KAPALUA — Scottie Scheffler is the No. 1 golfer on this planet who simply gained his second consecutive Jack Nicklaus Trophy because the PGA Tour Participant of the 12 months.
He discovered himself atop the leaderboard Friday in the midst of The Sentry’s PGA Tour opener on the Kapalua Plantation Course.
He sits at 16-under-par 130 after a 9-under 64 on Friday. He is aware of, with the benign situations which have left the 7,596-yard construction considerably defenseless, that it’s going to take extra of the identical type of scoring to carry the winner’s trophy and acquire the $Three.6 million champion’s examine on Sunday .
“In all probability much more than what I did at this time and yesterday.” Scheffler stated. “The scores round this place are fairly low, but it surely’s a type of locations, when you go there and play nicely, you may be rewarded. Should you begin not hitting it in the correct locations, you could be in hassle. Gotta hold the pedal down right here.
Tyrrell Hatton fired the spherical of the day – and the bottom spherical of his profession – with an 11-under 62. He completed the spherical birdie, birdie, birdie, eagle and is tied with Brendon Todd (64) and Sungjae Im (66) at 131, at a shot behind Scheffler.
Hatton stated the greater than 24-hour journey from England to Kapalua — he arrived late Saturday evening — took a toll on his physique.
“Sure, it was an excellent day.” Hatton stated. “If I am being sincere, the physique did not really feel nice and the tee to inexperienced did not, it did not really feel superb. I had a loopy day on the greens. Each putt I appeared to take a look at went in, which is a pleasant feeling. I hope it continues into the weekend.”
Hatton defined that he was nonetheless feeling drained and jet lagged, particularly after taking most of December off from golf.
“Simply very stiff. I believe touring from England, the 25-and-a-half hours, door-to-door, and my entire physique, I would not say I took care of myself throughout December, perhaps that performed a component.” he stated smiling. “Yeah, so the physique did not transfer nicely. I am positive when you noticed some flight tracers of a few of my tee photographs you would be disgusted. They’re type of stepping into locations that are not too dangerous, so yeah, they’re doing fairly nicely proper now.”
When requested how he thought the day would possibly go, Hatton laughed.
“Properly I suppose it exhibits how silly the sport is.” he stated. “Clearly, I performed superb at this time, that is the largest factor for a way my rating ended up as little as it was. Yeah, as dangerous as my physique felt, I am stunned that going out this morning that rating simply did not cross my thoughts. It’s extra possible that over, (11) over equal.”
Scheffler is making his third look right here — he completed tied for 13th in 2021 and seventh final 12 months — and stated course information is effective right here, at the least when the wind is a bit more constant.
“I believe it helps a good quantity,” Scheffler stated. “It is a place the place we often see numerous the identical wind route. Right this moment was really the alternative of how I’ve all the time seen the golf course, so my information of the course did not assist me a lot going into at this time. It was a little bit of an uncommon day with the wind route however simply adjusted and clearly the scores are fairly low.”
Todd was additionally all smiles when requested what it could take to win right here this weekend. The PGA Tour’s 5 finest par scores for a four-round occasion have all been posted right here, together with the 34-under report Cam Smith beat right here two years in the past.
“Gosh, I used to be telling my son, he stated if I shoot 6-under 4 occasions, that is 24-under. I stated, “It will not be sufficient to win.” He stated, “Actually?” “ Todd stated. “I stated, ‘Properly, 34 beneath gained two years in the past.’ I believe we glance one thing like this. One thing within the 30s. There are such a lot of nice gamers and the golf course is in good form and with no wind you’ll be able to hit wedges shut and get to par-5s.”
There are 18 gamers inside 4 photographs of Scheffler’s lead.
Collin Morikawa, final 12 months’s runner-up, is 2 strokes again in a gaggle of 5 tied for fifth going into the weekend, though he wasn’t too completely happy together with his 67 on Friday.
“It simply did not have any momentum,” Morikawa stated. “I by no means felt comfy with some photographs. Irons really felt the most effective a part of my sport. I simply could not convert the putts. He hit some good putts, they did not go in. The velocity was slightly sluggish. Right here you simply should discover a groove right here.
“If yow will discover a groove right here, you can also make three, 4, 5 birdies in a row. We have seen it with numerous these guys, hopefully we’ll get into that groove beginning tomorrow.”
* Robert Collias is at rcollias@mauinews.com
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Sentinel
Leaders of Friday’s second spherical
On the Kapalua Plantation course
Scottie Scheffler 66-64–130 -16
Tyrrell Hatton 69-62–131 -15
Sungjae Im 65-66–131 -15
Brendon Todd 67-64–131 -15
Byeong Hun 12 months 68-64–132 -14
Viktor Hovland 65-67–132 -14
Chris Kirk 67-65–132 -14
Collin Morikawa 65-67–132 -14
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PGA TOUR SENTRY
Friday’s second spherical
On the Kapalua Plantation course
Scottie Scheffler 66-64–130 -16
Tyrrell Hatton 69-62–131 -15
Sungjae Im 65-66–131 -15
Brendon Todd 67-64–131 -15
Byeong Hun 12 months 68-64–132 -14
Viktor Hovland 65-67–132 -14
Chris Kirk 67-65–132 -14
Collin Morikawa 65-67–132 -14
Akshay Bhatia 69-64–133 -13
Matt Fitzpatrick 69-64–133 -13
Brian Harman 67-66–133 -13
Jordan Spieth 66-67–133 -13
Sepp Straka 67-66–133 -13
Sahith Theegala 64-69–133 -13
Patrick Cantlay 66-68–134 -12
Jason Day 65-69–134 -12
Emiliano Grillo 66-68–134 -12
Patrick Rodgers 69-65–134 -12
Adam Schenk 69-65–134 -12
Tony Finau 69-66–135 -11
Xander Schauffele 66-69–135 -11
Cameron Younger 68-67–135 -11
Eric Cole 70-66–136 -10
Adam Hadwin 70-66–136 -10
Tom Hoge 67-69-136 -10
Max Homa 67-69–136 -10
And Woo Kim 70-66–136 -10
Kurt Kitayama 72-64–136 -10
Taylor Moore 71-65–136 -10
JT Poston 68-68–136 -10
Camilo Villegas 65-71–136 -10
Sam Burns 69-68–137 -9
Nicolas Echavarria 70-67–137 -9
Harris English 71-66–137 -9
Rickie Fowler 70-67–137 -9
Lee Hodges 72-65–137 -9
Luke Record 67-70–137 -9
Erik Van Rooyen 72-65–137 -9
Lucas Glover 72-66–138 -Eight
Nick Hardy 71-67–138 -Eight
Mackenzie Hughes 68-70–138 -Eight
Tom Kim 68-70–138 -Eight
Adam Svensson 70-68–138 -Eight
Nick Taylor 69-69–138 -Eight
Matt Wallace 68-70–138 -Eight
Ludvig Aberg 69-70–139 -7
Keegan Bradley 69-70–139 -7
Wyndham Clark 71-68–139 -7
Corey Conners 69-70–139 -7
Hideki Matsuyama 71-68–139 -7
Denny McCarthy 70-69–139 -7
Tommy Fleetwood 70-70–140 -6
Justin Rose 71-69–140 -6
Russell Henley 69-72–141 -5
Davis Riley 70-71–141 -5
Seamus Energy 71-71–142 -Four
Cameron Davis 75-68–143 -Three
Vincent Norrman 73-70–143 -Three
Andrew Putnam 74-71–145 -1
Right this moment’s Third Spherical Tee Instances
T-shirt no. 1
07:57 – Tom Hoge, JT Poston, Si Woo Kim.
08:09 – Taylor Moore, Eric Cole, Camilo Villegas.
08:21 – Tony Finau, Adam Hadwin, Kurt Kitayama.
08:33 – Patrick Cantlay, Xander Schauffele, Cameron Younger.
Eight:45 – Jason Day, Adam Schenk, Patrick Rodgers.
08:57 – Brian Harman, Sepp Straka, Emiliano Grillo.
09:09–Akshay Bhatia, Sahith Theegala, Jordan Spieth
9:21 – Collin Morikawa, Byeong Hun An, Matt Fitzpatrick.
9:33 – Sungjae Im, Chris Kirk, Viktor Hovland.
9:45 – Scottie Scheffler, Tyrrell Hatton, Brendon Todd.
T-shirt no. 10
7:57 – Max Homa, Nico Echavarria, Erik van Rooyen.
08:09 – Sam Burns, Lee Hodges, Luke Record.
Eight:21 – Harris English, Rickie Fowler, Matt Wallace.
08:33 – Nick Taylor, Lucas Glover, Adam Svensson.
08:45 – Tom Kim, Nick Hardy, Mackenzie Hughes.
08:57 – Keegan Bradley, Corey Conners, Wyndham Clark.
9:09 – Hideki Matsuyama, Denny McCarthy, Ludvig Aberg.
9:21 – Justin Rose, Tommy Fleetwood, Davis Riley.
9:33am–Russell Henley, Seamus Energy, Cam Davis.
9:45 – Vincent Norrman, Andrew Putnam.