Defending champion Tony Finau tied the Texas Children's Houston Open scoring record and matched his career-low score on the PGA Tour with an 8-under 62 on Friday to take a two-shot lead at 9-under heading into the weekend.
"There's always I think that added pressure [when it's] a place that you've played well, obviously a course that I really like, so there's that added pressure on both fronts. Overall, it's a place that I have great memories coming back to. I get great support here from the fans. It is pressure, but I look forward to coming back and defending any title that I win.
"I knew I was in contention, near the top of the leaderboard with a handful of holes there to go and then the putter just got hot. I hit some nice shots, but it was mostly just draining some long putts from long distance, I chipped in for eagle on 8. Next thing you know, I'm like wow, 8 under, so it's strange how this game works, but you're never thinking ahead too much."
Argentinian rookie Alejandro Tosti closed with a 67 to move into second place at 7-under, his best 36-hole position in his 12th start, followed in third at 6-under by Belgium's Thomas Detry.
American World number 1 Scottie Scheffler ended his streak of 28 rounds under par after missing a 22-inch putt on the par-4 final hole and closing with a double-bogey for a 70 and a share of fourth place at 5-under.
"I felt like I battled pretty hard today," said Scheffler. "I think the conditions were extremely challenging. The wind was blowing very, very hard and the tough part was how gusty it was. If you took an average wind speed it probably wouldn't have been that crazy, but when it's gusting from 10 to 30 all day it makes everything you're doing out there pretty challenging.
"Frustrating lapse in judgment [at the 18th]. You never really know what's going to be up there around the cup on 18. Just hit something and knocked the second one offline. Felt like I hit a good putt on the first one, maybe went just barely through the break so obviously it was a bit frustrating hitting a good putt and it not going in. Second one I guess just hit a little fast and didn't see a spike mark there."
Fellow Americans Chad Ramey (66), Taylor Moore (71), Akshay Bhatia (68), Joe Highsmith (70) and German Stephan Jaeger (66) are all tied alongside Scheffler in fourth place.
