England’s Harry Hall shot a four-under-par 66 on Friday to take a three-shot lead into the halfway stage of the PGA Tour’s Charles Schwab Challenge in Texas.
Hall, ranked 197th in the world and chasing his first win on the PGA Tour, recovered from a shaky start to rattle off a string of birdies at Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth and finish the weekend at 12 under. Went to
The 25-year-old from Cornwall took the first-round lead after a flawless eight-under par on Thursday.
Closing out the back nine on Friday, Hall bogeyed his fourth hole of the day but then birdied five of his next six holes to get his round back on track.
Although a bogey at the third dropped him to three-under for the round, he cooled off in an 11-footer for birdie at the seventh en route to his four-under round.
“I don’t think I’ve played my best golf yet this year on the PGA Tour, and I think that came this week,” Hall said.
“Hopefully I can keep it up for the next couple of days.”
Harris leads Hall’s chase after the Englishman carded a four-under-par 66, leaving him nine-under, three ahead.
The highlight of the bogey-free round for English came with a stunning ace on the par-three eighth, where his nine-iron landed off the green and into the hole.
“It came out exactly how I wanted it to and luckily went into the hole,” English said.
“As long as I keep hitting the ball and keep giving myself opportunities, some good things will happen this weekend.”
Argentina’s Emiliano Grillo was given another shot at eight-under after a five-under-par 65, while three players – Adam Shank, Robbie Shelton and South Korea’s An Byung-hun – were five-over at seven-under.
World number one Scotty Scheffler is also in the hunt after posting his second consecutive 67. Scheffler was tied for seventh with Andre Novak at six under.
“I wish I was a little bit further on the leaderboard, obviously, but I think my game is in a really good place, so excited for the next couple of days,” Scheffler said.
But while Scheffler was reflecting on the weekend, golf’s new cult hero Michael Block was brought back down to earth with a bump.
Club professional Block delighted the crowd after finishing 15th at the PGA Championship last week.
However, the 46-year-old finished bottom of the field and missed the cut after a second-round 74 on Friday that left him 15 over after his first-round 81.
But Block had no regrets after his whirlwind week, and was looking forward to going home to play with his labrador, Messi.
“He’s waiting for me,” Block said. “I haven’t seen him in about two weeks, and I can’t wait to get home and throw a ball with him.”
