Former US Open champion Matt Fitzpatrick hit an outstanding, bogey-free 63 to say a one-shot lead over Viktor Hovland after a punishing second spherical on the RBC Heritage in South Carolina.
On a day of sweltering warmth and unpredictable wind, the Englishman moved to 14 beneath par with an impeccable spherical helped by a stroke of fortune on the par-three 14th.
After pulling his tee shot in direction of the bushes, Fitzpatrick’s ball struck a cart path, ricocheted again on to the inexperienced, and was solely prevented from trickling into the water by a well-positioned sprinkler head.
He capitalised absolutely, holing the next 30-foot putt for an inconceivable birdie.
“Yeah, it was fortunate, there is no two methods about it,” Fitzpatrick mentioned. “Typically you want that in per week, so it is good to get, after which even nicer to reap the benefits of it.”
The 2023 champion adopted up with two additional birdies in his ultimate three holes to surge forward of the sector.
Norway’s Hovland stays his closest challenger after a surprising birdie on the seventeenth stored him within the hunt.
“I would not say I striped it in the present day, however a minimum of I sort of stored the ball in entrance of me, and that is what you are making an attempt to do on this golf course,” Hovland mentioned.
World primary Scottie Scheffler, taking part in alongside Fitzpatrick, produced a characteristically disciplined 67. Regardless of hitting each fairway, the American struggled to transform a number of birdie alternatives and sits seven pictures adrift.
Jordan Spieth was amongst these to endure within the difficult situations, carding three double bogeys in a irritating 72, whereas Akshay Bhatia hit 11 birdies in a spherical of 63 to climb again to -6.
