ATLANTA — Later squandering a bulky supremacy within the opening spherical of the Excursion Championship, international Negative. 1 golfer Scottie Scheffler bounced again in a bulky manner Friday at East Pool Golfing Membership, and as soon as once more reveals himself chasing Norway’s Viktor Hovland at the weekend.

Hovland and two-time main champion Collin Morikawa posted 6-under 64s on Friday and feature a 2-stroke supremacy at 16 below later 36 holes. Morikawa began the match at 1 below in staggered scoring, and his 15-under general of 125 all set the 36-hole report for the Excursion Championship. It’s two strokes higher than Tiger Logs’ half-way general of 127 in 2007.

They have been 2 strokes higher than Scheffler — who carded a 65 on Friday — and three forward of U.S. Ryder Cup hopeful Keegan Bradley.

“If I was going to tell myself I was going to be 16 under through two days with my total score or whatever you want to call it, I would have taken that,” Morikawa stated. “Look, I think with [the] wind being down and this course, if you keep it in front of yourself, it’s obviously gettable. There’s going to be low scores. There’s going to continue to be low scores this weekend.

“Vegetables are forming to company up. You’re nonetheless going to peer guys firing at pins. You will have a couple of scale down holes that it’s a must to benefit from. The par-5s are very gettable. It’s now not going to finish at 16 below. There’s moving to be a dozen extra low rankings, a dozen extra birdies made. I’m moving to need to proceed that heading into the later two days.”

Morikawa had been searching for his swing for much of the past two seasons and oddly seems to have found it when he made a poor shot in Tuesday’s practice round.

“I clash one evil shot within the follow spherical, attempted to determine it out, was once out at the dimension [for] two extra hours,” Morikawa said. “From time to time simply being in the market while you don’t understand that you just’re in the market for that lengthy of a length, you in finding something that you just hope works. I heartless, I’ve performed that for the date few years, hoping that we’re going to seek out that something that clicks and at this time, I’m going to stay with it. Why now not?”

Hovland, who won last week’s BMW Championship outside Chicago, led the field in strokes gained: off the tee and tied for second in driving distance at 314.1 yards on Friday. He had five birdies in the final seven holes of the back nine for a 30. He posted a 7-under 28 on the back nine at Olympia Fields Country Club on Sunday to win his first FedEx Cup playoffs event.

“I believe all of it begins from simply the tee,” Hovland said. “I’m hitting a dozen of fairways, riding it in reality smartly. In the event you’re continuously within the fairway in this golfing route, you’ll in reality be competitive with one of the most iron photographs in there. Simply been ready to provide myself a dozen of seems to be. At the again 9, I began making some putts.”

Xander Schauffele matched the co-leaders with a 6-under 64 on Friday. It was his 26th consecutive round of par or better in the Tour Championship, the most in the tournament’s history and nearly twice as many as the next-closest player, Woods, who had 14 straight from 1999 to 2001. Schauffele was under par in 23 of those rounds and has never been over par in a round at East Lake.

“It’s good-looking perceptible,” Schauffele said. “It’s simply you’v were given to type of plot across the attribute smartly and if you’ll get your putter going, the vegetables are so natural you are feeling like you’ll get started rolling anything else in. So it will have to simply have compatibility my optical. I’m now not in reality certain. I performed good-looking smartly across the attribute, and I’m going to want some extra of that spell right here at the weekend.”

Defending FedEx Cup champion Rory McIlroy is 6 strokes behind Hovland and Morikawa after carding a 3-under 67. McIlroy is still being bothered by a sore right side and said there’s only so much he can do on the course.

“I’m restricted in what I will do, however I’m right here grinding away, fighting away,” McIlroy said. “So satisfied to be thru 36 holes.”

McIlroy said he had a little more speed on his swings and was probably only a half-club off his normal distances, compared to a full club in Thursday’s opening round. He can’t hit a left-to-right shots and is teeing his ball down on drives for flat, running shots down the fairway.

“It’s simply crispy to type of get my proper facet during the ball,” said McIlroy, the only three-time FedEx Cup champion. “It in fact feels higher with the longer golf equipment as a result of I’m extra upright in my posture. Once I type of get all the way down to the shorter stuff, seeking to keep in my posture is a attempt. So I’m type of simply popping out of it and swinging my fingers at it, and I’m lacking a dozen of iron photographs left. However, yeah, simply seeking to supremacy it and do the most efficient I will.”