Scottie Scheffler signed for a bogey-free 64 featuring four consecutive birdies from the first hole to reach 13-under and take the lead at the Hero World Challenge.
“Overall good day, 8-under on this golf course is always a good score. Yeah, pretty solid,” said the American.
“Front nine just things were going my way, back nine maybe not as much. A couple shots could end up closer to the hole, a couple putts go in, just little things.
“I think in this game I think a lot of all y’all are looking for perfection out of us and I think today I shot 8 under on the golf course is not something I hang my head about. A lot of good things out there, clean card, bogey free, eight birdies. Overall I think I’m pretty pleased.”
Scheffler seeks to join Tiger Woods (2006, 2007) and Viktor Hovland (2021, 2022) as the only back-to-back winners of the Hero World Challenge.
Akshay Bhatia lies in second place at 11-under alongside fellow American Justin Thomas who hit the longest drive of the week, a 378-yard tee shot, at the 16th.
“I drove it well and I hit some good irons, some good wedges, but I really did nothing special,” said Thomas. “I feel like other than the 10 or so footer I made on 1, every other birdie I had was a tap-in. I definitely left a couple out there. You know, hit some good putts that didn’t go in and also just kind of misread some. I’ve always found these greens can be a little tough to read, it’s hard to kind of see the grain on some of them.
“It just was a very low, low stress 5 under. I didn’t feel like I had to grind on the majority of my birdie putts, a lot of them were tap-ins or whatnot. If I can just iron or wedge it just a little closer to the hole tomorrow and get some putts to go in, I feel like I’ve got a really good round out there this weekend.”
Keegan Bradley of the United States shot a bogey-free 67 to move into fourth place at 9-under.
Austrian Sepp Straka and South Korean Sungjae Im shot 68s for a share of fifth place at 7-under alongside Swede Ludvig Åberg who closed with a 70.
American Cameron Young who held the lead after the first round closed with a double bogey at the 18th to cap off a mixed round featuring five birdies and six bogeys for a 75 and a share of tenth place at 5-under.
Related: Julien Guerrier takes narrow lead in South Africa
| Pos. | Player | To Par | R1 | R2 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Scottie Scheffler | -13 | 67 | 64 | 131 |
| T2 | Akshay Bhatia | -11 | 67 | 66 | 133 |
| T2 | Justin Thomas | -11 | 66 | 67 | 133 |
| 4 | Keegan Bradley | -9 | 68 | 67 | 135 |
| T5 | Sepp Straka | -7 | 69 | 68 | 137 |
| T5 | Sungjae Im | -7 | 69 | 68 | 137 |
| T5 | Ludvig Åberg | -7 | 67 | 70 | 137 |
| T8 | Sahith Theegala | -6 | 67 | 71 | 138 |
| T8 | Patrick Cantlay | -6 | 67 | 71 | 138 |
| T10 | Tom Kim | -5 | 74 | 65 | 139 |
| T10 | Robert MacIntyre | -5 | 68 | 71 | 139 |
| T10 | Cameron Young | -5 | 64 | 75 | 139 |
| T13 | Russell Henley | -4 | 69 | 71 | 140 |
| T13 | Sam Burns | -4 | 68 | 72 | 140 |
| 15 | Nick Dunlap | -3 | 68 | 73 | 141 |
| T16 | Brian Harman | -2 | 70 | 72 | 142 |
| T16 | Aaron Rai | -2 | 71 | 71 | 142 |
| 18 | Wyndham Clark | -1 | 73 | 70 | 143 |
| 19 | Jason Day | +1 | 75 | 70 | 145 |
| 20 | Matthieu Pavon | +3 | 74 | 73 | 147 |
