Houston Open second-round leaderboard:
-11 S. Scheffler (US); -10 T. Pendrith (Canada), N. Echavarria (Colombia); -9 M-W. Lee (Australia), R. Gerard (US); -8 J. Suber (US), T. Mullinax
Others: -7 R. Hojgaard (Denmark); -4 R. McIlroy (Northern Ireland), H. Hall (England); -3 D. Skinns (England); -2 D. Willett (England), M. Wallace (England), S. Power (Ireland)
Note: Some players haven’t finished their second rounds yet.
Full leaderboard:
Rory McIlroy made birdies on his last three holes to make the cut in the second round of the Houston Open. Meanwhile, world number one Scottie Scheffler took a one-shot lead with a record 62 at Memorial Park.
Scheffler played flawlessly with eight birdies and no bogeys, reaching 11 under par for the tournament. He had the best of the early weather conditions before thunderstorms caused a delay in play.
Canadian Taylor Pendrith is one shot behind at 10 under, alongside Colombia’s Nico Echavarria, who was at nine under for the day when play was halted because of fading light. He was trying to save par on the 17th when the delay occurred.
McIlroy shot a 66 to reach four under for the tournament. England’s Danny Willett and Matt Wallace are both at two under, just one shot outside the projected cut line.
These players are waiting to finish their rounds on Saturday at 13:30 GMT to see if they’ll play on the weekend.
McIlroy, however, didn’t worry about the cut after making several good putts to finish strong.
His round was paused for two hours due to thunderstorms and he completed it as daylight was fading. It was an improvement from his first round, which he described as “pedestrian,” but he remained seven shots behind Scheffler.
“I holed a couple of putts. That was it. It was nice to see a couple putts go in and get finished,” McIlroy said. “It was a little dicey there at the end. Nice to finish the round the way I did.”
Scheffler, on the other hand, had his best round since recovering from a hand injury he suffered while cooking during Christmas. He’s still bogey-free through the first 36 holes, following up a 67 with his 62, and looks set to defend his Masters title next month.
“It was important for me to stay patient out there,” Scheffler said. “It was nice to get off to a good start, hold the momentum, and keep the card clean.”
