Scheffler takes over the lead in Hawaii as Theegala, Bhatia sit two shots behind

World number one Scottie Scheffler moved into the lead at The Sentry in Hawaii on Friday with overnight leader Sahith Theegala slipping into a share of ninth place.

Theegala (64-69) was joined by fellow-Indian American Akshay Bhatia who shot a bogey-free 64 with nine birdies as conditions at the Kapalua Plantation Course continued to be benign.

Scheffler (66-64) led three others including Tyrell Hatton by one stroke after the Englishman fired a career-best 11 under 62 at the PGA Tour’s season-opener. Scheffler is on 16 under and followed by Hatton (69-82), Brendon Todd (67-64) of the US and Korea’s Sungjae Im (65-66).

The average score on Friday was 67.4 and all 59 players in the field broke par.

Theegala, who opened with a 64 had just one bogey and five birdies on Friday while Bhatia brought in a clean card.

Hero World Challenge winner Scheffler said later, “I played really solid. The few times I got into trouble I got out pretty quick and hit some nice pitches and a couple nice putts as well.”

FedEx Cup champion Viktor Hovland made an eagle putt from just over 50 feet on the closing hole for a 67 that left him two shots back in a group that included Collin Morikawa (67), Chris Kirk (65) and Byeong Hun An (64) of Korea.

An closed with a stunning eagle in his sparkling 9-under 64 as he joined compatriot Sungjae Im in the title hunt. The 32-year-old, who is chasing his maiden PGA Tour victory, climbed into tied fifth place on 14-under 132, just two strokes behind Scheffler.

Im, a two-time winner, maintained his strong start to the 2024 season, following his opening 65 with a 66 that had eight birdies, including three in his last four holes, against a lone dropped shot.

Making his tournament debut, An ended his round with a flourish, rifling a 4 iron from 272 yards to about six feet for a closing eagle. He also holed a monstrous 38-foot birdie on the ninth to charge up the leaderboard.

“It was nice. It was kind of a stress-free. I hit it pretty good, hit a lot of greens, made a lot of good putts here and there. Yeah, seems like a few of the birdie putts were all straight-ish puts, so I made a lot of decent putts and nice to finish with a 3 on the last hole,” said An who has four runner-up finishes on the US tour.

Fellow-Korean Si Woo Kim, carded a 66 to share 23rd place on 136, while Joohyung ‘Tom’ Kim returned a 70 as he slipped to tied 38th place. Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama shot 68, three shots better than his opening round, as he remained T46 on 139.