Scottie Scheffler equalled the Memorial Park course report he set in 2021 to take a one-shot lead at weather-affected Houston Open.
It was essentially the most full spherical of the 12 months for Scheffler, who missed the primary month of the season recovering from a freak glass puncture wound sustained at Christmas.
Scheffler opened his spherical with two birdies, the second of which noticed him gap in from simply inside 30 toes after the one missed inexperienced of his eight-under 62.
“Yesterday I felt like I made a couple key par saves, and today I felt like for the most part I kept the golf course in front of me and I had a lot of looks for birdie,” Scheffler stated.
“I didn’t feel like I was struggling for par too much, and that was mostly because I was in the fairway.”
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Scheffler watches his tee shot on the primary gap
It was the eighth time Scheffler shot 62 or decrease – a kind of was a 59 within the FedEx Cup playoffs at TPC Boston in 2020 – and his first since he shot 62 within the last spherical at Le Golf Nationwide to win the Olympic gold medal on the 2024 Paris Video games.
He led by one shot over Canada’s Taylor Pendrith whereas Jackson Suber, who ended the primary spherical with a four-putt double bogey, was three behind.
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Rory McIlroy performed within the afternoon and began out 11 pictures behind Scheffler. He carded back-to-back birdies and bogeyed the seventh gap earlier than play was suspended resulting from lightning.
“It was a lot different than we thought it was going to be,” Scheffler stated. “Today looked like – checking the forecast this morning – it was going to be one of those days where we’re going to be playing on and off, looking at a few delays out there.”
As an alternative, he was on from the beginning with a 10-foot birdie putt on the tenth gap and a 25-footer on the eleventh. Scheffler performed bogey-free for the second straight spherical.
Scheffler felt his iron play was not as sharp as he wished however knew he had a superb really feel on the greens and did not need to assault pins if there was no want.
It led to a stress-free spherical that featured eight birdies and left Scheffler in pole place going into the weekend of his last begin earlier than The Masters, stay on Sky Sports activities.
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