Jason Day of Australia has been at the top a lot lately and he’s back there again.
Day (pictured), No. 1 in the World Golf Rankings, posted a 2-under-par 69 in windy conditions at Harbour Town Golf Club and was tied for the lead with Charley Hoffman and Kevin Chappell halfway through the RBC Heritage in Hilton Head Island, S.C.
“Yeah, you can’t chill out here at all,” said, Day, who has won six of his last 14 tournaments, including the PGA Championship last August. “It’s difficult in that you have to position yourself perfectly off the tee, because if you don’t, then you’ve got a lot of trees to deal with. And then on top of, it’s similar to Augusta, as well … there’s high trees out there. If you hit it above the trees, the wind is going to take it. If you hit below, it’s not going to get affected at all.
“I said that yesterday was going to be the easiest day of the three because the wind is supposed to get stronger. I’m actually pretty tired today. The last two days were pretty difficult. We’ve got two more days to go and I’m looking forward to the weekend.”
Day collected four birdies, including three in a span of five holes while finishing on the front nine. He overcame a bogey on the fifth hole after driving out of bounds, and another at No. 17, where he could not get up-and-down after hitting into a greenside bunker.
Hoffman, from Poway and UNLV, birdied three of his first four holes after starting on the back nine on his way to a second 68 and Chappell, from Fresno and UCLA, birdied three of the first four holes on the front after starting at No. 10 and also was at 68-68.
“I hit a lot of fairways, kept the ball in play and that’s huge around here, especially in the wind,” said Hoffman, who has won three times on the PGA Tour but not since the 2014 OHL Classic at Mayakoba. “I think 3-under is a good score today.
“I gave myself several birdie opportunities and made some, and made some good par saves. The putter feels good. I was struggling a little on the greens at the beginning of the year, but it’s starting to come around.”
Luke Donald of England, who was tied for the first-round lead, overcame a double bogey 5 on the 14th hole to shoot 71 and was one stroke back in a tie for fourth with Russell Knox of Scotland, whose 65 was low round of the day, and Patton Kizzire, who had five birdies on the last 11 holes of a 68.
Matt Kuchar, who won the Heritage in 2014, carded 16 pars in a 71 and was two shots behind in a tie for seventh with Chris Kirk, who had a 66, David Lingmerth of Sweden, who birdied two of his last four holes for a 71, George McNeill, who came in at 70.
Bryson DeChambeau of Clovis, the NCAA and U.S. Amateur champion making his professional debut, shook off a double bogey-6 on the eighth hole to post a 69 and was three strokes down in a tie for 11th with Ricky Barnes (68) of Stockton, Zach Johnson (68), Jerry Kelly (69), Graeme DeLaet (70) of Canada, Morgan Hoffman (69), Lucas Glover (67), Russell Henley (67), Bronson Burgoon (69) and Jason Kokrak (68).
