Scottie Scheffler has spent much of the 2026 season looking a little out of sorts, and he acknowledged as much before last week’s US Open when he described his game as a bit “sluggish” and lacking the same sharpness he’s come to expect from the world’s No. 1 player.
Although his sharpness didn’t translate into a career Grand Slam, Scheffler seemed to have found something at TPC River Highlands, and a 10-under 60 on Friday gave him a hot start to the 36-hole lead at 16 under. Overnight rain delayed the start of the second round by 30 minutes, but it softened the course and gave the players the green light to attack. No one seized that opportunity better than Scheffler. Scheffler is at the top of the leaderboard heading into this weekend, looking for his second win of the season.
Scheffler started the day with birdie, bogey, birdie, but made four birdies in a row in the latter half of the front nine and finished in 30th place. He made four straight birdies midway through the back nine to further improve his performance, extending his round to 10 under par and reaching the 17th hole, where he needed one birdie over the final two holes to break 60 for the second time in his career.
After hitting 15 of the required 16 greens on the 17th, Scheffler made a rare miss from the fairway from 162 yards to go, fumbled his approach and missed the left side of the green (which Scheffler said was due to a gust of wind). After a poor chip off the fairway cut, he made a tough 8-foot par to keep his 59 dream alive until the 18th. There, he missed his first fairway of the day and hit the left bunker, but was able to draw a good lie and make a run with his approach 20 feet below the hole.
Scheffler said after his round that the ball started moving toward him and he went too far to the outside before making a sharp break in the closing stages, leaving him tapped in for a 10-under 60, a difficult read. Had Scheffler made that putt, he might have joined Jim Furyk as the only players to break 60 twice on the PGA Tour. The record remains with Furyk. Scheffler jokingly said in a press conference that he was a bit spoiled for shooting 59 points at TPC River Highlands.
“It was kind of funny. I thought it would be amazing to hit 59, but there are people here who have already hit 58, so it’s not even a course record,” Scheffler said. “So it’s not like… Jim picks up a little extra 59 when you’re still losing.”
TPC River Highlands is a course that players can attack at any time, but especially on a day like Friday when there is little wind and the course is soft from the rain. But the difference between Scheffler’s first-round 64 and second-round 60 was largely due to more putts.
“Well, I think the lines are always pretty clean in golf. If you look at today’s round and yesterday’s round, I think they’re probably pretty similar from a ball-striking standpoint,” Scheffler explained. “It’s a matter of holing a few putts. Some days you’re stuck on the edge and it’s hard to go in, and other days you’re finding the bottom of the cup. Today was definitely one of those days where most guys were finding the bottom of the cup.”
That statement is backed up by the statistics, as Scheffler remained strong in Friday’s round of 64, holed a 95-foot putt followed by a 145-foot-plus putt. He was hoping to drop one more putt length on the 18th hole, but his biggest concern is breaking out of a winless drought that has now lasted 17 weeks.
Schaeffler started the season strong, winning at American Express in his first start of 2026. Since then, he has failed to complete four races, and slow starts have become a frustrating trend in the middle of the season. Multiple ferocious comebacks over the weekend to finish just off the lead prove he’s still in top gear, but finding that level through 72 holes was difficult.
Through 36 holes at the Traveler, he looks like the player who solved that problem and has dominated the PGA Tour for the past four years. TPC River Highlands always leaves the door open for players to get low and chase the leaders, so he’ll have to keep that going over the weekend. If he can turn that 36-hole lead into his 21st PGA Tour win, the question of why he can’t win now will turn into the question of why he can’t win again into the summer.
weekend candidates
2. Viktor Hovland (-14)
T3. Akshay Bhatia, Eric Cole (-13)
T5. Matt Fitzpatrick, Bud Corey, Ben Griffin (-10)
T8. Tommy Fleetwood, Justin Rose, J.J. Spahn, Patrick Cantlay, Maverick McNeely, Brian Campbell (-9)
T14. Windham Clarke, Sam Barnes, Keegan Bradley and 5 others (-8)
It’s not often you go into the weekend without holding a lead after shooting 65-61 in the first two rounds of a tournament, but Viktor Hovland did just that. His best start to the week this season was overshadowed by Scheffler’s return to dominant form. Hovland was in good form in Canada two weeks ago before missing the cut at the U.S. Open, but now back on the golf course he has to attack, he looks threatening again, stopping Scheffler from running away from the field.
Bhatia hasn’t finished in the top 10 since his win at Arnold Palmer, but warmed up his putter again on Friday and shot a 62 to move into a tie for third place. He proved earlier this year what he’s capable of when it comes to getting hot on the greens. TPC River Highlands is a course known for its gentle greens. He’s lined up with Eric Cole, who has been on a blistering pace of late heading into next weekend in pursuit of his first PGA Tour title.
Matt Fitzpatrick picked things up again midway through the back nine, but cooled down in the final stages, dropping a shot on the 18th and falling back to a tie for fifth place. Still, he is once again on page one of the leaderboard heading into the weekend and is certainly Scheffler’s biggest threat, even if he is six off the pace. Corey, who picked up his first win in Canada two weeks ago, has continued his good form this week and has been playing well. The same can be said for Ben Griffin, who returned to quality form in 2026 after a slow start.
Considering who’s in first place, it’s hard to imagine Scheffler helping the rest of the team this weekend. That means teams that aren’t yet at double digits under par will need to work hard this weekend. That’s certainly possible at a course like TPC River Highlands, but the likes of Tommy Fleetwood, Justin Rose, Sam Barnes, defending champion Keegan Bradley and US Open champion Windham Clark will likely feel they need to post scores of 64 or higher on Saturday and Sunday to have a chance of winning.
Cameron Young’s slump continues
After winning The Players, competing in the Masters, and winning the Cadillac Championship again, Young became the hottest player on the PGA Tour and appeared to be cementing his place in the top tier of the tour with the tandem of Scheffler and Rory McIlroy. But Young hasn’t looked as sharp in the more than a month since the PGA Championship, and his lack of form has been evident this week as he’s one of just five players yet to break par in the first two rounds.
Young’s run has been fueled by excellent ball striking and incredible putting, but he has slowed down on the greens recently. Young ranks 70th out of 72 players this week in strokes gained putts and has lost five or more strokes on the green so far. Sustaining an elite level of play is the most difficult thing in golf, and Young proved just how difficult it is. His talent is undeniable, but his recent slump highlights how a run like Scheffler’s is worthy of attention at a time when there are concerns about his form, where he has only finished in the top 10 most weeks and is winless.
