Live leaderboard: Play resumes at Pebble Beach

LAS VEGAS - Collin Morikawa wasn't about to let Xander Schauffele have all the fun, even if it went somewhat unnoticed. After a relatively benign opening 1-under 71 on Thursday, Morikawa slotted seven birdies in a bogey-free 7-under 65 in the second round of THE CJ CUP @ SHADOW CREEK to find his way into a tie for fifth. Amazingly it was a round that went a little under the radar as he was paired with Schauffele who set the course alight early and ultimately went one better with a 64. RELATED: Full leaderboard | What the pros are playing at Shadow Creek Schauffele birdied seven of his opening nine holes to shoot 29 on the back side and added one more birdie on the front to move to 14 under and three shots clear at the top of the leaderboard. But while he has set up a substantial and impressive lead, Morikawa's effort ensured Schauffele won't be able to take his foot off the gas on the weekend. The 23-year-old flashed one of his now trademark cheeky grins when he was met with a question about Schauffele's birdie blitz, reminding those in attendance that he also had gone low and so to had the third member of the threesome in Viktor Hovland (66). "It wasn’t just him. Viktor was making a bunch of birdies in that stretch, I had a couple myself. It’s enjoyable," he quipped. "When you have momentum like that, you just want to keep it going, you don’t want to kind of stall out mid round. "All of us just kept making birdies… I knew it wasn’t going to stop. I knew there was birdie chances on the front nine and we just had to keep it going. As long as I kept giving myself good looks, hitting the fairway, I knew a few would drop by 18." Morikawa credited the blemish free round to a new putter he's using this week. He's made a switch to a mallet style from the blade type he used to win the Workday Charity Open and PGA Championship last season. He needed 28 putts on Thursday and just 26 Friday and has gained 1.545 shots over the field on the greens to go with his usual ball-striking clinic. His approach game has yielded 4.077 strokes against the field so far. "I had a long neck in the blade and the way it was stroking from lag putts, it was never consistent, like the ball didn’t roll as well," he said. "If you look at the best putters, obviously their putts roll really well and their speed’s really consistent. The blade, when I found it outside 30 feet, some I’d hit past and then I’d adjust and then the next one it would be maybe six feet short. I was just looking for something to roll a lot cleaner through the putt."

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Matt Hill was a can’t-miss college star at North Carolina State, matching accomplishments that only Tiger Woods had achieved before him. And after Hill’s eight-win season in 2009, he quickly made a deep splash in his native Canada, topping the Order of Merit on the Mackenzie Tour-PGA TOUR Canada. But life, like golf, is unpredictable. Sometimes the can’t-miss kids end up missing. Or they run into injuries. Or the game rears its unsympathetic head – no matter your resume. Hill, of Brights Grove, Ontario — the same hometown as Mike Weir – is proof. He will make his first start on the PGA TOUR since 2017 after Monday qualifying for this week’s Butterfield Bermuda Championship. “I haven’t played a ton of tournaments lately, but you just never know with golf,” Hill said from his home in West Palm Beach, Florida. “You keep plugging along and try to get better and you never know when it’s going to happen.” Hill won the NCAA individual title in 2009, one of his eight collegiate titles that year. He was the ACC’s Male Athlete of the Year (in all sports) and captured the Haskins Award as the year’s best collegiate golfer. He turned professional in 2010 and won his first – and to date, only – professional title on PGA TOUR Canada in 2012. He was the tour’s leading money winner that same season. Since that year, however, Hill has hopped around without finding secure footing. He’s made just five PGA TOUR starts in the past decade and played fewer than 30 times on the Korn Ferry Tour in that span. It certainly hasn’t been for lack of trying, and Hill says he’s happy, despite not quite living up to the expectations that he and others bestowed upon him after college. He’s the father of two girls – the second, Rhemi, was born in July – and has mostly been playing mini-tours in the southeastern United States while trying to earn a spot in Korn Ferry Tour and PGA TOUR events via qualifiers. He played the Evan Scholars Invitational on the Korn Ferry Tour last summer but this week’s event in Bermuda will mark his first start on TOUR since a missed cut at the RBC Canadian Open four years ago. “Obviously I haven’t played out on the PGA TOUR in a while so it’s hard to expect too much,” admits Hill. “But I definitely would love to play well for (my family). It would make it extra special. I could play good golf and they could see me doing it.” Hill has battled a wonky back for most of professional career and not a day goes by when he doesn’t feel some tightness or soreness – amplified a bit, he says, by the long drives between mini-tour events. But he says he’s found ways to manage his back pain now better than ever. He frequently tees it up in South Florida alongside fellow Canadian prs Corey Conners, Taylor Pendrith, Michael Gligic and Adam Svensson. He even lives on Conners’ street, he says. But why have most of those guys, younger and with a lighter college resume than Hill, made it to the TOUR and he hasn’t? “There could have been a few different things. It’s definitely not for lack of putting in the work,” says Hill. “It’s been a long go for me and I haven’t made it out there yet, and I definitely have thought about doing different things. But I love the game and for now I’m just going to keep trying to get better. “As of right now, it’s hard to explain. Guys more in my shoes, it’s up and down. Some weeks – or months – you feel like you’re ready to get a job and other times you feel like your game is really good and you’re ready to get out (on TOUR). It’s a fine line.” Days like the Monday qualifier for the Butterfield Bermuda Championship showed Hill he can still do it. He points to Weir as an example of someone who has shown there isn’t an age limit in this game. Weir has had a career resurgence on PGA TOUR Champions after turning 50. “It shows you I have a lot of time and everyone’s on a different plan, as well,” says Hill. “Looking back isn’t going to do too much for me. I’m just trying to take it week to week right now and make the best of my situation.”

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