Webb Simpson Cards a 65 to Take Round 2 Lead at RBC Heritage
By Dave Shields
The birdies were flying Friday in the second round of the RBC Heritage at Harbour Town Golf Links in Hilton Head, S.C.
Webb Simpson carded a 6-under par 65 to vault to the top of the leaderboard at 12-under. A birdie at 18 gave him the one-shot lead.
"It's very satisfying knowing I'm not near as long as some of these guys and I'm able to kind of use my skills of distance control and shot shape to pick me back up when I'm 40 yards or 30 yards behind these guys," Simpson said, reported the PGA Tour website. "I would like to hit it further, I set out on a journey three years ago to get stronger, hit it further, but do it a lot slower than Bryson. But he's made it look easy and seamless."
Bryson, as in DeChambeau, was his playing partner and he had a great day as well, shooting a 7-under par 64 to finish one shot back at 11-under for the tournament. He maneuvered this tight, tricky track barely using his driver.
“I can't,” DeChambeau said when asked about hitting the driver. “It's just this golf course, it's so difficult to try to fit into these tight areas where, if you miss it offline, like I did last week a couple times on a couple holes, there I'll be, where last week they were just in the rough and I was still able to get to the green.”
Corey Connors had the low round of the day with an 8-under par 63 to finish tied with DeChambeau at 11-under. Ryan Palmer is at 10-under followed by six golfers at 9-under, including Jhonattan Vegas, who tied Connors for the round of the day with an 8-under 63. Abraham Ancer. Matthew NeSmith, first round co-leader Ian Poulter, Matthew Fitzpatrick, and Brooks Koepka.
A slew of golfers is sitting at 8-under, including Dustin Johnson and Tony Finau. Ernie Els turned back the clock with a 4-under through 15 holes to get to 8-under, while Sergio Garcia carded a 6-under 65 to move to 7-under for the tournament. First round co-leader Mark Hubbard was even par through 13 holes and was at 7-under.
Jordan Spieth is lurking at 6-under, while Rory McIlroy shot himself back into the tournament with a 6-under 65 to get to 5-under for the tourney. Justin Thomas also made the cut with a 5-under 66 to get to 4-under.
The cut line is 4-under and it left behind a few big names, including Rickie Fowler, whose had his second straight bad showing. Patrick Reed, Xander Schauffele, and Jason Day also missed the cut.