fourth attempt, Lee then missed a long put before tapping in for a quintuple-bogey eight, retrieving his ball before sending it into the water with an underhand toss.

Lee at least recovered well enough to make three birdies and a bogey on the front nine, finishing with an even-par 72 to leave him sitting in a 10-way share of 47th at the halfway stage.

American Patrick Cantlay leads the tournament on 14 under while Lee was not alone in making a quintuple-bogey, sharing that dubious honour with six-time major winner Phil Mickelson, who did likewise on the par-four eighth during his first round.

Meanwhile, Lydia Ko has continued her solid start to the new LPGA Tour season, sitting five shots off the lead through two rounds of the Tournament of Champions.

Ko carded a four-under par 68 in her second round to move to five under for the tournament, sitting in a share of ninth, five shots behind world No 1 and leader Nelly Korda.

Ko started well with three birdies in her first five holes, before 12 consecutive pars and a birdie on the last completed a blemish-free round.

Korda leads by one over Gaby Lopez and Danielle Kang, with her sister and defending champion Jessica Korda a further shot back