Fort Worth, Texas – Ben Griffin may be on the verge of a breakout season on the PGA Tour. It’s more like Rickie Fowler’s comeback.
Griffin hit 63 on Friday in the Charles Schwab Challenge of Colonial and tied for a second-round lead with Matti Schmid, leading the Under-11 lead, leading first-round leaders John Pak and Fowler, who scored 29 shots before 29 64s.
Pak is a tour rookie who started 63 with 63 and hit a 4-shot with 68, ahead of one-off tour champion Chris Gotterup like Griffin. Gotterup is 8 years old after 65 years old. Ryo Hisatsune is a 22-year-old Ryo Hisatsune from Japan who tied with Akshay Bhatia after 67 (66).
Scottie Scheffler, who won the PGA title last weekend, shot 71, and the world’s No. 1 tried to be the first player to play three straight games since Dustin Johnson in 2017.
Scheffler’s run began with a runaway three weeks ago, the first victory in two of his hometown events, CJ Cup Byron Nelson in North Dallas.
It was close, but Scheffler’s shot was backed up, which extended his winning streak to 55, followed by Xander Schauffele’s 64.
Scheffler’s game partners missed the layoffs, including Davis Riley. The defending champion hit 69, while Daniel Berger, one of the eight top 25 players in the field, had a 83-foot green on the fourth hole of five shots in 70 rounds. Both are 142.
Griffin won the Zurich Classic in New Orleans with Andrew Novak in one month, Griffin made eight birdies-seven birdies from the 10-foot interior and saved par with a 12-foot putt at the edge after his only bogey.
The 29-year-old has already had five top ten career best compared to last year, including fifth in the PGA.
“I feel like I’ve made great steps in the last few years and just built the first win,” Griffin said. “Now that I’ve got my first win, I feel that it really made me free my out and not necessarily more aggressive, but just feels like I want to win more. It’s definitely a breakthrough year, but I think there’s more.”
Fowler is in the top 25 in the world after entering the top 25 in early 2024. The six-time champion won the $20 million signature Truist two weeks ago but missed the PGA’s layoffs.
The 36-year-old opened with a 70-shot, six birdies before finishing the game in his last nine holes.
“It must have happened,” Fowler said. “I know it was slow last year, and it started very slowly. The body started to feel better, the game [has] In a good location, not far away. Here is a thin line. It’s nice to see things start to merge. ”
Schmid, a 27-year-old German who sought his first tour victory in his 79th start, has been 10 birdies of 24 holes in bogey-free since finishing 12 in the first round.
Gotterup won the 2024 Myrtle Beach Classic and is eligible for a $20 million autograph event at the Memorial next week, with a round of 500 million. After finishing his college career in Oklahoma, he lived within driving distance of the colony (Hogan’s alley).
Gotterup played for four weeks in a row, took a week off during PGA, and entered the top 20 each time.
“I’d love to play PGA, but I was watching sports on the couch and hanging out at home,” the 25-year-old said. “So it’s great to go home, I drove from home this week, so owning my own car and everything is better. I love that.”
Parker reached 10 with the birdie in three of the next four holes after his first bogey of the seventh shot of the week. A series of bogeys put him in trouble with Gotterup, and then Pak was 18 feet long before 13 feet.
Jordan Spieth, Scheffler’s home headlines and former Texas Longhorn birds, were in No. 17 and cut that number at a uniform rate. On two holes, the three-time main champion let the club fly his hand out of the short and correct goal in disgust and then cover his face with his hand as his par putt fell.
