Tournament of Champions: Collin Morikawa pulls ahead of JJ Spaun and Scottie Scheffler after second-round 66 | Golf News

Collin Morikawa carded a seven-under 66 on Saturday to take a two-shot lead in Hawaii; JJ Spaun and Scottie Scheffler are the closest competitors, as Jon Rahm drops back to six along with Matt Fitzpatrick; Watch the third round on Sky Sports Golf at 5.45pm

Collin Morikawa took the lead on day two of the Sentry Tournament of Champions in Hawaii, pulling ahead of JJ Spaun and Scottie Scheffler.

The American ended the day with a seven-under 66, for a total of 16 under 130.

That gave him a two-point lead over Masters champion Scheffler and 86th-ranked Spaun.

Jordan Spieth, like Morikawa, fired a second-round 66 to take fourth place at 13 and Tom Kim of South Korea was fifth at 12 after a 69.

Jon Rahm dropped the rankings to sixth along with England’s Matt Fitzpatrick at 11 under.

Collin Morikawa holds a two-shot lead after two rounds in Hawaii

The Tournament of Champions, featuring 39 players, is the first of 17 designated PGA Tour events with increased purses this year. In the past, this event was limited to players who won the tournament in the previous year, but the 2023 field was expanded to feature players who did not win in 2022, but reached the Tour Championship.

Morikawa, who finished last year without a win, started Friday, birdieing four of the first five holes. He added three more birdies on the back nine before finishing with three consecutive pars.

Scheffler was charged in the lawsuit with making birdies on each of the last four holes, making putts less than eight feet each time. The round included nine birdies and two bogeys.

“Same as yesterday, pretty solid, making good putts,” Morikawa said. “Obviously it’s harder to play with the wind, and just the fairways roll so fast.

Scottie Scheffler is in contention, along with JJ Spaun

“You just have to play shots and kind of hit ’em for a good place, and thankfully we were able to take advantage of enough holes today to kind of keep those birdies running.”

Spaun bogeyed the par-four fourth hole but did not give away another shot. He finished with six birdies.

“I drove well again,” Spaun said. “I don’t think I hit the tee shot too bad. It’s kind of hard to miss the fairways out here, other than hitting it too far. But, yeah, I kind of try to stay mistake-free. I have one three-putt, and this is one of the mistakes of the day.”

Spieth’s round was highlighted by eagles on two par-five holes, the fifth and 15th. He also had four birdies and a bogey. Xander Schauffele withdrew midway through the second half due to persistent back pain.

“It doesn’t get any better,” he said. “It actually feels worse when I swing.”

Watch the groups featured on day three of the Sentry Tournament of Champions from 5.45pm on Sky Sports Golf with live coverage of the third round from 9pm.

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