Scheffler, 5 share Bay Hill lead
ORLANDO, Fla. — Shane Lowry set the target Friday at Bay Hill, and as tough as the course plays, he would not have imagined how much company he would have at the top in the Arnold Palmer Invitational.
Scottie Scheffler chipped in for eagle and holed a 45-foot birdie putt on his way to a 5-under 67. U.S. Open champion Wyndham Clark birdied five of his last six holes — he had nine birdies for the round — and shot 66. Hideki Matsuyama, coming off a win at Riviera, had a 70 to put himself in the mix for another $4 million payoff.
All that movement late on a warm day in central Florida led to a six-way share of the lead that includes British Open champion Brian Harman (68) and Russell Henley (69).
They were at 7-under 137. It was the largest logjam through 36 holes on the PGA Tour since seven were tied for the lead at the Texas Open in 2011.
“I’m pretty happy to be where I am right now,” Lowry said after the 71 he posted as Scheffler, Clark and the others were still on the front nine. “Look, there’s no trophies given out today, so I’ll just dig in over the weekend and see where it leads me come Sunday.”
There could be a lot of traffic by then. Will Zalatoris shot 69 with only one birdie on the four par 5s and was feeling confident as ever that his back troubles were behind him. Justin Thomas (71) and Viktor Hovland (69) were among those only three shots back.
Harman was one of only two players to reach 8 under at any point with a birdie on the par-3 17th, and then he finished with a bogey that had big consequences.
It let six players back into the weekend because of the 10-shot rule at player-hosted signature events.
That left 58 players to contend with a course that typically gets firmer.
“I get excited to see my name at the top of the leaderboard,” Scheffler said. “There’s a lot of names up at the top right now. It’s pretty stacked going into the weekend. I’m proud of how I finished today to kind of give myself a good chance.”
Still to come is a weekend that typically is filled with big-time players —
five of the six players at the top are major champions — and a lot of hanging on for dear life. “It depends on what they do with the greens,” Scheffler said.
“I saw the wind was going to be up this weekend, so it may be a survival test.”
PGA Tour
RIO GRANDE, Puerto Rico — Joe Highsmith did his best to create some separation in the Puerto Rico Open on Friday, making a pair of late birdies to get the lead before darkness prevented the rain-delayed second round from being completed.
Highsmith, the 23-year-old rookie who starred at Pepperdine, was at 13under par. He will return to Grand
Reserve on Saturday morning to finish his last three holes.
He was one shot ahead of six other players who had already completed their rounds, a group that included Rafael Campos (67), Matti Schmid (65), Kevin Streelman (67) and Ryo Hisatsune (67). They were at 12-under 132.
The pressure is squarely on Campos, the 35-year-old from Puerto Rico seeking his first win on the PGA Tour.
“I have a lot of pressure, a lot of stress out there, but truth is I try to really blank out and not really pay attention to what’s going on in my surrounding,” Campos said.
LIV Golf
HONG KONG — Abraham Ancer and
Dean Burmester shot 7-under 63s to share the first-round lead at the inaugural LIV Golf tournament in Hong Kong.
Both players had strings of five consecutive birdies on the relatively short 6,710-yard Hong Kong Golf Club course.
They led by one stroke over a group that included Martin Kaymer and Louis Oosthuizen.
Burmester didn’t practice earlier in the week because of an illness. The same thing happened in December and he ended up winning the South African Open Championship.
Ancer was one of seven players who had a bogey-free round.
Joaquin Niemann, who won the Jeddah tournament in Saudi Arabia last week for his second LIV victory in three starts, shot 67, as did Jon Rahm.
LPGA Tour
SANYA, China — Narin An shot a 7under 65 to join Sarah Schmeizel in the lead after the second round of the Blue Bay LPGA on China’s southern island of Hainan.
Both golfers had a 9-under total of 135 to sit one shot clear of Hye-Jin Choi as they each look for a first victory on the LPGA Tour.
Schmeizel and Choi both carded a 69. First-round leader Minjee Lee shot an even-par 72 and was two shots back along with Ruixin Liu, who finished with a 71. Four other players were three strokes off the pace.
“My caddie and I are just really trying to manage the golf course well,” Schmeizel said. “Trying to not put us in places where if we miss the greens we’re going to make bogey for sure because the greens are really undulating and really difficult.”
European Tour
EDENVALE, South Africa — Matteo Manassero shot a career-low round for the European tour of 11-under 61 to take a one-shot lead of the Jonsson Workwear Open in South Africa.
The Italian hit a pair of eagles and seven birdies to go 15 under overall heading into the weekend at Glendower Golf Club.
Home favorite Oliver Bekker was one shot back.