McKINNEY, Texas, May 4: Three birdies in the final five holes saw Scottie Scheffler card 5-under 66 and extend his lead to eight shots in his hometown CJ Cup Byron Nelson. With 61-63-66, Scheffler is now 23-under and eight clear of Erik van Rooyen (65), Adam Schenk (65) and Ricky Castillo (67) at 15 under, with Kurt Kitayama (68) and Jhonattan Vegas (67) another shot back. His six-shot lead after two rounds was a record for the event.
After two birdies on the second and the third, Scheffler had his first bogey of the tournament on the fifth and was 3-under at the turn. A second bogey on the 11th, meant he was 2-under through 13 holes after missing the PGA TOUR record for the lowest 36-hole score by one shot at 124 (18 under). He closed with three birdies in last five holes.
At the short par-4 14th, Scheffler drove the green before settling for a tap-in birdie, then put his tee shot at the long par-3 15th inside four feet for another birdie.
The horn for darkness had already sounded after Scheffler, Castillo and Sam Stevens teed off on 18 when the group in front was still in the fairway but cleared them to hit to try to save time. The players had the option to finish.
Scheffler couldn’t see his second shot from the rough after impact, but it reached the green. He two-putted from 31 feet for the biggest 54-hole lead on the PGA TOUR since Rory McIroy also led by eight on the way to winning the 2011 U.S. Open.
Van Rooyen was in the rough beside the green on 18 in two shots and looking for another birdie that would have matched the low around of the day, only to need four strokes from there for a bogey.
Jordan Spieth, Scheffler’s fellow Dallas resident and former University of Texas golfer, shot a second consecutive 67 and is 10 under.
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Scheffler adds 63 to 61, moves to 18-under for 6-shot lead at CJ Cup
Scheffler shot a 61 in the first round
Scheffler shoots 10-under 61 to lead by two at CJ Cup Byron Nelson
