Albany, December 7
With seven birdies on the front nine, Scottie Scheffler seemed to be running away from the field at the 2024 World Challenge. Starting at 5-under his new putting grip seemed to work like magic as he birdied everything except two of the three Par-3s on the front nine.
He was seven under for the first nine and 12 under for the 27 holes and four ahead of the field at one point. Then his putting cooled down with just one more birdie for a 64.
By the time the sun set on the Bahamian seas, Scheffler (67-64) was 13-under and debutant, Indian-American Akshay Bhatia (67-66) was tied with the resurgent Justin Thomas (66-67). Both are 11-under and are coming off runner-up finishes in Japan in their last start, though in different events.
Keegan Bradley (68-67), the US Ryder Cup captain at Bethpage in September next year, kept a watchful eye on 'his players' as he himself compiled two solid rounds to be sole fourth at 10-under.
World No. 1 and defending champion Scheffler's love affair with Albany continued. He has never shot an over-par round at the Albany Golf Club and is now 64-under for 14 rounds, that have fetched him one win and two runner-up finishes and he is halfway through another solid finish.
His total of 13-under 131 is the best 36-hole total since Albany became the host venue and for good measure, the second round 64 was his personal best at Albany, where he has shot in the 60s 12 times - the other two scores were 1-under 71 in the first round in 2021 and even par 72 in the first round in 2022. Both times he was second to Viktor Hovland.
Speaking of his 7-under 29 for the front nine, the easy going Scheffler said, "Front nine things were going my way, back nine maybe not as much. A couple of shots could end up closer to the hole, a couple of putts could go in, just little things."
He had just one birdie on the back, but importantly he kept bogeys off his card with some saves as good as any birdies.
Rejecting suggestions of any frustration on the back nine, he said, "No, I think in this game I think a lot of you all are looking for perfection out of us and I think today I shot 8 under on the golf course is not something I hang my head about. A lot of good things out there, clean card, bogey-free, eight birdies. Overall I think I'm pretty pleased."
The vagaries of golf saw Cameron Young drop from the first day's best round of 64 to the second day's worst of 75. He was tied 10th alongside Tim Kim, who had the first day's second-worst card of 74 and the second day's second-best score of 65. With them at T-10 was Scotsman Robert MacIntyre, who closed with a bogey for 71. They were all at 5-under.
Justin Thomas put together a very solid round with four birdies on the front nine and then made up for a bogey on the 13th with back-to-back gains on the 14th and the 15th. After a solid 66-67 over the last two days he is convinced he has a very low round coming up.
He said, "I just, I drove it well and I hit some good irons, some good wedges, but I really did nothing special. I feel like other than the 10 or so footer I made on 1, every other birdie I had was a tap-in. I definitely left a couple out there. You know, hit some good putts that didn't go in and also just kind of misread some.
"It just was a very low, low stress 5 under. I didn't feel like I had to grind on the majority of my birdie putts. If I can just iron or wedge it just a little closer to the hole tomorrow and get some putts to go in, I feel like I've got a really good round out there this weekend."
Tied at the fifth place were Korean powerhouse Sungjae Im (69-68) and Swedish youngster, Ludvig. Aberg (67-70) coming back from a layoff. They both devoured the front nine for five and four birdies respectively before ceding some ground on the back nine. Also with them at tied fifth was Sepp Straka, who after an uneventful front nine with one birdie and bogey, picked four birdies on the second half for a 68 following up on his first day 69.
Sahith Theegala got hit by a triple bogey and two other bogeys but managed to stay afloat with six birdies for a 71, which placed him Tied-eighth with Patrick Cantlay, who was held back by back-to-back bogeys on the 16th and the 17th.
Scheffler's confidence and comfortable attitude were seen in ample measure when asked what was going in his head after six birdies in the first seven holes?
He replied, "Not much, to be honest. Just like I said, like I was hitting it close to the hole and I was knocking in the putts, so I'm not going to really think too much about what I'm doing out there. I'm just going to try to continue to do it as best as I can."
If the current form is anything to go by, Scheffler could be taking back that World Challenge Trophy once again on Sunday.