Xander Schauffele rallied after opening spherical 70 to publish a bogey-free 7-under 64 on Friday on the Tour Championship. It appears he’s discovering the magic of East Lake once more.
Schauffele sits 5 photographs again of Scottie Scheffler at 16-under general and one again of Collin Morikawa, who shot an 8-under 63 to place him at 17-under whole. In the meantime, Scottie Scheffler didn’t let the climate delay part him and shot a 5-under 66 to get to 21-under general.
“It was good to complete off with two large putts,” Schauffele mentioned after his spherical on Friday. “Fairly darkish out, so comfortable these two went in. It retains the momentum from what was a reasonably good spherical.”
:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25596933/2168565963.jpg)
Picture by Michael Wade/Icon Sportswire by way of Getty Photographs
The 2-time main winner began his day with two par putts however then acquired right into a rhythm.
Schauffele made 4 birdies in his subsequent seven holes to make the flip at 31 strokes. He added one other birdie on the par-3 eleventh and the par-5 14th.
Climate rolled in and precipitated the PGA Tour to delay Spherical 2. The previous couple of teams waited a bit over an hour, however they had been capable of play the previous few holes on Friday night.
Nevertheless, that didn’t have an effect on Schauffele. He made an enormous par save on the seventeenth to remain bogey-free. The 30-year-old made a 12-footer for birdie in the dead of night to complete with a giant momentum increase.
Regardless that it was solely the match’s second spherical, Schauffele knew he needed to shoot a low rating to maintain up with Scheffler and Morikawa.
“I performed with Scottie yesterday, so this course proper now, with how agency the greens are, it’s a ball-striking kind deal the place you must be within the fairways and hit your quantity, and he’s been killing everybody at that each one 12 months,” he mentioned. “I do know he’s not going to let up, so there’s just one method to get him.”
:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25596934/2168112019.jpg)
Picture by Christian Petersen/Getty Photographs
Scheffler seemed nearly unstoppable Friday afternoon. He did present his human facet down the stretch, however after the climate delay, the previous Texas Longhorn birdied two of his last three holes.
Schauffele can solely management his recreation and is aware of he have to be at his greatest to beat the world’s No. 1 participant.
“It’s actually as much as him, to be trustworthy. I’ve to play out of my “beep” to smell,” Schauffele mentioned. “Being two again after which taking pictures 1-under yesterday and him taking pictures the low spherical of the day, it’s not the beginning I wanted. A way of urgency as we speak to try to choose some up.”
The shot of the day needed to be that par-putt on 17. Schauffele sank the 11-foot putt with confidence as a result of he knew he wanted it to remain inside putting distance.
“I used to be trying bogey straight within the eye there on 17,” he defined. “I needed to play a putt that broke about two toes downhill within the darkish climate. It’s not one I need to hit once more, I can inform you that.”
Schauffele will play within the group forward of Scheffler and Morikawa on Saturday. He and Sahith Theegala tee off at 2:44 p.m. ET as he appears to chip away at that five-shot lead.
Savannah Leigh Richardson is a golf employees author for SB Nation’s Enjoying Via. For extra golf protection, observe us @_PlayingThrough on all main social platforms. It’s also possible to observe her on Twitter @SportsGirlSL and Instagram @golf_girl_sl.