No. 24: Kevin Kisner

HOUSTON – Scottie Scheffler got mad. Then he went low. A course record didn’t seem likely after a frustrating start to his day. Finishing up his delayed first round, he missed a 5-foot par putt on the last hole to sign for a 2-over 72. A poor tee shot to start his second round and another early bogey put him over the edge. “Anger can go a few ways on the golf course,” he said. “You can use it and get even more frustrated and more pissed off and you start thinking negatively. I used that anger today as a positive.” Scheffler finished Friday by signing for the lowest score in the short history of this renovated rendition of Memorial Park, which is in its second year hosting the Hewlett Packard Enterprise Houston Open. Scheffler’s 62 bested the previous record – set by three players in last year’s final round – by a stroke. It also was Scheffler’s fourth round of 62 or lower since the start of the 2019-20 season (his rookie year), the most on TOUR in that span. That includes a 59 shot in last year’s FedExCup Playoffs. Scheffler leapt from outside of the cut line and into contention. At 6-under 134 (72-62), he’s four back of leader Martin Trainer. Scheffler is seeking his first PGA TOUR win, and it’s about the only thing missing from the 25-year-old’s sterling resume. He was the 2019 Korn Ferry Tour Player of the Year and 2020 PGA TOUR Rookie of the Year. He has qualified for the TOUR Championship in both of his seasons and has finished in the top 10 in the past three majors. He capped his Ryder Cup debut by birdieing the first four holes in his Singles match with Jon Rahm to dispatch the World No. 1, 4 and 3. Winning may have been far from Scheffler’s mind after Thursday’s start, however. He double-bogeyed his third hole to fall to 3 over. He thought he’d sorted out his swing after a quick range session between Friday’s rounds. Then he duck-hooked his tee shot off the first tee. A bogey on the fourth hole was the last straw. “After I bogeyed No. 4 I basically told myself I’ve had enough of this crap,” he said. “That’s what I told my caddie, too, walking down the fifth fairway. Hit a nice putt on six and just kind of turned the round around from there.” He birdied six of seven holes from Nos. 5-11, then added birdies at 15 and 17. He missed just four fairways in the second round after hitting fewer than half in his opening round. His 12 greens hit were three more than in the opening round. “This golf course can be pretty challenging from the Bermuda rough and you’ve got to hit the ball in play,” he said. “If you’re hitting it in the rough to elevated greens that you can’t hold just because you’re hitting knucklers out of the rough, so it was very important to get the ball in the fairway.”

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Evian shortened to 54 holes due to rain, winds

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LA QUINTA, Calif. — Charlie Reiter had aspirations of one day being inside the ropes as a competitor at the CareerBuilder Challenge — he just never expected it would be during his senior year at Palm Desert High School.  The 17-year-old local resident, who will attend the University of Southern California in the fall and said he’s been coming to the event with his dad for as long as he can remember, received a sponsor exemption into the CareerBuilder Challenge, making him the first amateur in the tournament’s 59-year history to be exempt into the field.  With friends and family expected to be in attendance, Reiter admitted to having some butterflies ahead of Thursday’s tee time. But unlike most teenagers playing in a PGA TOUR event for the first time, he has a couple of things going in his favor — beginning with the fact that this won’t be his maiden start against the pros.   Reiter earned an exemption into the 2017 Australian Open field via a junior tournament win last December and managed to become just one of four amateurs to make the cut out of the 156-player field.  He’ll also have a familiar face on the bag this week in putting coach Dave Stockton Jr., who has been working with Reiter since he was 10 years old. Stockton finished in a tie for first place in 1993 at PGA TOUR Qualifying School when it was still held in La Quinta, giving him course knowledge that Reiter said could be invaluable this week.  “It’s really nice to have him on the bag,” Reiter said, “knowing that’s he’s played out on these courses and won out here kind of allows me to be more comfortable knowing he will be able to help me play through the course.” Reiter should feel more at ease having recently played a practice round with Jon Rahm at Bighorn Golf Club. Rahm walked away impressed by Reiter’s game and demeanor — two things he believes could take him far in the game.  “First of all he’s a great kid,” Rahm said. “He’s committed to USC, so I know he’s a good student. He hits it far and when I mean far, I mean really far, like he can easily get it past me. And when we played the last time together I played really good.  “… He reminds me of Brandon Hagy, they’re both similar builds, not the biggest guys, they’re just fit and have a lot of power. He can get it out there.” After seeing how his game stacks up against one the best players in the world, Reiter will get another opportunity on Thursday when tees it up with a few rising twentysomethings in former top-ranked amateur Maverick McNealy, Adam Schenk and Denny McCarthy.  Asked what his expectations were for this week, Reiter said he’s concentrating on one thing in particular: having fun.  “I’m not really expecting anything from the event,” Reiter said. “I just want to go out here and have a good time and play as well as I possibly can.â€�

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