Collin Morikawa part of 4-way tie

Published 7:21 pm Friday, April 19, 2024

HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. — Collin Morikawa had another solid round Friday in the RBC Heritage with a 5-under 66 and appears to be getting back to the reliable form that made him a two-time major champion.

Masters champion Scottie Scheffler’s form never seems to change. Even after an emotionally taxing victory at Augusta National, a quick trip home to Dallas and only nine holes of practice, the world’s No. 1 player is right in the mix.

It’s crowded at the top after two days of warm, ideal conditions for scoring at Harbour Town, and this $20 million signature event is wide open going into the weekend.

Morikawa had a four-way share of the lead with Tom Hoge (64), J.T. Poston (68) and Sepp Straka, who recovered from an opening drive that plunked a spectator in the head and led to a double bogey. Straka saw blood but settled down after hearing the spectator was going to be fine, then put together eight birdies for a 65.

They were at 11-under 131, one shot ahead of a group that features Ludvig Aberg, the Masters runner-up who is starting to get anointed the biggest challenger to Scheffler.

Scheffler, whose Masters win was his third title in his last four starts, didn’t look as though he did anything special, the very trait that makes him so good. He was bogey-free, picked up birdies on the par 5s on the front nine and then ran off three birdies in a four-hole stretch on the back for a 65.

He was three shots back.

“Didn’t really struggle for par too often today,” Scheffler said. “I felt like I was attacking the golf course pretty well. Was able to post a good number. I felt like today when I stepped on the first tee I was ready to go.”

Morikawa has been searching for the key to that repeatable swing of his that led to a PGA Championship title in 2020 at Harding Park and the British Open a year later. He won last fall in Japan, but has been lacking the trust in whatever fix he keeps making.

But he found something at Augusta National last week — he was among those tied for the lead on Sunday until a pair of double bogeys around the turn — and kept hitting the sweet spot during practice and the opening two rounds of the RBC Heritage.

It’s not perfect, and that certainly was the case Friday. But he feels he is finally on the right path. Morikawa doesn’t feel as though he struck the ball well — he missed 10 greens — and still managed a 66.

“Still have a lot of trust in the swing,” he said. “Whether it went right or wrong, I was able to kind of accept the fact and move on. Two or three months ago — or even two weeks ago — if I saw a couple of bad shots it was like, ‘What do I fix? What do I try?’

“I kind of roughly know where the ball is going, and even when I’m missing it, still everything is a little bit tighter,” he said. “That’s all you can ask for.”

Straka was rattled at the start when he bloodied the spectator. The tee shot was out of play, and Straka checked on the fan to make sure he was OK. He didn’t miss another tee shot the rest of the way.

“You never really want to catch a driver on the fly, especially to the head,” Straka said. “That was tough.”

Aberg is emotionally drained from a week in contention, just like Scheffler. But at 24, he expects to be able to handle the fatigue. His swing is so pure and simple, it never looks as though he is trying very hard.

The Swede had a great finishing kick with four birdies over the last six holes, and one clever change of equipment. Aberg switched out his 2-iron for a 7-wood just for the par-5 15th hole, with has a 90-foot tree protecting the left side.

The 2-iron was too flat. The 7-wood gives him some height, and it soared from 258 yards over the treetops to about 30 feet for a two-putt birdie.

Rory McIlroy, who knows about hitting a high ball, was impressed for the two days they spent together at Harbour Town. McIlroy was scrappy with his irons again and still managed to stay in the mix at 7-under 135, four shots back.

He was pushing for Aberg to be on the Ryder Cup team last year without having seen him play in person.

Wesley Bryan has a big finish to restore lead at Puntacana

PUNTA CANA, Dominican Republic — Wesley Bryan went from comfortably leading at the start to needing a big finish at the end Friday in the Corales Puntacana Championship, and he got every bit of that for a 6-under 66 to move back in front of Justin Lower.

Bryan was tied for the lead in the morning when he reached the par-5 seventh hole to begin his eagle-birdie-birdie finish. Lower, playing three groups behind, did well to stay in range with two birdies over the last three holes for a 64.

Bryan, playing on a sponsor exemption, was at 15-under 129 to set the 36-hole tournament record by two shots. It also marked Bryan’s personal best for 36 holes.

He feels he stole a birdie on the par-3 ninth, his final hole, with a 30-foot putt that had what he felt was 10 feet of break.

“Putter is feeling good in the hands and hitting the ball fairly well. And off the tee has been nice,” Bryan said. “Been a good couple of days.”

It has been OK for Lower, too, who already is off to a good start this season with a tie for third in the Mexico Open a month ago.

Lower had a career-best 10 birdies Friday, which tied the tournament record. He had a few wobbles on his second nine that slowed his progress. But he goes into the weekend in a final pairing with Bryan and a comfortable margin over everyone chasing them.

Greyson Sigg twice ran off three birdies in a row for a 65 that left him four shots behind Bryan. The group another shot back included Bill Haas, a former FedEx Cup champion who has gone nine years since his last victory.

Haas’ career was slowed in 2018 when he was the passenger in a car driven by a friend, Mark Gibello, that crashed along the winding Los Angeles streets near Riviera Country Club. Gibello was killed in the crash.

Haas hasn’t been quite the same, and he is hopeful of a big week to restore confidence.

Miles Russell, 15, sets Korn Ferry Tour record

LONGWOOD, Fla. — Miles Russell became the youngest player to make the cut in the 35-year history of the Korn Ferry Tour when the 15-year-old posted a 5-under 66 Friday in the Lecom Suncoast Classic.

Russell opened with a 68 and left little doubt he would be sticking around all four days. He made a pair of eagles on the front nine, one of them on the 282-yard, par-4 fourth hole, and then began the back nine with two straight birdies.

He goes into the weekend six shots out of the lead.

Russell is a high school freshman from Jacksonville Beach, Florida, who has been taking online classes since the eighth grade.

The left-hander already is piling up some impressive credentials. He was the American Junior Golf Association player of the year in 2023, which included his seven-shot win in the Junior PGA Championship and becoming the youngest winner of the Junior Players Championship.

Last month he nearly qualified for a PGA Tour event, losing out in a playoff in a Monday qualifier for the Puerto Rico Open. The Korn Ferry Tour is the PGA Tour’s top developmental circuit.

Guan Tianlang of China remains the youngest to make the cut in a PGA Tour-sanctioned event. He was 14 when he made the cut in the 2013 Masters, playing as the Asia-Pacific Amateur champion.

Korda 1 shot back

at LPGA Chevron

THE WOODLANDS — Nelly Korda, seeking to tie an LPGA Tour record with her fifth straight win, shot a 3-under 69 on Friday in the second round of the Chevron Championship, leaving her one shot behind leaders Atthaya Thitikul and Jin Hee Im in the year’s first major.

Korda began the day two shots off the lead after opening with a 68 at Carlton Woods. She got out to a tough start Friday, making a double bogey on the first hole before making birdies on two of the next three. She finished with six birdies, one bogey and the double to post 7-under 137.

“Started out with a double. That was fun,” Korda joked. “I hit two shots out of the left fairway bunker. Just kind of didn’t catch it super clean and it didn’t actually hit the bunker lining, just the grass, and bumped back in. Then I bounced back with a birdie and made a birdie on the following par 5. Kind of all over the place on the front nine, but pretty clean scorecard on the back with two birdies.”

The top-ranked Korda is seeking her second major after winning the Women’s PGA Championship in 2021. She could join Nancy Lopez (1978) and Annika Sorenstam (2004-05) as the only players to win five consecutive LPGA events.

She was asked if it felt inevitable that she’d tie the record after her recent run of success and strong play in the first two rounds.

“I’m just at the halfway point right now. The amount of golf that I’ve played, I still have that to go,” she said. “There is still a lot of golf left and anything can happen. Just going to stick to my process and vibe with … what my coach says.”

With increased attention on this tournament because of Korda’s string of titles, what would the 25-year-old like people who might be seeing her first time this weekend to know about her?

“That I just never give up,” she said. “No matter what, no matter how much adversity is thrown your way, they know that I never give up and I give it my all.”

Thitikul, a 21-year-old from Thailand who has won twice on the LPGA Tour, missed the beginning of this season with a thumb injury. She made six birdies and one bogey Friday to shoot 67, matching Im at 136.

Im is in her first season on the LPGA Tour after playing the Korean LPGA since 2018. She had a bogey-free 67.

Lydia Ko, who won this tournament in 2016 at Mission Hills in the California desert, shot 71 and was part of a big group four shots back. Ko missed the cut last year in the Chevron’s first season in Texas.

First-round leader Lauren Coughlin shot 73 to fall three shots off the pace.

Amateur Lottie Woad, a sophomore at Florida State, shot 69 and was 4 under through 36 holes in her first LPGA event. The 20-year-old from England earned a spot by winning the Augusta National Women’s Amateur earlier this month.

“It’s definitely been a whirlwind,” Woad said. “Kind of didn’t really have a chance to let Augusta sink in really. Was just coming here straight away. I obviously took a lot of confidence from Augusta, so just trying to use that for this week.”

Woad is missing the ACC Championship with the Seminoles to compete in this tournament.

So Yeon Ryu shot 74 to miss the cut and end her competitive career. The two-time major champion announced before the event that she planned to retire after 13 LPGA seasons and six titles.

A group of friends, relatives and several other South Korean players greeted Ryu with flowers and sparkling wine as she came off the green.

“I’m just very numb,” she said. “I cannot believe this is real. Now I’m going to cry. (But I) tell myself I’m not going to cry because this is the day I need to be happy with.”