Scottie Scheffler fires 61 to take control of first leg of PGA Tour's play-offs
Scottie Scheffler leads the first leg of the PGA Tour's playoffs at the halfway stage.
World number one Scottie Scheffler has opened up a three-shot lead at the halfway stage of the FedEx St. Jude Championship.
The 30-year-old American, who is attempting to win for the second time on the PGA Tour this season, fired a 9-under 61 on Friday at TPC Southwind.
It saw him tie the tournament course record and open up a three-shot lead over South Korea's Sungjae Im and Norway's Viktor Hovland.
Masters champion Rory McIlroy remains well adrift of the pace on 4-over after only managing a level-par 70 at the no-cut $20m tournament.
Jordan Spieth, Ludvig Aberg Tommy Fleetwood are among those inside the top-10 after 36 holes.
"I wouldn't say golf's ever easy," Scheffler said when asked if his round was as easy as it looked.
The four-time major winner had 11 birdies on his card, with only two blemishes.
His first bogey of the day came at the par-3 8th when he missed the green long and failed to save par.
Position | Player | Score |
1 | Scottie Scheffler | −11 |
2 | Sung-Jae Im | −8 |
2 | Viktor Hovland | −8 |
4 | Ludvig Aaberg | −7 |
5 | Jordan Spieth | −6 |
5 | Brian Harman | −6 |
5 | Tommy Fleetwood | −6 |
5 | Nicolas Echavarria | −6 |
9 | Sudarshan Yellamaraju | −5 |
9 | Keith Mitchell | −5 |
9 | Jake Knapp | −5 |
9 | Wyndham Clark | −5 |
9 | Patrick Cantlay | −5 |
14 | Alex Smalley | −4 |
14 | Adam Scott | −4 |
14 | Patrick Rodgers | −4 |
14 | Hideki Matsuyama | −4 |
14 | Chris Gotterup | −4 |
19 | Gary Woodland | −3 |
19 | Justin Thomas | −3 |
19 | Nick Taylor | −3 |
19 | Alexander Noren | −3 |
19 | Michael Kim | −3 |
19 | Matthew Fitzpatrick | −3 |
19 | Pierceson Coody | −3 |
19 | Sam Burns | −3 |
27 | Cameron Young | −2 |
27 | Aaron Rai | −2 |
27 | Maverick McNealy | −2 |
27 | Min-Woo Lee | −2 |
27 | Kurt Kitayama | −2 |
27 | Si-Woo Kim | −2 |
27 | Bud Cauley | −2 |
34 | Xander Schauffele | −1 |
34 | J. T. Poston | −1 |
34 | Ryo Hisatsune | −1 |
34 | Jacob Bridgeman | −1 |
38 | Michael Thorbjornsen | E |
38 | Sam Stevens | E |
38 | J. J. Spaun | E |
38 | Collin Morikawa | E |
38 | Max Homa | E |
38 | Harry Hall | E |
38 | Ryan Gerard | E |
45 | Sahith Theegala | +1 |
45 | Sepp Straka | +1 |
45 | Shane Lowry | +1 |
45 | Jackson Koivun | +1 |
45 | Joo-Hyung Kim | +1 |
45 | Russell Henley | +1 |
45 | Rickie Fowler | +1 |
52 | Aldrich Potgieter | +2 |
52 | Corey Conners | +2 |
54 | Justin Rose | +3 |
54 | Kristoffer Reitan | +3 |
54 | Nicolai Hoejgaard | +3 |
54 | Harris English | +3 |
54 | Michael Brennan | +3 |
54 | Matthias Schmid | +3 |
54 | Ricky Castillo | +3 |
61 | Jordan Smith | +4 |
61 | Rory McIlroy | +4 |
61 | Ben Griffin | +4 |
61 | Eric Cole | +4 |
61 | Akshay Bhatia | +4 |
66 | Matt McCarty | +5 |
66 | Alex Fitzpatrick | +5 |
68 | Ryan Fox | +6 |
Scheffler also found the water with his tee shot at the par-4 12th and dropped another shot.
"I did some good things out there," he said. "I hit some iron shots in there close and was able to hole a few putts as well."
Scheffler said he knew it was going to be a good day after he rolled in a 12-foot birdie on the 1st.
"I think that's always the plan to get off to a good start. I got a good read on the 1st, knocked that one in.
"My swing has felt really good the past couple weeks, especially playing at home.
"It was nice to get out there and get things rolling early in the round and was able to keep the momentum going and shoot myself a nice round today."
He added: "Really just a dream start. Probably one of the best starts I've had on Tour, to be honest with you.
"I couldn't tell you a time where I've been lower early in the round.
" Yesterday was a day in which I felt like I played better than my score, but also early in the round I was out of the fairway a lot.
"So it could have been a day in which my score could have definitely been worse, and it definitely could have been a lot better.
"But today was a day in which I felt I got a lot out of the round."
Hovland is searching for his second win of the season.
The Norwegian previously got the better of Scheffler in a play-off at the Travelers Championship in June.
"Hit a lot of fairways, and I think that's a big deal for my game, but also especially at this golf course," Hovland said of his round.
"I think it's really difficult to score if you're missing fairways. So I did a good job of that, put myself in position.
"Didn't hit my iron shots super close, but I always hit the green, and I made a couple of nice putts. Then yeah, just felt really solid throughout the day."
The FedEx St. Jude Championship is the first leg of the PGA Tour's play-offs.
Only the top 50 in the standings at the conclusion of the tournament will advance to the BMW Championship next week at Bellerive Country Club.
The top 30 will play the Tour Championship at East Lake at the end of the month.
Scotland's Robert MacIntyre endured a miserable day one, carding a career-worst 12-over 82.
The Scot withdrew ahead of the second round, citing a knee injury.
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