Eleven golfers shot even-par. The leader bested that by 11 shots. One of the players in second bested that score by a shot – for a 59. Those low were high, and those even average were low. Here are three things you should know after Friday’s second round of the Northern Trust at TPC Boston in Norton, Mass, the first event in the FedEx Cup playoffs.
Dustin Johnson leads
Dustin Johnson made five birdies. He made two eagles.
On the front nine.
Johnson shot a 9-under 27 over the first half of his round, added birdies on the 10th and 11th holes and finished with an 11-under 60 to grab a two-shot lead over Scottie Scheffler, who shot a historic 59, and Cameron Davis.
Johnson eagled the 2nd with a 41-foot putt, eagled the 282-yard 4th after driving the green and was 11-under through 11 holes, but could not go any lower.
“Yeah, obviously got off to a great start, even through the five or six holes, just playing really good and made some nice putts and then obviously when I make the turn birdieing 10 and 11, you’re definitely thinking about shooting 59 but I tried not to,” Johnson. “I tried to just keep playing one shot at a time and I knew I was swinging well, so I just tried to keep giving myself looks. I had some looks coming down the stretch, but obviously couldn’t get one to go. But still happy with the way I played and obviously I’m in a good position heading into the weekend.”
Scottie Scheffler shoots 59
Johnson’s 60 wasn’t the best round of the day.
Scheffler had three stretches where he made at least three birdies in a row – holes 4-7, 9-11 and 14-16 – then became the 12th player in PGA Tour history to shoot 59 or better when he rolled in a 4-footer on the 18th for birdie.
“Today was obviously a good day on the course,” Scheffler said. “I got off to a really good start. Made a bunch of birdies on the front nine. Had some key up-and-downs at the beginning of the round that kind of got me rolling, freed me up a little bit. Then the momentum just kind of kept going. Never really lost momentum, which was nice. A lot of times when you’re playing well, you can lose that momentum towards the end of the round or have a hiccup here or there. The momentum stayed the whole time, and I made a lot of putts.”
Davis followed a first-round 64 with a 65 to join Scheffler at two strokes off the lead. Danny Lee, Harris English and Louis Oosthuizen were three shots back.
Tiger Woods shoots even-par
Tiger Woods was 12 shots behind Scheffler on Friday.
Woods birdied the 1st hole, bogeyed the 4th and 13th, birdied the 14th and 15th and bogeyed the 17tth for an up-and-down, even-par 71. He was at 3-under through two rounds, one stroke better than the weekend cut line.
“Well, I was close to snapping a couple clubs today, but I didn’t, so that’s a positive,” Woods said. “Just keep fighting and grinding it out.”
Among the players missing the cut were Bryson DeChambeau, Jordan Spieth, Phil Mickelson and PGA Championship winner Collin Morikawa.