NASSAU, Bahamas — 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.
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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