Scottie Scheffler equalled the Memorial Park course record he set in 2021 to take a one-shot lead at weather-affected Houston Open.
It was the most complete round of the year for Scheffler, who missed the first month of the season recovering from a freak glass puncture wound sustained at Christmas.
Scheffler opened his round with two birdies, the second of which saw him hole in from just inside 30 feet after the only missed green of his eight-under 62.
“Yesterday I felt like I made a couple key par saves, and today I felt like for the most part I kept the golf course in front of me and I had a lot of looks for birdie,” Scheffler said.
“I didn’t feel like I was struggling for par too much, and that was mostly because I was in the fairway.”
Scheffler watches his tee shot on the first hole
It was the eighth time Scheffler shot 62 or lower – one of those was a 59 in the FedEx Cup playoffs at TPC Boston in 2020 – and his first since he shot 62 in the final round at Le Golf National to win the Olympic gold medal at the 2024 Paris Games.
He led by one shot over Canada’s Taylor Pendrith while Jackson Suber, who ended the first round with a four-putt double bogey, was three behind.
Weather wreaks havoc on McIlroy round
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Rory McIlroy played in the afternoon and started out 11 shots behind Scheffler. He carded back-to-back birdies and bogeyed the seventh hole before play was suspended due to lightning.
“It was a lot different than we thought it was going to be,” Scheffler said. “Today looked like – checking the forecast this morning – it was going to be one of those days where we’re going to be playing on and off, looking at a few delays out there.”
Instead, he was on from the start with a 10-foot birdie putt on the 10th hole and a 25-footer on the 11th. Scheffler played bogey-free for the second straight round.
Scheffler felt his iron play was not as sharp as he wanted but knew he had a good feel on the greens and didn’t have to attack pins if there was no need.
It led to a stress-free round that featured eight birdies and left Scheffler in pole position going into the weekend of his final start before The Masters, live on Sky Sports.
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