Familiar faces sit atop the leaderboard

In his two previous Hero World Challenge starts, Scottie Scheffler has finished in second place. He is once again in the mix after 36 holes at Albany, Bahamas.

The world’s top ranked player shot a Friday-best 66 (-6) to vault himself into a tie with Jordan Spieth at nine-under for the tournament. The two former Texas Longhorns will head into the weekend looking to keep their momentum going.

Scheffler carded eight birdies during the second round, including five on the back-nine. His 66 is the low round of the week so far.

“I got off to a good start and then hit some good shots,” Scheffler said. “Then on the back nine kind of got into a nice groove there. Hit a good iron shot into 10, two good shots into 11, good iron shot on 12 and then I just hit a lot of quality shots and got some looks. That’s really just what I did best.”

Spieth, the 2014 tournament champion, was flawless Friday. He carded five birdies and posted the tournament’s only bogey-free round so far.

“Today I hit a couple good ones early and I just decided to continue to trust and focus on really just trying to hit the center of the face with intent on the shot,” Spieth said of his approach during the second round. “Just basic stuff, but stuff that you can get a little mentally rusty if you’re not really dialed in on it.”

Tournament host Tiger Woods got off to a hot start with four birdies on the opening nine en route to a second-round 70. He is one-over for the tournament.

Round 3 of the 2023 Hero World Challenge gets underway Saturday at 11:21 a.m. TV coverage begins at 12 p.m. on GOLF Channel.