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Collin Morikawa cards seven-under 66 on Friday to take two-shot lead in Hawaii; JJ Spaun and Scottie Scheffler his closest rivals, as Jon Rahm drops back to sixth alongside Matt Fitzpatrick; Watch third round on Saturday on Sky Sports Golf from 5.45pm
Last Updated: 07/01/23 7:52am
Collin Morikawa took the lead on the second day at the Sentry Tournament of Champions in Hawaii, pulling ahead of JJ Spaun and Scottie Scheffler.
The American ended the day with a seven-under 66, for a total of 16-under 130.
It gave him a two-shot lead in front of Masters champion Scheffler and 86th-ranked Spaun.
Jordan Spieth, like Morikawa, fired a second-round 66 to grab fourth place at 13 under and South Korea’s Tom Kim is in fifth at 12 under following a 69.
Jon Rahm dropped down the leaderboard to a share of sixth alongside England’s Matt Fitzpatrick on 11 under.
Collin Morikawa holds a two-shot lead after two rounds in Hawaii
The Tournament of Champions, which includes 39 players, is the first of 17 designated PGA Tour events with elevated purses this year. In the past, this event was limited to players who won a tournament the previous year, but the 2023 field was expanded to feature players who did not win in 2022, but did reach the Tour Championship.
Morikawa, who finished last year winless, got off to a sizzling start on Friday, birdieing four of the first five holes. He added three more birdies on the back nine before concluding with three consecutive pars.
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Scheffler charged into contention by rolling in birdies on each of the final four holes, making putts of less than eight feet each time. His round included nine birdies and two bogeys.
“Just similar to yesterday, pretty solid, made some good putts,” Morikawa said. “Obviously it played a lot harder with kind of the wind, and just the fairways rolling pretty fast.
Scottie Scheffler is in contention, joint second with JJ Spaun
“You’ve just got to play shots and kind of hit ’em to good spots, and thankfully we were able to take advantage of enough holes today to kind of keep those birdies going.”
Spaun bogeyed the par-four fourth hole but didn’t give away another shot. He finished with six birdies.
“I drove it well again,” Spaun said. “I don’t think I hit a really bad tee shot. It’s kind of hard to miss fairways out here, other than hitting it too far. But, yeah, I kind of tried to stay mistake-free. I had one three-putt, and that was kind of the only blunder of the day.”
Spieth’s round was highlighted by eagles on two par-five holes, the fifth and 15th. He also had four birdies and a bogey. Xander Schauffele withdrew in the middle of the second round due to an ongoing back ailment.
“This is not getting any better,” he said. “It actually feels worse when I swing.”
Watch the featured groups on day three of the Sentry Tournament of Champions from 5.45pm Saturday on Sky Sports Golf with full live coverage of the third round from 9pm.
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