Scottie Scheffler couldn’t match Thursday’s 6 under through six start on Day 2 at the AT&T Byron Nelson, but he did shoot his second consecutive 7-under 64 in his hometown event.
The Dallas native had a much less eclectic scorecard than Thursday – when he carded two eagles and three bogeys to go along with six birdies. A bogey at the par-4 eighth was the only imperfection on Friday’s card, and eight birdies were enough to give Scheffler the lead as the afternoon wave got underway.
“Yeah, just solid golf,” Scheffler said. “I didn't really struggle for too many pars out there, and I felt like I putted a little bit better today than yesterday.”
Scheffler putted quite a bit better Friday, gaining more than two strokes on the green compared to less than half a stroke in the first round.
The highlight was a 34-footer for birdie at the 482-yard par-4 16th.
“Yeah, just making a long putt,” Scheffler said. “That's a hole where I'm really just trying to make 4 and make the 4 as easy as possible. So I hit a pretty good second shot in there to about 30 feet and was fortunate to see that one go in.”
Fans could be treated to a Dallas-duo down the stretch this weekend, with the former Longhorn a shot clear of Ryan Palmer, who went to Texas A&M and now lives in the Dallas area.
“Yeah, it should be a lot of fun,” Scheffler said. “Hopefully the hometown fans will be out there tomorrow, and we'll see what happens with the rest of the leaderboard. I don't know what the weather is going to look like this afternoon, it's still early on Friday, but we'll see what happens as the weekend shakes up. But I don't think we'll be too far behind. We're definitely in a good spot going into the weekend.”
Scheffler went out early Friday and won’t tee it up again until late Saturday (and it could be later depending on weather), but he won’t have any trouble passing the time at home.
“We've got a couple friends in town, and Teddy is staying at the house,” Scheffler said. “So hanging out, maybe play some ping-pong, watch a movie, but definitely relax this afternoon.”