ADVERTISEMENT
Manila Bulletin devider Sports devider Golf devider Late birdie lifts Scheffler to PGA Tour lead at Kapalua

Late birdie lifts Scheffler to PGA Tour lead at Kapalua

Published Jan 6, 2024 04:19 am

At A Glance

  • World number one Scottie Scheffler capped a nine-under par 64 with a birdie at 18 that lifted him to a one-shot lead on Friday, Jan. 5, midway through the US PGA Tour Sentry tournament at Kapalua in Hawaii.

LOS ANGELES (AFP) -- World number one Scottie Scheffler capped a nine-under par 64 with a birdie at 18 that lifted him to a one-shot lead on Friday, Jan. 5, midway through the US PGA Tour Sentry tournament at Kapalua in Hawaii.

afp.com-20240105-PH-GTY-1910615770-highres.jpg
Scottie Scheffler of the United States plays an approach shot on the fourth hole during the second round of The Sentry at Plantation Course at Kapalua Golf Club on Friday, Jan. 5, in Kapalua, Hawaii. (AFP)

Scheffler shook off an early bogey with an eagle and eight birdies on the par-73 Plantation course, where his 16-under par total of 130 put him one in front of England's Tyrrell Hatton, South Korean Im Sung-jae and fellow American Brendon Todd.

"I played really solid," said Scheffler, the 2022 Masters champion. "The few times I got into trouble I got out pretty quick and hit some nice pitches and a couple nice putts as well."

He putted from off the green at the 18th, where the 80-footer settled inches from the hole.

"I thought it was going in," Scheffler said, but added "I was glad to tap it in."

After a bogey at the second hole, Scheffler got on track with a birdie at the third before rolling in a 24-foot eagle putt at the par-five fifth.

He added birdies at the sixth and ninth, then launched a run of four straight birdies with a 14-footer at the 12th. At 13 he drained a seven-footer, at 14 he got up and down for birdie from a greenside bunker and at 15 he holed a six-footer.

Scheffler said he'd need more of the same to stay in front over the final two rounds of the elite season-opening event, which features winners from 2022 as well as the top 50 from last season's FedEx Cup championship.

"Scores around this place are pretty low, but it's one of those places if you go out there and play well you're going to get rewarded," he said. "If you start not hitting it in the right spots, you can get in trouble. Just got to keep the pedal down out here."

 

Mad day on greens

 

Hatton played the last four holes in five-under -- with birdies at 15, 16 and 17 before and eagle at 18 -- on the way to a blistering 11-under par 62.

In all he notched 10 birdies with one bogey, not what he was expecting as he continued to feel the physical effects of the long trip from England.

"If I'm being honest, body didn't feel great, and tee to green didn't feel amazing," said Hatton, who posted his lowest round in relation to par on the PGA Tour. "I had a mad day on the greens. Every putt I seemed to look at went in."

His blazing finish was a "nice way to bounce back" from his bogey at 14. The final flourish was a 98-foot putt from off the green at 18.

"That's just a bonus," Hatton said. "Just hoping to roll it up somewhere close and, yeah, thankfully, the flag got in the way and the ball fell in the hole."

Todd joined Hatton on 131 with a nine-under 64 that featured and eagle, eight birdies and one bogey, while Im's seven-under 66 included eight birdies and a bogey.

Related Tags

Scottie Scheffler US PGA Tour
ADVERTISEMENT
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1561_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1562_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1563_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}

{{ articles_filter_1564_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.mb-article-details { position: relative; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview, .mb-article-details .article-body-summary{ font-size: 17px; line-height: 30px; font-family: "Libre Caslon Text", serif; color: #000; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview iframe , .mb-article-details .article-body-summary iframe{ width: 100%; margin: auto; } .read-more-background { background: linear-gradient(180deg, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0) 13.75%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0.8) 30.79%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000) 72.5%); position: absolute; height: 200px; width: 100%; bottom: 0; display: flex; justify-content: center; align-items: center; padding: 0; } .read-more-background a{ color: #000; } .read-more-btn { padding: 17px 45px; font-family: Inter; font-weight: 700; font-size: 18px; line-height: 16px; text-align: center; vertical-align: middle; border: 1px solid black; background-color: white; } .hidden { display: none; }
function initializeAllSwipers() { // Get all hidden inputs with cms_article_id document.querySelectorAll('[id^="cms_article_id_"]').forEach(function (input) { const cmsArticleId = input.value; const articleSelector = '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .body_images'; const swiperElement = document.querySelector(articleSelector); if (swiperElement && !swiperElement.classList.contains('swiper-initialized')) { new Swiper(articleSelector, { loop: true, pagination: false, navigation: { nextEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-next', prevEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-prev', }, }); } }); } setTimeout(initializeAllSwipers, 3000); const intersectionObserver = new IntersectionObserver( (entries) => { entries.forEach((entry) => { if (entry.isIntersecting) { const newUrl = entry.target.getAttribute("data-url"); if (newUrl) { history.pushState(null, null, newUrl); let article = entry.target; // Extract metadata const author = article.querySelector('.author-section').textContent.replace('By', '').trim(); const section = article.querySelector('.section-info ').textContent.replace(' ', ' '); const title = article.querySelector('.article-title h1').textContent; // Parse URL for Chartbeat path format const parsedUrl = new URL(newUrl, window.location.origin); const cleanUrl = parsedUrl.host + parsedUrl.pathname; // Update Chartbeat configuration if (typeof window._sf_async_config !== 'undefined') { window._sf_async_config.path = cleanUrl; window._sf_async_config.sections = section; window._sf_async_config.authors = author; } // Track virtual page view with Chartbeat if (typeof pSUPERFLY !== 'undefined' && typeof pSUPERFLY.virtualPage === 'function') { try { pSUPERFLY.virtualPage({ path: cleanUrl, title: title, sections: section, authors: author }); } catch (error) { console.error('ping error', error); } } // Optional: Update document title if (title && title !== document.title) { document.title = title; } } } }); }, { threshold: 0.1 } ); function showArticleBody(button) { const article = button.closest("article"); const summary = article.querySelector(".article-body-summary"); const body = article.querySelector(".article-body-preview"); const readMoreSection = article.querySelector(".read-more-background"); // Hide summary and read-more section summary.style.display = "none"; readMoreSection.style.display = "none"; // Show the full article body body.classList.remove("hidden"); } document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", () => { let loadCount = 0; // Track how many times articles are loaded const offset = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10]; // Offset values const currentUrl = window.location.pathname.substring(1); let isLoading = false; // Prevent multiple calls if (!currentUrl) { console.log("Current URL is invalid."); return; } const sentinel = document.getElementById("load-more-sentinel"); if (!sentinel) { console.log("Sentinel element not found."); return; } function isSentinelVisible() { const rect = sentinel.getBoundingClientRect(); return ( rect.top < window.innerHeight && rect.bottom >= 0 ); } function onScroll() { if (isLoading) return; if (isSentinelVisible()) { if (loadCount >= offset.length) { console.log("Maximum load attempts reached."); window.removeEventListener("scroll", onScroll); return; } isLoading = true; const currentOffset = offset[loadCount]; window.loadMoreItems().then(() => { let article = document.querySelector('#widget_1690 > div:nth-last-of-type(2) article'); intersectionObserver.observe(article) loadCount++; }).catch(error => { console.error("Error loading more items:", error); }).finally(() => { isLoading = false; }); } } window.addEventListener("scroll", onScroll); });
Join Our Newsletters

Sign up by email to receive news.

© 2025 Manila Bulletin The Nation's Leading Newspaper. All Rights Reserved.