Photo by Ben Jared/PGA TOUR via Getty Images
Scheffler sits atop the leaderboard, but to earn his seventh PGA Tour win, he must hold down the accelerator.
After Day 2 of The Sentry, World No.1 Scottie Scheffler holds a one-shot lead. He fired off a 9-under 64 to sit at 16-under through 36 holes.
At this point, you can expect to see Scheffler toward the top in nearly every tournament he plays. However, this lead isn’t safe. Plenty of other players within reach could take away the title.
There are three players at 15-under including Brendon Todd, Sungjae Im and Tyrrell Hatton, who carded an epic 11-under Friday. With players like Viktor Hovland, Collin Morikawa and Jordan Spieth all either two or three shots back heading into the weekend, it’s anyone’s race.
To win, the former Texas Longhorn will have to stay consistent but also aggressive through the next two days.
“Scores around this place are pretty low, but it’s one of those places if you go out there and play well, you’re going to get rewarded,” he said after his round on Friday. “If you start not hitting it in the right spots, you can get in trouble. Just got to keep the pedal down out here.”
Keeping the pedal to the metal appears to have been his mindset for more than a year now.
In Scheffler’s last start, he won the Hero World Challenge. He pushed the accelerator down in the Bahamas and made sure he didn’t falter on Sunday like he did in the previous year.
That victory helped lead to him winning back-to-back Player of the Year awards and another incredible season. In 2023, he recorded two sanctioned wins, two runner-up finishes, 13 Top 5s and 17 top 10s.
The 27-year-old didn’t miss a cut and only had two starts where he didn’t see himself inside the Top 25. Not to mention, Scheffler took home $21,014,342 in earnings last season.
This week marks his third trip to Hawaii, and he is looking to take home his 7th PGA Tour win. Last year, he recorded a T7 following a T13 finish the year prior.
Keeping the pedal down will be required if Scheffler wants this win. Far too many of the top players in the world are on his back to let off the accelerator now.
Savannah Leigh Richardson is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. For more golf coverage, be sure to follow us @_PlayingThrough on all major social platforms. You can also follow her on Twitter @SportsGirlSL and Instagram @savannah_leigh_sports.
