Hoge, Morikawa part of 4-way tie atop Heritage; Scheffler tied for 10th

 

[April 20, 2024]  Tom Hoge shot his low round of the season and tied for best round of the day, a 7-under-par 64, to share in a four-way tie for the lead Friday after two rounds of the RBC Heritage on Hilton Head Island, S.C.

Hoge, going for his second career PGA Tour victory, is tied at 11-under 131 with Sepp Straka (65 on Friday), first-round leader J.T. Poston (68) and six-time tour champion Collin Morikawa (66), who tied for third Sunday at the Masters.

World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, who claimed his second Masters title on Sunday, is tied for 10th at 8 under after a bogey-free 65 on Friday at Harbour Town Golf Links. Scheffler, who is seeking his fourth victory in his past five starts, evenly spread his six birdies with three on the front nine and three on the back.

Scheffler had said after Thursday's opening round that he was "a bit tired," that he almost felt like he had more energy at the end than at the start.

"I felt like today when I stepped on the first tee I was ready to go," Scheffler said. "Yeah, still feel pretty good."

His longest birdie putt was nearly an 18-footer at No. 13, the shortest 3 inches at No. 15.

"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, played really good golf. Yeah, proud of today's effort."

Hoge opened his bogey-free round with two birdies and had five on the front nine to make the turn in 31 strokes, followed by two birdies on the last nine holes. He sank his first birdie attempt, a 15-footer at No. 1, and his next, a 2-footer at No. 2. Another highlight was his putt of nearly 30 feet for a birdie at the par-four No. 8.

"I felt great," Hoge said. "Nice to make a nice putt right off the bat right there on 1. I felt like I putted really well today (which) was kind of the key. Feel like there's still a little bit of work left to do ball-striking-wise where I really feel comfortable. So I'm going to go get a little practice this afternoon, but I feel great around the greens, so, hopefully, I keep going."

Straka, on the other hand, began with a double bogey at the par-four first hole, then rebounded with a birdie at the par-five No. 2. He totaled eight birdies.

"The driver has been great, and it's key out here," Straka said of the course. "It's really tight. You really have to be in control of your driver. Yeah, the putter was hot the last few days, which I haven't had the last couple months, so it's nice to finally roll in a few birdie putts."

Morikawa also enjoyed a bogey-free Friday with five birdies, and Poston had a relatively quiet round with three birdies and 15 pars for 18 holes.

"Just scrambling, finding ways to make birdie and not getting ahead of myself," said Morikawa, who make a 36-foot birdie putt at the par-four No. 12. "Days like this where you don't hit it as well, sometimes you think ahead and sometimes you kind of wait for the next hole and you wait for the next shot.

"But still have a lot of trust in the swing, so every shot I had that opportunity. Whether it went right or wrong, I was able to kind of accept the fact and move on."

Defending champion Matt Fitzpatrick of England moved up 20 spots by following his opening-round 70 with a 5-under 66 and is tied for 18th at 6 under. Xander Schauffele, like Hoge, shot a 7-under 64 and moved up 39 spots to a tie for 18th.

--Field Level Media

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