Viktor Hovland gets hot, leads Tour Championship with Collin Morikawa

 

[August 26, 2023]  Viktor Hovland rang up four birdies in a row during his back nine to get to 16 under par, and Collin Morikawa totaled six birdies to tie him for the lead after two rounds of the Tour Championship on Friday in Atlanta.

Both Hovland and Morikawa, who shared the 18-hole lead with Keegan Bradley, fired rounds of 6-under 64 amid clear scoring conditions at East Lake Golf Club. They'll head to the weekend with a two-shot advantage over Scottie Scheffler.

Hovland has capitalized on his second-place starting position (8 under) as part of the season finale's staggered scoring format. Morikawa, meanwhile, started the week nine off the pace at 1 under before going 15-under 125 through two days, breaking Tiger Woods' 36-hole tournament scoring record.

"If I was going to tell myself I was going to be 16 under through two days, with my total score or whatever you want to call it, I would have taken that," Morikawa said.

Hovland joined -- then broke -- a tie for the lead with Scheffler and Morikawa Friday afternoon when he holed birdie putts at Nos. 12-15, the last two coming from 15 1/2 and 12 feet away. He made his seventh and final birdie of the day at No. 17 for good measure.

"I think it all starts from just the tee," Hovland said. "... If you're constantly in the fairway on this golf course, you can really be aggressive with some of the iron shots in there. Just been able to give myself a lot of looks. On the back nine, I started making some putts."

Considered a rising star on the PGA Tour, the 25-year-old from Norway has yet to win a major but fired a final-round 61 last Sunday to win the BMW Championship, the second leg of the three-week FedEx Cup playoffs. Another win this week would cement Hovland's place in golf's elite echelon.

Morikawa, a two-time major winner, leads the field this week in both fairways (22 of 28) and greens (32 of 36) in regulation. His birdie-birdie finish Friday allowed him to catch up to Hovland, and he is the only player bogey-free through 36 holes.

"Greens are starting to firm up," Morikawa said. "You're still going to see guys firing at pins. You have a few short holes that you have to take advantage of. The par-5s are very gettable.

"It's not going to end at 16 under. There's going to be a lot more low scores, a lot more birdies made. I'm going to have to continue that heading into the next two days."

Scheffler, who made a triple bogey during an opening-round 71 and forfeited the lead he began the week with, bounced back Friday with a bogey-free 65 to get to 14 under.

Bradley is in fourth at 13 under following a 67. At 37 years old, the veteran has more years of experience on the PGA Tour than Hovland, Morikawa and Scheffler combined.

"This younger generation of players is exciting to watch," said Bradley, who will play with Scheffler in the penultimate group Saturday. "I love being out there and playing with these guys."

Xander Schauffele and Jon Rahm climbed the leaderboard to form a tie for fifth at 12 under. Schauffele, who won the Tour Championship in 2017 before its present format, shot his 26th straight round of par or better at East Lake with a bogey-free 64 -- 23 of those under par. Rahm, the Spanish star who began the week in fourth place, had a 65 with seven birdies.

Rory McIlroy is in seventh at 10 under following a second-round 67. The Northern Irishman battled lower back pain on Thursday but appeared to feel better Friday, as he went on to make four birdies and a single bogey.

"I felt like I had a little more (club) speed," McIlroy said. "I was probably half a club off my numbers than maybe a full club yesterday. But still it's just hard to sort of get my right side through the ball."

--Field Level Media

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