Xander Schauffele rallied from an opening 70 to post a bogey-free, 7-under-par 64 on Friday at the Tour Championship, and it looks like he's finding the magic of East Lake again.
Schauffele is at 16 under par, five strokes behind Scottie Scheffler and at 17 under par, one stroke ahead of Collin Morikawa, who carded an 8-under 63. Meanwhile, Scottie Scheffler didn't let a weather delay stop him, shooting a 5-under 66 to move to 21 under par.
“It was nice to close it out with two big putts,” Schauffele said after Friday's round. “It was pretty dark out, so I'm really happy that those two went in. It was a pretty good round and I was able to keep the momentum going.”
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The two-time major champion started the day with two par putts but then found his rhythm.
Schauffele birdied four of his next seven holes to turn in 31, then birdied the par-3 11th and par-5 14th holes.
The PGA Tour postponed the second round because of bad weather, and the final few groups waited just over an hour before being able to play the final few holes on Friday evening.
But Schauffele wasn't fazed, saving par on the 17th hole to stay bogey-free, then the 30-year-old rolled in the dark for a 12-foot birdie and finished the match on a roll.
Even though it was only the second round of the tournament, Schauffele knew he had to post a low score to catch Scheffler and Morikawa.
“I played Scotty yesterday and this course right now, the greens are firm so it's a ball-striking type of course where you've got to get out on the fairway and hit the ball where you want it, and he's been better at that than anybody all year,” he said. “There's only one way to beat him because he's not going to let up.”
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Photo: Christian Petersen/Getty Images
Scheffler looked nearly unstoppable Friday afternoon, showing his human side late on after a weather interruption, with the former University of Texas Longhorn birdieing two of his final three holes.
Schauffele can only control his own game and knows he has to be at his best to beat the No. 1 ranked player in the world.
“Honestly, it's all on him. I've got to play until the beep,” Schauffele said. “I'm two strokes behind and I was one under yesterday and he had the lowest score of the day. It's not the start I wanted. I need that urgency today to try and make up for it.”
The best shot of the day was the par putt on the 17th hole. Schauffele sank the 11-foot putt with confidence because he knew he had to get the shot within striking distance.
“On the 17th hole, I was looking straight at bogey,” he explained, “and had to make a putt that curved about two feet downhill in dark weather. It's a putt I never want to make again, that's for sure.”
Schauffele will play in the group ahead of Schaeffler and Morikawa on Saturday. He and Sahith Teegala tee off at 2:44 p.m. ET, looking to close a five-stroke lead.
Savannah Lee Richardson is a golf staff writer for SB Nation's Playing Through. Follow us for more golf articles. Follow You can follow us on all major social platforms. You can also follow us on Twitter Follow Her Instagram account is @golf_girl_sl.
