Collin Morikawa reached the midpoint of the Sentry Tournament of Champions on Friday without making a bogey, and he holds a two-shot lead in Kapalua, Hawaii.
Morikawa shot a 7-under-par 66 on Friday at the Plantation Course at Kapalua, leaving him at 16-under 130 through two rounds.
Scottie Scheffler also carded a 66 on Friday to move into a tie for second with first-round co-leader J.J. Spaun, both at 14 under.
Jordan Spieth fired a second-round 66 as well to grab fourth place at 13 under.
South Korea’s Tom Kim is in fifth at 12 under following a 69, and England’s Matt Fitzpatrick (second-round 69) and first-round co-leader Jon Rahm of Spain (71) are tied for sixth at 11 under.
Luke List (second-round-best 65), Tony Finau (69), Aaron Wise (70) and Canada’s Corey Conners (78) share eighth place at 10 under.
The Tournament of Champions, which includes 39 players, is the first of 17 designated PGA Tour events with elevated purses this year. In the past, this event was limited to players who won a tournament the previous year, but the 2023 field was expanded to feature players who did not win in 2022 but did reach the Tour Championship.
Morikawa got off to a sizzling start on Friday, birdieing four of the first five holes. He added three more birdies on the back nine before concluding with three consecutive pars.
Scheffler charged into contention by rolling in birdies on each of the final four holes, making putts of less than 8 feet each time. His round included nine birdies and two bogeys.
“Just similar to yesterday, pretty solid, made some good putts,” Morikawa said. “Obviously it played a lot harder with kind of the wind, and just the fairways rolling pretty fast. … You just got to play shots and kind of hit ’em to good spots, and thankfully we were able to take advantage of enough holes today to kind of keep those birdies going.”
Spaun bogeyed the par-4 fourth hole but didn’t give away another shot. He finished with six birdies.
“I drove it well again,” Spaun said. “I don’t think I hit a really bad tee shot. It’s kind of hard to miss fairways out here, other than hitting it too far. But, yeah, I kind of tried to stay mistake-free. I had one three-putt, and that was kind of the only blunder of the day.”
Spieth’s round was highlighted by eagles on two par-5 holes, the fifth and 15th. He also had four birdies and a bogey.
Xander Schauffele withdrew in the middle of the second round due to an ongoing back ailment.
“This is not getting any better,” he said. “It actually feels worse when I swing.”
–Field Level Media
