Scottie Scheffler has spent much of the 2026 season looking just a bit off, admitting as much ahead of last week’s U.S. Open when he described his game as being a little “dull” and lacking the same sharpness we’ve grown to expect from the World No. 1.
While that sharpness didn’t arrive in time to capture the career grand slam, Scheffler seems to have found something at TPC River Highlands, where he’s off to a red-hot start to grab the 36-hole lead at 16 under thanks to a 10-under 60 on Friday. Overnight rain delayed the start of the second round by 30 minutes, which softened the course and gave players the green light to attack. No one took that opportunity better than Scheffler, who has positioned himself at the top of the leaderboard entering the weekend in pursuit of his second win of the season.
Scheffler began his day birdie-bogey-birdie, but ripped off four straight birdies late in his front nine to go out in 30. He’d add another stretch with four consecutive birdies in the middle of his back nine to get to 10 under on his round and arrived at the 17th hole needing one birdie in the last two holes to break 60 for the second time in his career.
After hitting 15-of-16 greens in regulation coming into the 17th, Scheffler had a rare miss from the fairway from 162 yards, tugging his approach — with Scheffler saying he got gusted — off the left side of the green. After a poor chip from the fairway cut, he made a tough 8-footer for par to keep the 59 dream alive going to the 18th. There, he missed his first fairway of the day, finding the left bunker, but drew a good lie and was able to put an approach 20 feet below the hole to give himself a run.
Scheffler said after his round it was a tricky read, with the ball moving right on him early and ending up too far outside before taking the sharp break late, leaving a tap-in par to post a 10-under 60. Had Scheffler managed to make that putt, he could’ve joined Jim Furyk as the only players to break 60 twice on the PGA Tour. That record remains with Furyk, who Scheffler joked in his press conference somewhat ruined shooting a 59 at TPC River Highlands.
“It was kind of funny. It was like, yeah, it would be cool to shoot 59, but somebody has already shot 58 here, so it’s not even the course record,” Scheffler remarked. “So it’s not like…you know, Jim kind of takes away a little bit of the special 59 when you are losing still.”
TPC River Highlands is always a course where players can go out and attack, and that’s especially the case on a day like Friday when the wind is negligible and the course is softened by rain. However, the difference between Scheffler’s first round 64 and his 60 in the second round came down, largely, to more putts falling.
“Yeah, I’d say in golf the line is always pretty fine. I’m sure if you looked at today’s round versus yesterday’s round, it’s probably pretty similar from a ball-striking perspective,” Scheffler explained. “It’s a matter of holing a few putts. Some days they’re kind of hanging on the edge and not quite going in, and then other days they’re finding the bottom of the cup. Today was a day definitely which most of them were finding the bottom of the cup.”
The stats back that statement up, as Scheffler holed just over 145 feet of putts on Friday after holing 95 feet in his still excellent opening round 64. While he would’ve loved to see one more putt of length drop on the 18th hole, he’s most concerned with snapping out of his winless drought that’s currently sitting at 17 weeks.
Scheffler opened his season with a bang, winning the American Express in his first start of 2026. Since then, he’s been unable to put together four complete rounds, with slow starts becoming a frustrating trend in the middle of his season. Numerous furious comebacks on the weekend to finish just off the lead prove he still has that top gear, but finding those levels for 72 holes has been a challenge.
Through 36 holes at the Travelers, he’s got that sorted out and looks like the player who has dominated the PGA Tour for the last four years. He’ll have to keep that up on the weekend, as TPC River Highlands always leaves the door open for players to go low and try to chase down the leader. If he can convert his 36-hole lead into his 21st PGA Tour victory, he’ll change the question from why can’t he win right now to why can’t go on a winning streak through the summer.
Weekend contenders
2. Viktor Hovland (-14)
T3. Akshay Bhatia, Eric Cole (-13)
T5. Matt Fitzpatrick, Bud Cauley, Ben Griffin (-10)
T8. Tommy Fleetwood, Justin Rose, J.J. Spaun, Patrick Cantlay, Maverick McNealy, Brian Campbell (-9)
T14. Wyndham Clark, Sam Burns, Keegan Bradley and five others (-8)
It’s not often you shoot 65-61 in the first two rounds of a tournament and don’t have the lead going into the weekend, but Viktor Hovland has done just that. His best start to a week this season has been overshadowed by Scheffler’s return to dominant form. Hovland showed some strong form two weeks ago in Canada before a missed cut at the U.S. Open, but back on a golf course where you must attack, he’s once again looking like a threat and keeping Scheffler from running away from the field.
Bhatia hasn’t notched a top 10 since his win at the Arnold Palmer, but he got the putter warmed up again on Friday to shoot a 62 that jumped him into a tie for third. He proved earlier this year what he’s capable of when he gets hot on the greens and TPC River Highlands is a course known for having friendly greens. He’s tied with Eric Cole, who continues his blistering pace of late as he’s primed for another weekend in contention in pursuit of his first PGA Tour title.
Matt Fitzpatrick had it rolling again in the middle of his back nine but cooled off a touch late and dropped a shot on the 18th to slide back into a tie for fifth. Even so, he finds himself on the first page of the leaderboard once again heading into a weekend and is arguably the biggest threat to Scheffler, even six off the pace. Cauley, who picked up his first win two weeks ago in Canada, is still riding that high and playing extremely well once again this week. The same can be said for Ben Griffin who has returned to quality form after a slow start in 2026.
Given who is in the lead, it’s hard to imagine Scheffler helping out the rest of the field this weekend, which means those not yet at double-figures under par have serious work to do on the weekend. That’s certainly possible at a course like TPC River Highlands, but Tommy Fleetwood, Justin Rose, Sam Burns, defending champ Keegan Bradley and U.S. Open winner Wyndham Clark will all be feeling like they need to post scores of 64 or better on Saturday and Sunday to have a chance at winning.
Cameron Young’s dip in form continues
After winning The Players, contending at the Masters and winning again at the Cadillac Championship, Young was the hottest player on the PGA Tour and was seemingly making up ground on the Scheffler-Rory McIlroy tandem in the Tour’s top tier. However, Young hasn’t been nearly as sharp over the past month-plus dating back to the PGA Championship and that slip in form has been extremely evident to start this week as he’s one of just five players who have yet to break par in the first two rounds.
Young’s hot streak was buoyed by some phenomenal putting on top of his excellent ball striking, but he has cooled off on the greens of late. Young is 70th out of 72 players in the field this week in strokes gained putting, losing more than five shots on the greens so far. Maintaining an elite level of play is the hardest thing in golf and Young’s proving just how challenging it is. His talent is undeniable, but his recent dip underscores just how remarkable a run like Scheffler’s is when we’re concerned about his form when he’s only posting top 10s most weeks and not winning.
