Ryder Cup winner Nicolai Hojgaard produced a brilliant finish to claim a two-shot lead at the halfway stage of the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai.
Hojgaard was two over par after four holes of his second round at Jumeirah Golf Estates, but birdied the fifth and seventh and then covered the back nine in just 30 shots to card a superb 66.
The 22-year-old Dane rounded off his day in style with an eagle from six feet on the par-five 18th to reach 11 under par, with Ryder Cup team-mates Tommy Fleetwood and Viktor Hovland part of a five-way tie for second on nine under.
Hojgaard, who finished second in the Nedbank Challenge on Sunday, said: “It’s a little like last week, I had a slow start in every round and then I know with every round there’s going to be a run of birdies at some point with where my game is so it’s about staying patient.
“I would like to play the front nine a little bit better at the weekend but I’m very satisfied with how I’ve played these two rounds.
“I trust my game at the moment. It’s been a little bit shaky at times this year but I feel like we’re on a good track at the moment and I have confidence in my shots, the selection of shots and the game plan we put in place every round.
“It would be pretty cool (to win). I feel like that’s the only thing I’ve missed this season but there’s two rounds to go and a lot of really good players in this field so I’m going to keep grinding as much as I can.”
Fleetwood and Hovland both matched Hojgaard’s 66, while Antoine Rozner, Thriston Lawrence and Jens Dantorp also share second place following rounds of 67, 64 and 67 respectively.
“No matter where you are in your career it’s great to be here and have a chance to win this tournament and it’s close to my heart now,” said Fleetwood, who lives in Dubai and has an academy at the venue.
“I always feel like it brings out great winners, great champions, so the ultimate goal is to be one of those and have your name on that trophy.”
Defending champion Jon Rahm, who failed to break par for the first time in 17 rounds in the event on Thursday, bounced back with a 66 which included an eagle on the 18th but was marred by a three-putt bogey on the ninth, his final hole of the day.
“It’s a really good round of golf,” the Masters champion said. “I took advantage of the easier conditions and did what I needed to early on. Five under through nine holes with that eagle on 18 is great and just too bad things cooled off a little bit.
“To three-putt the last just leaves a bit of a sour taste but perspective is a big thing and I told Adam [his caddie], if you look at the scorecard the way it’s intended to be read, starting on one, it was a great finish. I’m just going to remind myself of that.”
World number two Rory McIlroy could only add a 72 to his opening 71 to lie 10 shots off the pace.
“I got off to a decent start again, a couple under through nine and then just (hit) some loose shots coming in,” McIlroy said. “I was trying to make some birdies on the back nine and get something going and I couldn’t. I was just stuck in neutral all day.
“There is a low one out there and obviously I’m going to need a low one to get myself back in the tournament.”
A closer look at the hot streak of world number one Scottie Scheffler
Scottie Scheffler claimed his fourth win in five events on Monday when the weather-delayed RBC Heritage concluded at Hilton Head.
That run includes a second Masters title and has seen the world number one extend his sizeable lead over Rory McIlroy at the top of the rankings.
Here, the PA news agency looks at some of the facts and figures around Scheffler’s streak and how they compare to previous runs.
What makes Scheffler’s streak so impressive?Winning any event on the PGA Tour is difficult, but Scheffler has claimed two of the biggest in the Arnold Palmer Invitational and Players Championship, a major championship at Augusta National and the RBC Heritage, which boasted a stronger than usual field after being elevated to a Signature Event this season. Victory at Sawgrass made Scheffler the first player ever to win back-to-back Players titles. His only “failure” was a tie for second in the Houston Open.
Has this been done before?Scheffler is the first player to win four times in five starts on the PGA Tour since Tiger Woods, who did so at the end of 2007 and again to start 2008. He is also the third player in the last 30 years – after Woods and Vijay Singh (2004) – to win or finish runner-up in five consecutive starts on the PGA Tour. With many players taking a break after winning a major, Scheffler is also the first to win a PGA Tour event the week after claiming a green jacket since Bernhard Langer in 1985.
How much has Scheffler earned?Scheffler has banked an average of £3.17million for each of his four victories and “only” £448,000 for his five-way tie for second behind Stephan Jaeger in the Houston Open. The total sum of £13.14m would place Scheffler 145th on the PGA Tour’s career earnings list and he is closing in on the single-season record of £17million he set last year. In comparison, Woods won nine times on the PGA Tour in 2000, including three major titles, and never finished worse than 23rd in 20 starts. His prize money totalled £7.4m.
Does the world ranking reflect Scheffler’s dominance?In a word, yes. Ahead of the Genesis Invitational in mid-February, Rory McIlroy could have become world number one by winning at Riviera with Scheffler finishing third or worse. Now, Scheffler has more than double the total and average points of McIlroy, while the average points gap between the top two (7.6493) is bigger than that between McIlroy and the players tied for 4,123st in the standings.
So is Scheffler the most dominant player in world golf?Not quite. Hours before Scheffler completed his victory in Hilton Head, fellow American Nelly Korda had wrapped up a fifth consecutive win on the LPGA Tour by claiming her second major title in the Chevron Championship. Korda’s winning streak matches that of Nancy Lopez in 1978 and Annika Sorenstam in 2004-05, although her bid for an unprecedented sixth straight win will have to wait after she cited exhaustion when pulling out of this week’s event in Los Angeles. While Scheffler has earned £13.14m from his last five events, Korda’s five wins have been worth £1.94m.
Scottie Scheffler matches Tiger Woods achievement with fourth win in five
Masters champion Scottie Scheffler hailed his mental strength after making it four wins in five starts with a rain-delayed victory at the RBC Heritage.
Scheffler returned to Hilton Head on Monday morning holding a five-stroke lead with three holes to play after a storm halted proceedings on Sunday.
The world number one dropped a shot at the last to finish 19 under par, three shots ahead of fellow American Sahith Theegala, with Patrick Cantlay and Wyndham Clark another stroke back.
Scheffler is the first player to win a PGA Tour event the week after claiming the Green Jacket since Bernhard Langer in 1985 and the first to win four times in five starts on the US-based circuit since Tiger Woods in 2007-08.
Each of Scheffler’s last seven wins have come with at least eight of the world’s top 10 in the field and he is the third player in the last 30 years – after Woods and Vijay Singh – to win or finish runner-up in five consecutive starts on the PGA Tour.
“I was able to go home for a couple days and celebrate,” Scheffler said.
“I didn’t really put much thought into it. I had committed to playing the tournament here, it was part of the plan, so we stuck to the plan.
“I talked about it at the beginning of the week – I didn’t show up here just to have some sort of ceremony and have people tell me congratulations. I came here with a purpose, got off to a slow start but after that played some really nice golf.
“I do have fairly high expectations for myself and when I show up at tournaments, I try to do my best.
“I’ve talked a lot about kind of the preparation and what it takes for me to show up on a first tee ready to go, and I feel like I’ve been putting in the work and been playing some good golf, and it’s nice to be seeing some results for that with wins.
“On the course, I think the last month or so I’ve been as good mentally as I have in a long time and I think that’s why I am seeing some of the results.
“This week could be a good example of starting off and looking at the leaderboard on Thursday and everybody is just making birdie after birdie and I’m sitting there over par and I’ve had a shank on the day.
“I just did my best to stay patient and wait until I got hot.
“Had a nice finish to the round on Thursday and then had a really solid Friday where I felt like I played better than I scored, and then I had Saturday where I just played some really good golf.”
Rory McIlroy carded a final-round 74 to slip into a tie for 33rd.
Scottie Scheffler five strokes ahead with weather forcing a Monday finish
Scottie Scheffler has a five stroke lead with just three holes to play after rain halted play in the RBC Heritage on Sunday.
The US Open champion and world number one continued his great form at Hilton Head in South Carolina on the fourth day of the tournament, hitting an eagle and two birdies across 15 holes.
A storm stopped play for two and a half hours with darkness forcing a finish on Monday.
Fellow American Wyndham Clark had a strong day through his 18 holes, moving into second place with eight birdies and an eagle, but two bogeys and a double bogey stopped him from further encroaching on Scheffler’s lead.
Clark is tied with American’s Patrick Cantlay and J T Poston, who have one hole left to play and Sahith Theegala, who has three holes left to play.
Scheffler is looking for his fourth win in five starts.
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