Scottie Scheffler was back to doing Scottie Scheffler things, like a well-oiled machine with every part clicking into gear and working smoothly: a second round 62, equalling the course record at the Memorial Park course in downtown Houston, saw the world number one – without a win so far this season – move ominously towards the business part of the midway leaderboard in the Texas Children’s Houston Open, two weeks out from his defence of the Masters.
Scheffler had eight birdies in another bogey-free round, posting a 62 for a midway total of 11-under-par 129 to assume the clubhouse lead, a shot clear of Canadian Taylor Pendrith.
Séamus Power backed up an opening round 69 with another 69 to reach the 36-hole mark on two-under-par 138 and safely headed into the weekend in his bid to climb the leaderboard and add further FedEx Cup points to his Aon Swing 5 mini-order of merit (with five places off that list available into the Heritage, a signature event the week after the Masters).
Pádraig Harrington, however, missed the cut. The 53-year-old Dubliner, playing on a sponsor’s exemption as he juggles tour life between the main circuit and the Champions Tour, improved with a 71 for five-over-par 145 which left him outside the cut mark.
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For Scheffler, who had a delayed start to the season after suffering a hand injury over the Christmas period which required corrective surgery, it was a case of returning to his dominant self with a masterclass in which he hit 17 of 18 greens in regulation and required just 23 putts in a second round where he was in total control tee to green.
Scheffler started his round birdie-birdie and just kept on rolling, only regretting not actually holing more birdies.
“[It] was a day where I felt like my ball-striking could have been a bit better and I was able to hole some putts. I hit a lot of greens but I felt like my irons were just barely off, and I felt like I could have been hitting them a little bit closer to the hole, but overall kept it on the green, kept giving myself looks. The way I was putting, I didn’t feel I had to force ‘em there by many pins if I wasn’t totally comfortable with the shot,” explained Scheffler.
Denmark’s Rasmus Hojgaard, the reigning Irish Open champion who is on his rookie season stateside, carded a 67 for 133, four adrift of Scheffler, to get into the mix. Of seeing Scheffler’s name atop the leaderboard, he remarked: “There’s no hiding from that. You have got to play well to have a chance to beat him ... I’m just trying to play as good of golf as possible and see where that takes me.”
