RBC Heritage R2: Masters champ Scottie Scheffler closes in on leaders

World number one Scottie Scheffler claimed he felt like he 'could have shot lower' as he unsurprisingly played his way into contention after 36 holes at the RBC Heritage.

There were whispers before this signature PGA Tour event that Scheffler, 27, was going to struggle to keep his foot on the gas after an emotionally exhausting week that saw him crowned the Masters champion for the second time in his life. 

Scheffler began this tournament somewhat slowly, hitting a memorable shank en route to an opening round of two-under par 69. 

In the second round Scheffler was back to being laughably and ludicrously consistent, tearing round Harbour Town Golf links with a bogey-free 65. 

Scheffler put circles on his scorecard at the second, fifth and eighth holes. 

He made back-to-back birdies from the 12th before taking advantage of the par-5 15th for his final birdie of the day. 

At the halfway point, he trails JT Poston, Tom Hoge, Sepp Straka and Collin Morikawa by three who sit atop the leaderboard on 11-under. 

Mackenzie Hughes, Ludvig Aberg, Sahith Theegala, Patrick Cantlay, and Ben An are also inside the top-10. 

Rory McIroy had to dig in during his second round and is tied for 12th, four shots behind the lead. 

"It was a good day," Scheffler said. "I felt like I could have shot a lot lower. 

"Felt like I had some putts that were going up and at least had a chance of going in and didn't. 

"But other than that, yeah, [I] played really good golf. Yeah, [I am] proud of today's effort."

He added: "I like that you don't have to bomb it around this place. There's more than one way to get around the golf course. 

"There's some holes where distance can be an advantage, and there's plenty of holes where you've got to place the ball and move it around the trees. 

"I'm a big fan of trees on golf courses, so getting to play a place like this where there's a lot of trees is nice, especially when you're not hitting it in the trees. 

"That's always a good thing."

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