Scottie Scheffler is alone atop the leaderboard at the Texas Children’s Houston Open after he fired an 8-under-par 62 in his second round at rain-soaked Memorial Park Golf Course on Friday.
The World No. 1 stood at 11-under 129 after his lowest round of the season, and when play was suspended due to darkness late Friday evening, that was enough for a one-stroke advantage. Scheffler’s 62 tied the tournament’s single-round scoring record.
Canadian Taylor Pendrith shot his second straight round of 65 to get to 10 under for the tournament, while Colombia’s Nico Echavarria was working on a white-hot round thanks to a front-nine 29. Echavarria was 9 under for his round and 10 under for the event as he stood on the 17th green when the horn sounded to stop play.
The rest of the top five also hadn’t finished their rounds — Australian Min Woo Lee (5 under through 16) and Ryan Gerard (4 under through 11) were two behind Scheffler at 9 under.
Scheffler, a Texas native who has twice tied for second at the Houston Open, began his round with two birdies at Nos. 10 and 11. The latter was a 26 1/2-foot putt on a par-3.
He bettered that on the par-3 second hole by sweeping in a 29 1/2-footer for birdie. Scheffler wound up with four birdies on each nine.
It was the kind of putting day Scheffler has been looking for.
“I felt like I was hitting so many good putts, especially at The Players, putts that were going around the edge,” Scheffler said. “Today was a day where I felt like my ball-striking could have been a bit better and I was able to hole some putts.”
He was fortunate to get his round in before a dangerous weather delay paused the action for just more than two hours in the afternoon.
Pendrith took advantage of the damp conditions and holed six birdies, including four on his final eight holes.
“Obviously the course is a little soft right now,” Pendrith said. “There wasn’t much wind today, so scores are lower today, for sure. I haven’t really looked at the wind forecast (for the weekend), but if it’s breezy, it will be tricky, for sure. I think you’re going to need a couple more low ones to get it done.”
Pendrith broke through for his first PGA Tour win last May at the CJ Cup Byron Nelson. The Houston Open has yet to have a winner from Canada.
Per the tour, 52 players still need to complete their rounds Saturday morning. They will attempt to fit in the third round by having threesomes tee off at both No. 1 and No. 10.
The projected cut line as of Friday night was 3 under par. Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy made three straight birdies at Nos. 15-17 to shoot a 66 and eke ahead of the cut line at 4 under.
–Field Level Media
