HOUSTON — Scottie Scheffler opened with two straight birdies and was on his way Friday in the Houston Open, tying the Memorial Park record with an 8-under 62 for a one-shot lead when the second round was halted by darkness after a two-hour storm delay Friday.
It was the most complete round of the year for Scheffler, who missed the first month of the season recovering from a glass puncture in his right palm that required minor surgery.
The only green he missed was on No. 2 — his 11th of the round — and he holed that from just inside 30 feet for birdie.
“Yesterday I felt like I made a couple key par saves, and today I felt like for the most part I kept the golf course in front of me and I had a lot of looks for birdie,” Scheffler said. “So I didn’t feel like I was struggling for par too much, and that was mostly because I was in the fairway.”
Scheffler also shot 62 in 2021 at Memorial Park. He shares the course record with Tony Finau, who shot 62 in 2022 and 2024.
It was the eighth time Scheffler shot 62 or lower — one of those was a 59 in the FedEx Cup playoffs at TPC Boston in 2020 — and his first since he shot 62 in the final round at Le Golf National to win the Olympic gold medal at the 2024 Paris Games.
Scheffler was at 11-under 129.
He led by one shot over Taylor Pendrith, who shot a 65. Nico Echavarria also was one shot behind until he hit his tee shot into the water on the 17th hole. Echavarria faced a par chip from 45 feet when play resumed Saturday morning.
Rory McIlroy was 11 shots behind when he stood on the tee for his afternoon start. After he returned from the storm, his first concern was making the cut. But McIlroy ran off three straight birdies late in his round and managed to finish out for a 66. He was seven back.
“It’s the sort of golf course where it’s easy to just make a ton of pars, not a lot of trouble out there, but you just need some putts to go in to make birdies,” McIlroy said.
Ryan Gerard had the best chance at catching Scheffler. He was at 9-under par and still had seven holes to finish in the second round due to the storms. Scheffler and the early starters managed to avoid bad weather.
“It was a lot different than we thought it was going to be,” Scheffler said. “Today looked like — checking the forecast this morning — it was going to be one of those days where we’re going to be playing on and off, looking at a few delays out there.”
Instead, he was on from the start with a 10-foot birdie putt on the 10th hole and a 25-footer on the 11th. Scheffler played bogey-free for the second straight round.
Pendrith had three birdies on his last five holes to pull within one shot of Scheffler.
“Kind of hung around all day and was able to make a few late ones,” Pendrith said.
The group at 7-under 133 included Gary Woodland, still regaining his form after returning last year from brain surgery. He had a stretch on his second nine of six birdies in seven holes, the exception on the par-5 third hole when he missed a 5-foot birdie.
“I needed that. I haven’t had a run like that,” Woodland said. “I’ve been knocking on the door for a little while and it’s nice to see some results. My coach Randy’s been telling me I have all the tools and it’s coming, I’ve just got to stay patient.”
That would be Randy Smith, who also is the longtime coach for Scheffler.
Scheffler felt his iron play wasn’t quite as sharp as he wanted. He also knew he had a good feel on the greens and didn’t have to attack pins if there was no need. It led to a stress-free round, just the kind he likes. Throw in eight birdies, and Scheffler figures to be in the pole position going into the weekend of his final start before the Masters.
Michael Kim did his part to make it to Augusta National. He is No. 52 in the world ranking — the top 50 after this week get Masters invitations — and shot 65. Also just outside the top 50 is Ben Griffin, who played late and was 6 under through nine holes. But he sputtered on the bad nine, missing a 3-foot par putt on his last hole to settle for a 67.
