Tour rookie Hall leads despite English ace at Colonial

FORT WORTH, Texas — Harris English quipped to his caddie that no one is beating him at Colonial’s par-3 eighth hole, which is true after he followed his birdie in the opening round with a hole-in-one Friday. There is only one player ahead of him on the overall leaderboard.

PGA Tour rookie Harry Hall from England maintained the solo lead through 36 holes at 12-under 128, making a spectacular save from the sand at that same par 3, for a three-stroke lead over English. After opening with an 8-under 62, Hall had four consecutive birdies midway through his second-round 66.

Hall’s birdie streak ended with a bogey at the par-4 third, his 12th of the day, when he missed the fairway and then came up short of the green before a two-putt from nine feet.

In the final group of the day, Hall’s tee shot at No. 8 plugged into the side of the deep bunker fronting the green.

“I could only see two dimples,” he said. After knocking the ball loose but failing to get it out of the sand on his first attempt, Hall saved par by popping it out on the next try. The ball landed at the edge of the green and rolled into the cup.

“When it went back into the bunker, it wasn’t too much of a bad, a hard shot,” Hall said. “I just played it like a normal shot and tried to get it high and spin it as quick as possible, and I did just that.”

English’s ace at the 170-yard eighth was part of his bogey-free 66.

English was a stroke ahead of Emiliano Grillo, who shot a round-best 65 to get to 8-under. Adam Schnek (67), Byeong Hun An (66) and Robby Shelton (67) were tied for fourth.

Michael Block, the 46-year-old club pro from California who became a sensation for everyday golfers by tying for 15th Sunday in the PGA Championship at Oak Hill, was last in the 120-player Colonial field at 15-over 155. After his opening 81, he was seven strokes better with a 74 that included backto-back birdies midway through the round.

It was an exhausting span for Block, who hit only 11 of 28 fairways over two rounds, but was still mingling with fans — signing autographs and taking photos — hours after his final putt before flying home.

Other than the hole-in-one, it was just a steady round for four-time PGA Tour winner English, who had a third-place finish earlier this month at the Wells Fargo Championship. He hit 11 of 14 fairways and 14 of 18 greens.