Scheffler holds day two lead over Bhatia, Thomas at Hero World Challenge
In his fourth appearance at the Hero World Challenge, where he has never finished below second place, world number one and defending champion Scottie Scheffler led the field by two strokes headed into the weekend at Albany.
- Dec 7, 2024,
- Updated Dec 7, 2024 6:16 PM IST
Normal service resumed at the Albany golf course in the Bahamas with defending champion and world number one Scottie Scheffler returning to the top of the $5 million Hero World Challenge leaderboard on Friday after two completed rounds.
The reigning Olympic champion started out with four straight birdies to overhaul first day leader Cameron Young enroute to seven birdies on his outward nine. Scheffler (67-64), the pre-tournament favourite then added one more to his card along with eight pars for a 8 under 68 and the event lead at 13 under 131 total, the lowest two-day at Albany since 2014 when the tournament was first played there.
Two shote in his wake were tournament debutant Bhatia (67-66) and Justin Thomas (66-67) on 11 under par 133 with Keegan Bradley (68-67) in sole fourth place on 9 under 135. Young added a 1 over 73 to his opening 64 to slip away and into a share of tenth place.
Austria’s Sepp Straka (69-68), Korean Sungjae Im (69-68) and Ludvig Aberg (67-70) shared fifth place on 7 under 137of Sweden, while Indian-American Sahith Theegala (67-71) and Patrick Cantlay (67-71) were tied for eighth.
“Front nine just things were going my way, back nine maybe not as much,” Scheffler said on the tournament website. “A couple shots could end up closer to the hole, a couple putts go in, just little things.
“Around the greens it can get really challenging,” Scheffler said of the Albany course where he has never finished below second place. “I think I’m a pretty good pitcher of the ball, especially the tough lies that you get. I think over the years here I’ve done a good job of kind of staying patient, waiting to get hot.
“There’s some opportunities out here on this golf course, but there’s also some severe punishment. For instance, the front nine today was a time where I got hot and was able to take advantage of it.”
Starting Friday in the morning’s first pairing, Korean star Joohyung ‘Tom’ Kim carded a 7-under 65 to climb into a share of 10th on 5 under 139 along with Young, and Scotland’s Robert MacIntyre.
For his part, the left-handed Bhatia, 22, is currently tied with Scheffler for most birdies in this year’s tournament, 13 so far each.
Normal service resumed at the Albany golf course in the Bahamas with defending champion and world number one Scottie Scheffler returning to the top of the $5 million Hero World Challenge leaderboard on Friday after two completed rounds.
The reigning Olympic champion started out with four straight birdies to overhaul first day leader Cameron Young enroute to seven birdies on his outward nine. Scheffler (67-64), the pre-tournament favourite then added one more to his card along with eight pars for a 8 under 68 and the event lead at 13 under 131 total, the lowest two-day at Albany since 2014 when the tournament was first played there.
Two shote in his wake were tournament debutant Bhatia (67-66) and Justin Thomas (66-67) on 11 under par 133 with Keegan Bradley (68-67) in sole fourth place on 9 under 135. Young added a 1 over 73 to his opening 64 to slip away and into a share of tenth place.
Austria’s Sepp Straka (69-68), Korean Sungjae Im (69-68) and Ludvig Aberg (67-70) shared fifth place on 7 under 137of Sweden, while Indian-American Sahith Theegala (67-71) and Patrick Cantlay (67-71) were tied for eighth.
“Front nine just things were going my way, back nine maybe not as much,” Scheffler said on the tournament website. “A couple shots could end up closer to the hole, a couple putts go in, just little things.
“Around the greens it can get really challenging,” Scheffler said of the Albany course where he has never finished below second place. “I think I’m a pretty good pitcher of the ball, especially the tough lies that you get. I think over the years here I’ve done a good job of kind of staying patient, waiting to get hot.
“There’s some opportunities out here on this golf course, but there’s also some severe punishment. For instance, the front nine today was a time where I got hot and was able to take advantage of it.”
Starting Friday in the morning’s first pairing, Korean star Joohyung ‘Tom’ Kim carded a 7-under 65 to climb into a share of 10th on 5 under 139 along with Young, and Scotland’s Robert MacIntyre.
For his part, the left-handed Bhatia, 22, is currently tied with Scheffler for most birdies in this year’s tournament, 13 so far each.