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Mark Schlabach, ESPN Senior Author
ATLANTA — After squandering a big lead in the opening round of the Tour Championship, world No. 1 golfer Scottie Scheffler bounced again in an enormous method Friday at East Lake Golf Membership and as soon as once more finds himself chasing Norway’s Viktor Hovland on the weekend.
Hovland and two-time main champion Collin Morikawa posted 6-under 64s on Friday and have a 2-stroke lead at 16 below after 36 holes. Morikawa began the event at 1 below in staggered scoring, and his 15-under whole of 125 set the 36-hole file for the Tour Championship. It is 2 strokes higher than Tiger Woods’ midway whole of 127 in 2007.
Hovland and Morikawa have been 2 strokes higher than Scheffler — who carded a 65 on Friday — and three forward of U.S. Ryder Cup hopeful Keegan Bradley.
“If I used to be going to inform myself I used to be going to be 16 below by way of two days with my whole rating or no matter you wish to name it, I’d have taken that,” Morikawa mentioned. “Look, I believe with [the] wind being down and this course, if you happen to preserve it in entrance of your self, it is clearly gettable. There’s going to be low scores. There’s going to proceed to be low scores this weekend.
“Greens are beginning to agency up. You are still going to see guys firing at pins. You’ve got a number of brief holes that you must make the most of. The par-5s are very gettable. It is not going to finish at 16 below. There’s going to be much more low scores, much more birdies made. I will must proceed that heading into the subsequent two days.”
Morikawa had been trying to find his swing for a lot of the previous two seasons and oddly appears to have discovered it when he made a poor shot in Tuesday’s apply spherical.
“I hit one unhealthy shot within the apply spherical, tried to determine it out, was out on the vary [for] two extra hours,” Morikawa mentioned. “Typically simply being on the market when you do not notice that you simply’re on the market for that lengthy of a interval, you discover one factor that you simply hope works. I imply, I’ve accomplished that for the previous few years, hoping that we will discover that one factor that clicks, and proper now, I will keep it up. Why not?”
Hovland, who gained final week’s BMW Championship exterior Chicago, led the sphere in strokes gained: off the tee and tied for second in driving distance at 314.1 yards on Friday. He had 5 birdies within the last seven holes of the again 9 for a 30. He posted a 7-under 28 on the again 9 at Olympia Fields Nation Membership on Sunday to win his first FedEx Cup playoffs occasion.
“I believe all of it begins from simply the tee,” Hovland mentioned. “I am hitting loads of fairways, driving it rather well. In case you’re continually within the fairway on this golf course, you possibly can actually be aggressive with a few of the iron pictures in there. Simply been capable of give myself loads of seems to be. On the again 9, I began making some putts.”
Xander Schauffele matched the co-leaders with a 6-under 64 on Friday. It was his twenty sixth consecutive spherical of par or higher within the Tour Championship, essentially the most within the event’s historical past and almost twice as many because the next-closest participant, Woods, who had 14 straight from 1999 to 2001. Schauffele was below par in 23 of these rounds and has by no means been over par in a spherical at East Lake.
“It is fairly apparent,” Schauffele mentioned. “It is simply you have to kind of plot across the property nicely, and if you may get your putter going, the greens are so pure you’re feeling like you can begin rolling something in. So it should simply match my eye. I am not likely certain. I performed fairly nicely across the property, and I will want some extra of that magic right here on the weekend.”
Defending FedEx Cup champion Rory McIlroy is 6 strokes behind Hovland and Morikawa after carding a 3-under 67. McIlroy is still being bothered by a sore right side and mentioned there’s solely a lot he can do on the course.
“I am restricted in what I can do, however I am right here grinding away, battling away,” McIlroy mentioned. “So pleased to be by way of 36 holes.”
McIlroy mentioned he had a bit extra velocity on his swings and was most likely solely a half-club off his regular distances, in comparison with a full membership in Thursday’s opening spherical. He cannot hit left-to-right pictures and is teeing his ball down on drives for flat, operating pictures down the green.
“It is simply exhausting to kind of get my proper aspect by way of the ball,” mentioned McIlroy, the one three-time FedEx Cup champion. “It really feels higher with the longer golf equipment as a result of I am extra upright in my posture. After I kind of get right down to the shorter stuff, attempting to remain in my posture is a wrestle. So I am kind of simply popping out of it and swinging my arms at it, and I am lacking loads of iron pictures left. However, yeah, simply attempting to handle it and do the most effective I can.”
