HILTON HEAD ISLAND, SOUTH CAROLINA (AP) – Jimmy Walker was feeling like his old self after his second straight six-under 65 on Friday and so was Masters champion Jon Rahm halfway through the RBC Heritage.
Walker had his third straight round in the 60s overall to post a two-day total of 12-under 130 at Harbour Town, three shots better than Scottie Scheffler, Justin Rose and Xander Schauffele.
Rahm, who won at Augusta National last week, his second career major championship and his fourth PGA Tour win this season, recovered from his opening one-over 72 on Thursday with a 64 to move to six-under.
He’s still got work ahead, although another victory seems much more doable for the world number one than it did after the opening round. Walker will try to maintain his strong play, something he’s struggled with since stepping away from the game amid a lengthy battle with Lyme disease.
“I haven’t put two really good rounds together back-to-back out here,” said Walker, who has missed eight cuts in his past 12 events.
He’ll need to do it against a major-quality field with seven of the world’s top 10 players competing for their share of a USD20 million purse at the tour’s sixth designated event of the season. Scheffler, number two in the world, shot 65, Olympic Schauffele 66 and Rose 67 to reach nine-under. The trio all reached milestones in this event with Rose making his 400th tour start, Schauffele his 150th and Scheffler his 100th. Patrick Cantlay, who lost in a playoff to Jordan Spieth a year ago at Harbour Town, was in a group of four another shot back. Cantlay’s round of 65 included a hole-in-one (his third career ace on tour) on the par-3 seventh.
Also at eight-under were Tommy Fleetwood (65), Mark Hubbard (66), first-round leader Aaron Rai (71) and Viktor Hovland (70).
