Scottie

Travelers Championship second round

-16 S Scheffler (US); -14 V Hovland (Nor); -12 E Cole (US), A Bhatia (US); -10 M Fitzpatrick (Eng), B Griffin (US), B Cauley (US)

Selected others: -9 J Rose (Eng), T Fleetwood (Eng); -8 R MacIntyre (Sco), W Clark (US); -7 A Rai (Eng), S Lowry (Ire)

Full leaderboard

Scottie Scheffler fired a 10-under-par 60 to hold the lead after the second round of the PGA Tour Travelers Championship.

The world number one made 11 birdies and a lone bogey on Friday to move to 16 under at TPC River Highlands in Cromwell, Connecticut.

That put him two shots clear of Norway’s Viktor Hovland, who also threatened a rare round of 59 as he fired a bogey-free 61 which included seven birdies and an eagle.

Jim Furyk holds the tour-record lowest round at 58, but Scheffler is one of 14 players to have made a 59, which for him came during the 2020 Northern Trust at TPC Boston.

The 30-year-old American had the chance to repeat the feat with a birdie at the 18th hole but missed from just outside 26 feet.

“It was a little tricky,” Scheffler said. “It actually went right to start, and there was a tonne of break right to left at the end.

“It was a tough read, but overall it was a really solid day. I was pretty happy with my execution.”

On his plans for the weekend, the four-time major winner added: “Hard to keep up that pace, but continue to execute, continue to give myself looks.”

Compatriot Akshay Bhatia sat four shots off the lead in a share of third place having matched his career-low round with a bogey-free 62, with fellow American Eric Cole alongside him after a 65.

England’s Matt Fitzpatrick lurked two strokes back on 10 under, having had to settle for a four-under 66 after two bogeys on his final three holes, with Justin Rose and Tommy Fleetwood a single shot further behind and Scotland’s Robert MacIntyre at eight under.

Scheffler’s score was deceptively good on a day when gusting winds reached 40mph and ensured that the greens became firmer and even more perilous.

Only one other player, Argentina’s Emiliano Grillo – who moved to level par for the championship after signing for a three-under 67 – broke the par score of 70.

It was attritional. As US Opens often are. Ten players began the day under par. By the end, there were only five.

The third-round scoring average was 73.61, the highest of the championship.

It took one hour and 50 minutes for the first birdie to be registered, one of only two in 70 combined holes played by the field over the opening two hours.

Scheffler’s performance was all the more impressive given he bogeyed the first two holes and his resurgence arrived entirely on the harder back nine.

A birdie on the 10th provided some impetus but his chip-in on the 14th followed by an outpouring of emotion signalled a shift in momentum.

Further birdies at the 15th and 16th helped him play the final nine holes in 32 shots, matching the lowest score of the week.

But Clark’s lead was barely threatened.

Unheralded American Stevens briefly got within two shots at four under par but he was one of several players whose challenge faded on the back nine.

Rory McIlroy was another. The Northern Irishman had a hat-trick of birdies from the fifth, one of which was a sensational 66-foot putt, to get to two under but five bogeys in his closing nine holes derailed his title hopes.

And Fitzpatrick’s hopes of adding to his 2022 US Open triumph were all but sunk by a ruinous run of three successive bogeys to start his round.

The normally unflappable Yorkshireman, playing in the final group with Clark, had started four back at three under but by the final hole his frustration was evident after he hacked out of deep rough and then overhit a chip. It led to a fifth bogey of the round as he finished eight off the pace.

Those at one under know they need to shoot low on Sunday and hope Clark makes mistakes.

Perhaps they will follow Fleetwood in taking inspiration from the last US Open held at this Long Island layout when the Englishman shot a 63 in 2018’s final round as he came from six back to finish one behind champion Brooks Koepka.

Fleetwood, who will start eight adrift said: “We’ll see what conditions bring. It’s nice when you have good memories of a place, isn’t it? I have great shots to go off and good feelings, so you know, I can draw on that.”

But equally Clark knows that if he can emulate the only three players to have finished under par at a Shinnecock Hills US Open – Ray Floyd in winning in 1986, and champion Retief Goosen and runner-up Phil Mickelson in 2004 – then the title is likely his.