Cameron Young and J.J. Spaun part of another 5-way tie for the lead in the Bahamas
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NASSAU, Bahamas (AP) — U.S. Open champion J.J. Spaun converted two of his three eagle chances, Cameron Young shot 30 on the back nine and Hideki Matsuyama was bogey-free, all of them part of another five-way tie for the lead Friday in the Hero World Challenge.
Missing from a share of the lead was Scottie Scheffler, who briefly had the lead to himself.
Scheffler holed an 18-foot eagle putt on the par-5 15th right about the time Young finally cooled off by missing an 8-foot par putt on the 18th. That put Scheffler at 11-under par for a one-shot lead that lasted all of one hole.
He pulled his tee shot on the 16th for the second straight day, this time having to take a penalty shot to get out of a palmetto bush. Then, he misjudged the trajectory of a blind shot and it clipped the top of another palmetto bush, leading to a double bogey.
Akshay Bhatia birdied the 18th for a 68 to join former U.S. Open champion Wyndham Clark (68), Spaun (68), Matsuyama (66) and Young (64).
They were at 10-under 134 at Albany Golf Club, where nearly half of the 20-man field was separated by two shots going into the weekend.
Corey Conners of Listowel, Ont., shot 2-under 70 and was tied for 10th, three shots off the lead, with American golfer Harris English
Spaun made only five eagles all season and then seized on the scoring holes. He hit a 3-wood to 3 feet on the par-5 sixth and hit tee shot on the reachable par-4 14th settled 5 feet away, both of them eagles. He narrowly missed a 15-foot eagle putt on the par-5 15th.
That allowed him to recover from a pair of bogeys on the opening four holes.
“Didn’t get a great start, but salvaged a pretty decent round,” Spaun said.
Bhatia, in his final tournament before getting married, saved himself at the end with a nifty par save from short of the 16th green and then a bogey on the par-3 17th when he chipped through the green and into a bunker, blasted out and made a 15-foot putt to keep it from being worse.
He has a new caddie for this week, Joe Greiner, the longtime looper for Max Homa until earlier this year. Bhatia likes that Greiner also swings left-handed and their communication is working.
Scheffler had a 69 and was tied at 9-under 135 with Alex Noren (66) and Sepp Straka (69), with former Albany resident Justin Rose another shot back after a 68.
“I think I did some good things out there. Just a few too many mistakes, but overall still felt pretty good,” Scheffler said.
Billy Horschel had a 68 and was five shots behind. He missed most of this year after hip surgery and is the only player in the 20-man field who has not secured a spot in the Masters. Horschel is at No. 45 in the world ranking — the top 50 at the end of the year get into the Masters — and a solid finish could settle that.
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AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf