The 20-man field at the 2024 Hero World Challenge features eight first-timers in the Bahamas. It’s also chock full of PGA Tour vets and it’s the more experienced guys filling the three of the top four spots on the leaderboard after 36 holes.
Scottie Scheffler leads by two with 36 to go, his second-round 64 sparked by six birdies on his first seven holes.
Giving chase early in the second round were two of the game’s young guns: Akshay Bhatia and Ludvig Aberg, two of those eight first-timers at Albany.
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This year marks the 25th Hero, and the 10th one at Albany, for the Tiger Woods bash.
There is no cut this week. Here’s some of the top storylines as we head to the weekend.
Scheffler keeping it rolling
Deploying a new putting strategy at the 2024 Hero, Scheffler led the field in Strokes Gained: Putting in the second round. Using the saw grip (or is it the claw?), he was perfect in the 3 to 7 feet range until his final hole Friday, missing right on a testy four-footer. Still, he tapped in for par to close out a 64, low round of the day and tied for low round of the week so far.
“I think in this game I think a lot of all y’all are looking for perfection out of us and I think today I shot 8 under on the golf course is not something I hang my head about,” he said Friday. “A lot of good things out there, clean card, bogey free, eight birdies. Overall I think I’m pretty pleased.”
Back to defend his Hero title, Scheffler is the lone past champion in the 20-man field. He’s now recorded 14 consecutive rounds of par or better at Albany.
“I think a lot of it’s keeping the ball in play. Around the greens it can get really challenging. I think I’m a pretty good pitcher of the ball, especially the tough lies that you get around this place. I think over the years here I’ve done a good job of kind of staying patient, waiting to get hot,” he said. “There’s some opportunities out here on this golf course, but there’s also some severe punishment. For instance, the front nine today was a time where I got hot and was able to take advantage of it.”
Bhatia battles some of the Tour’s top vets
Bhatia has two PGA Tour wins but he’s making his first appearance in this silly-season event. So far, he’s making the most of his trip to the Bahamas. He wasn’t originally in the 20-man field but when Hideki Matsuyama and Billy Horschel withdrew, Bhatia and Cameron Young filled their spots on the tee sheet.
A big-hitter lefty, Bhatia had four birdies over his first eight holes before a bogey on No. 8. Making the turn in 33, Bhatia then birdied three more holes before closing with three straight pars on the back to shoot a 6-under 66 to get to 11 under and lay claim to a tie for second after 36 holes.
“Yeah, I mean, pretty excited. Obviously, like I said yesterday, it’s just a pleasure to be here, you know, one of 20 guys,” he said. “I look forward to the weekend. Obviously still got some stuff to sharpen up as we all do, but yeah, look forward to having a run at this tournament.”
JT showing out again
Let’s not forget about Justin Thomas, in second place after Day 1 and still in second place after Day 2, but this time he’ll be chasing Scheffler instead of Young.
Thomas tied for second at the Zozo Championship in Japan in October in his final start before becoming a father. So far this week, new dad JT is playing well again. He backed up his first-round 66 with a second-round 67 to get to 11 under, two shots back of the lead, and tied for second with Bhatia.
Thomas had four birdies through nine holes and added two more on the back.
“It just was a very low, low stress 5 under,” he said. “I didn’t feel like I had to grind on the majority of my birdie putts, a lot of them were tap-ins or whatnot. If I can just iron or wedge it just a little closer to the hole tomorrow and get some putts to go in, I feel like I’ve got a really good round out there this weekend.”
What happend to Cameron Young?
First-round leader Cameron Young charged out to a big lead with his 8-under 64 on Thursday. Friday didn’t go as smoothly for Young, who had two-hole stretches of birdie/bogey on five different occasions during his second round. After a bogey-free first day, Young had six bogeys and a double bogey on Friday, offsetting the five birdies he recorded.
It was just one of those days for Young, who found himself in difficult positions on several holes and capped it off with a lip-out on the last. He’s now 5 under overall after a 3-over 75, tied for 10th.
Weather expected to change, with windy conditions expected
Weather could be rolling in for the weekend in the Bahamas with wind expected to pick up. They’re expecting that wind could blow as hard as 25 MPH on Saturday, which will certainly make this track less gettable. There’s also been no water applied to the course since Wednesday, according to the Golf Channel telecast, so if you’re in for carnage, you may get it in the third round.
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Scottie Scheffler keeps it rolling at 2024 Hero World Challenge as Akshay Bhatia crashes veteran-laden leaderboard
