Adam Scott dominates star-filled leaderboard in BMW Championship

Australia’s Adam Scott hit a 2-under 69 par on Friday to hold on to a narrow 36-hole lead over the weekend in the BMW Championship at Wilmington, Delaware Country Club.

Scott went 8 under in two rounds, but could have been 10 under without a late double bogey. Fifteen players are within three shots of him for Scott, and FedEx is on the star-studded leaderboard in Game 2 of his Cup playoffs.

World No. 1 Scotty Schaeffler (67 Friday), Jordan Spieth (67), Cameron Young (68), and Canada’s Corey Connors (67) tied for second at 7 under par. Reigning FedEx Cup champions Patrick Cantley (68), Xander Schauffele (69), Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy (68), Australia’s Cam Davis (67) and Scott Stirlings (68) are his 6-under.

Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama (67) and Ireland’s Shane Lowry (71) are 5-under, tied for 11th with Chile’s up-and-coming Joaquin Niemann (68), Kurt Kitayama (66), Aaron Wise (68) and Harold Varner. . III (71).

They all look up to Scott, 42, who tied for fifth in Game 1 of the playoffs, the FedEx St. Jude Championship.

Scott had four birdies and no bogeys in the card when he stepped to the tee on the par-4 17th hole, but laid up on the fairway after his drive went badly off right and huddled under a tree. Attempts to do so failed and landed thick and rough. That ultimately set him up for a two-putt double bogey, reducing his lead.

“Overall, I felt really in control today,” Scott said. “When you’re playing like that, you can always be several times better, and a bad shot at 17 paid a pretty big price. It’s just that I really have to keep it under control.” , is a weekend reminder that you don’t want too many people going off the map and losing position around here.

“But I’m in good shape for the weekend. I don’t even know when I last led a tournament.”

Spieth easily tied Scott at 8 under when he recorded an 18-foot putt on the 17th for his fifth birdie of the day.

“I just wanted to be bogey-free,” Spieth said. “I think it was pretty impressive this afternoon. But overall, I just manage the course really well. No, but I feel like in every aspect of my game, it’s trending and improving. ”

Schaeffler birdied four of the first six holes and finished with five birdies and one bogey. After winning four in six starts earlier this season, culminating in the Masters, Schaeffler is yet to return to the winner’s circle.

“I definitely want to win again,” he said. “I want to win every week, so this week will definitely be no different. , I will definitely have a chance to get into the weekend.”

First-round leader Keegan Bradley hit 64 followed by 74, dropping to 4-under in the second. He was tied for 17th with Sam Burns (69), South Korea’s KH Lee (70), Russell Henry (71) and Great Britain’s Tyrrell Hutton (71).

There was no 36-hole cut on Friday, but there are luminaries who are far off the pace, including Spain’s Jon Rahm (1 over) and Tony Finau (3 overs).

–Field level media