Shane Lowry couldn’t build on a quick start on day two of the RBC Heritage and he trails leader Matt Fitzpatrick by eleven shots heading into the weekend at Hilton Head.
Lowry picked up two early birdies on the 2nd and 5th but was unable to join in the day of low scoring as he carded just one further birdie on the 11th before dropping a shot on the par-3 14th to sign for a 69 and a three-under total to share 39th place.
At the top, Fitzpatrick leads Ryder Cup teammate Viktor Hovland by the minimum on fourteen-under-par after a blistering bogey-free 63. It’s been a putting clinic so far from Fitzpatrick who through 27 holes had taken just 32 putts.
The Englishman’s birdies came in bunches and he rolled in three in a row from the 4th and added another on the 9th to turn in 32. He made another hat trick of birdies from the 13th and finished in style with a birdie at the par-3 17th.
“I had a really good conversation with Phil Kenyon this week at the start of the week. I was frustrated and disappointed with my putting last week. It’s easy to say, but if you putt anything like last week and then get in the mix the way that I hit the ball, so come here not with high confidence with the putter and felt like we needed to really look into things and have a thought about what’s going to be different this week. Is it technically, is it reading.
“We touched on a few things and just feel like it’s given me a little bit more freedom, more than anything. With that obviously becomes more flow to the stroke, more flow to the routine. That’s sort of normally when I putt better.”
Hovland followed a 64 with a Friday 65 to move into second place as he recovered from an opening bogey with a flurry of birdies on the front nine.
The Norwegian picked up birdies on the 2nd, 3rd, 5th, 7th and 9th to turn in 32 and after a birdie on 13 was cancelled out by a bogey on 14 he put on a fast finish with back to back birdies on 16 and 17 to get into the final group with Fitzpatrick.
“I wouldn’t say I striped it today, but at least I kind of kept the ball in front of me, and that’s what you’re trying to do on this golf course,” said Hovland after his round. “I hit some really poor tee shots that I kind of got away with, but at the same time, I was really happy with how I was able to stabilize the round and not let it get off the tracks because in the past I could have done that.”
Harbour Town is known for its tree-lined fairways, tight landing zones and bottlenecks – a true test of finesse for Hovland who is a known perfectionist.
“Kind of the great thing about this course is that it’s all what we like to say, it’s all right there in front of you,” said the six-time PGA TOUR winner. “It’s very tricky and it’s very visually demanding. I think that’s one of the geniuses of Pete Dye is he really makes a hole, even though it doesn’t need to be the longest one or it looks relatively straightforward, but you know you’ve got to hit some great shots.”
Harris English is third on ten-under while world number one Scottie Scheffler is seven shots off the pace in 14th.
Leave a comment