ATLANTA — For most of the day at East Lake Golf Club, Scottie Scheffler looked as if he was going to turn his five-stroke overnight lead into a rout.
The World No. 1 tacked on three birdies in his first six holes and led by as many as seven strokes. The trophy engraver was already checking the spelling of his name – that’s Scottie with an ‘ie’ not a ‘y’ and don’t forget the ‘c’ in Scheffler.
But just when the weekend of the FedEx Cup finale seemed destined to be a snoozer, Xander Schauffele, who played alongside him, caught fire and played the final three holes in 4 under to trim Scheffler’s lead to a slightly more manageable two strokes.
Asked if Saturday’s round will feel any different with a smaller lead, Scheffler said: “I don’t think so. Today it was only the second round of the tournament. I think that’s part of it that’s a little bit weird, is you talk about a six-shot lead, but it’s pretty weird to have that after one round of golf.
“For me I’m still looking at it like a four-day event, and right now after two days I’m in position to win the tournament.”
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Indeed, he is.
Scheffler made six pars coming home to shoot a bogey-free 4-under 66 and improve to 19 under in the staggered-start scoring. (He began the tournament at 10 under.) It marked his fifth round of 66 or better in his 10th round at East Lake Golf Club. He’s only made one bogey in the tournament as he bids to win for the fifth time this season and attempt to lock up PGA Tour Player of the Year honors, too. No one has won five times in a season on the Tour since Justin Thomas in 2016-17, and no one has won at least his first five career tournaments in the same season since Bobby Locke won six times in 1947.
Scheffler’s lead was five strokes at the halfway mark when he won the Masters in April. He’s developed a comfort level playing with the lead, whether it is seven shots or just two.
“I like being in positions where I’m able to win tournaments, and it’s something I’ve grown more comfortable with over time,” he said.
Here are four more standouts from Friday’s second round at the 2022 Tour Championship.
Xander Schauffele makes a late move
If there is one player that Scheffler wouldn’t want to see in his rear mirror, it just might be Xander Schauffele, who has feasted on East Lake to the tune of 22 career rounds of par or better.
On Friday, Schauffele started slowly and was just even for his first five holes. But he finished with a flurry – two birdies and an eagle at 18, or 4 under for his final three holes – to come home in 29 and card 7-under 63, his lowest career round at East Lake.
“I got off to kind of a bad start and saw a bunch of 62s and 63s on the board, so I just tucked my head and got to work,” he said.
Friday charge at East Lake 👀 pic.twitter.com/hFmnU7VnMG
— Xander Schauffele (@XSchauffele) August 26, 2022
From eight strokes back early in the round, Schauffele trimmed his deficit to two strokes heading into the week, but he downplayed the importance of staying within striking distance of Scheffler and the lead.
“I just figured I was 1 over and he was 2 under, so I need to get on my horse here or it’s going to be a long weekend,” he said. “It’s just a positioning battle going into Sunday.”
As Scheffler cooled off, Schauffele warmed up. He finished in style, drilling a 4-iron from 234 yards to 5 feet.
“It was a little right of where I wanted, but it had the distance and the shape,” he said. “For it to go to five, six feet was definitely a bonus.”
And suddenly the tournament got a whole lot more interesting.
Jon Rahm's bad practice sesh and why that was a good thing
Jon Rahm was dialed in early, reeling off four birdies in his first six holes and none of the putts were from more than 7 feet. But his hot start had nothing to do with a great range session during his warmup.
“It was quite the opposite,” Rahm said. “I’m not a person that’s going to get in his head based on what happens on the range, the warmup. Your mindset is a little different. Each shot the thought process on top of the ball is different. I’m never going to go with more confidence because I hit it really well on the range, and I’m never going to lose confidence no matter how I hit it.”
Interestingly, Rahm has noticed that some of his best rounds have followed particularly “horrible range sessions.”
“It’s not really indicative of what’s going to happen,” he said. “I just go through the motions, hit the clubs, try to make sure I’m hitting the shots I need and the numbers I need. But I’m not actively searching for anything.”
Rahm fired 7-under 63 on Friday, his lowest round since posting 61 in the third round at the Sentry Tournament of Champions in January. Among the bad range sessions that have led to brilliant rounds, he highlighted the final round of the 2017 Farmers Insurance Open when he notched his first career Tour title.
“I think I shanked two 9-irons in a row and then I went to play a flawless round of golf,” he said of his closing 65. “It’s happened a couple of times. I think it was the Irish Open in Portstewart. Didn’t hit it great on the range; went out and shot 7-under, played amazing golf. Again, it’s a warmup. Whether you hit it good or bad it shouldn’t change how you’re going to be thinking about it on the tee.”
Rahm will enter the weekend still six back of the lead as he attempts to become the first player to win the FedEx Cup in its current format from outside the top 5 at the start of the week.
“It’s put up or shut up time,” he said. “You kind of have to go do it and I’m going to have to shoot a couple more rounds like I did today to have a chance.”
Homa's 62 is best at East Lake since 2007
Max Homa just had to get out of his own way.
It worked on Friday as he made birdie on four of his first six holes and finished with an eagle to shoot a sizzling 8-under 62 at East Lake Golf Club.
That wasn’t just the low round of the day but the low round at the Tour Championship since 2007 and it lifted him to T-8 in the tournament. After shooting a disappointing 71 in the opening round of the FedEx Cup finale, Homa had a conversation with his wife, Lacey, on the car ride home yesterday.
“I felt like I deserved to play well, and I wasn’t even letting myself in the first place,” he said. “I get over, hit a great drive, a great 9-iron to 10 feet and think, ‘I have to make this.’ You just did two great things. Why don’t you just see what happens and trust that you’ve put in the work…
“This is how I am, unfortunately. But I think a lot of us are.”
Homa later had a good chat with caddie Joe Greiner and asked coach Mark Woodward to chat for five minutes before he warmed up for some advice.
Homa, 31, enjoyed the best year of his career, winning twice and qualifying for the Tour Championship for the first time. He’s also under serious consideration to represent Team USA at the Presidents Cup next month. But he’s been frustrated with his results of late, and placed some of the blame on his putter.
“It’s been like that for two months really, month and a half,” he said. “Just felt like the ball was afraid of the dark.”
On Friday, Homa made 108 feet of putts, nearly double than the day before, and lead the field in Strokes Gained: Putting (+3.42).
Homa started eight strokes back in the staggered-start scoring this week, and claimed that the format put him at ease.
“I actually think this is the easiest week to go out there and just try to play good golf if you start eight back, because it would be crazy to think, oh, I’m going to go force my way to 10-under really fast,” he said.
As good as Homa played on Friday, he still heads into the remaining 36 holes spotting 10 strokes to leader Scottie Scheffler.
Homa will try to bottle what he found Friday and ride that momentum to a strong finish in the FedEx Cup.
“I just felt lighter and free and just more ready to show off, less worried about what was going to go wrong,” he said, “and I’m just going to try and keep that as best I possibly can.”
Reason these guys are good, Vol. 2,382: Pros are tearing up par-5 18th
Schauffele and Homa weren’t the only pros to finish their rounds with an eagle. Joaquin Niemann has played the par-5, 588-yard 18th hole in a total of six shots through two rounds of the Tour Championship. That would be two eagles for those scoring at home. Only one player in the 29-man field has made a bogey at the hole through two rounds and that dubious distinction belongs to Scott Stallings on Friday.
On Thursday, the hole played to a scoring average of 4.07. According to stats maven Justin Ray of 21 Group, that was on pace to play as the easiest par 5 on the PGA Tour in 17 years. On Friday, it surrendered 15 birdies and three eagles.
Why is the hole playing so easy?
“It’s just because it’s soft,” Homa said. “In past years, again, I haven’t been here when it’s firm, but I would imagine it’s pretty hard to get the ball into the fairway and stay in the fairway. When it’s soft, it just makes it a little more defenseless.”
