Former US Open champion Matt Fitzpatrick hit an excellent, bogey-free 63 to assert 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 below par with an impeccable spherical helped by a stroke of fortune on the par-three 14th.
After pulling his tee shot in the direction of the timber, 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 totally, holing the next 30-foot putt for an inconceivable birdie.
“Yeah, it was fortunate, there is not any two methods about it,” Fitzpatrick stated. “Generally you want that in per week, so it is good to get, after which even nicer to benefit from it.”
The 2023 champion adopted up with two additional birdies in his ultimate three holes to surge forward of the sphere.
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 at present, however at the very least I form of stored the ball in entrance of me, and that is what you are making an attempt to do on this golf course,” Hovland stated.
World primary Scottie Scheffler, enjoying 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 photographs adrift.
Jordan Spieth was amongst these to endure within the difficult circumstances, carding three double bogeys in a irritating 72, whereas Akshay Bhatia hit 11 birdies in a spherical of 63 to climb again to -6.
