HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. — Two-time champion Stewart Cink moved into place for a 3rd RBC Heritage title, taking pictures a second straight 63 to set the 36-hole scoring mark at Harbour City.
Cink, 47, seems unstoppable after two wonderful days. He sits at 16-under 126, 5 pictures forward of Corey Conners. The earlier greatest halfway rating was 129, set by Jack Nicklaus en path to victory in 1975 and matched by Phil Mickelson, who wound up third in 2002.
Conners shot 64 and was 11 beneath. Emiliano Grillo (64) was one other shot behind.
Fourth-ranked Collin Morikawa, getting ready to defend his PGA Championship title subsequent month, was tied for fourth at 9 beneath with Sungjae Im (65), Billy Horschel (67) and Cameron Smith, who adopted his opening-round 62 with a 71.
Cink was hardly overwhelmed by the scores he posted, chalking them as much as good preparation and robust execution alongside his 24-year-old son, Reagan, who’s caddying for him.
“It does not really feel all that particular, to be trustworthy with you,” Cink mentioned. “We simply sort of labored our sport plan.”
It was definitely sudden. Cink hasn’t completed within the prime 20 at Harbour City in a decade, hadn’t led midway for the reason that Vacationers Championship in 2008 and is nearer to the PGA Tour Champions than his prime.
But Cink has had a renaissance on golf’s largest stage this season. He received for the primary time in 11 years on the Safeway Open in September and has added 5 top-20 finishes together with a tie for 12th final week on the Masters.
Cink was down three pictures to Conners when he teed off Friday.
Irrespective of. Cink shortly erased the deficit with an eagle on the par-5 second and a birdie on No. three. Cink moved in entrance with a birdie on the sixth and steadily constructed his margin the remainder of the way in which, including birdies on the 11th, 13th, 15th and 17th holes.
The veteran is 2 stable rounds away from including a 3rd plaid jacket to the 2 he earned in 2000 and 2004. In each of these wins, Cink got here from behind on Sunday. This time he’ll want to only keep his robust general play.
Since Reagan turned his caddie, father and son have been collaborating on technique earlier than tournaments.
“We name it bludgeoning, and we’re simply bludgeoning that plan virtually to loss of life,” the elder Cink mentioned with a smile. “Whenever you handle your self round a course like that and execute, the golf programs yield.”
Conners entered the week with Masters momentum, having tied for eighth at Augusta Nationwide for his second top-10 end there in 5 months. He birdied seven of his closing 13 holes.
“Giving myself numerous probabilities and was very nice to see some go in,” Conners mentioned. “Hopefully, can maintain that up going into the weekend.”
Morikawa had probabilities, too, He had seven birdie alternatives from 20 ft or much less on his closing 9 holes, however the one one which dropped was an 18-footer on No. 6.
Morikawa mentioned altering wind situations made it troublesome to evaluate inexperienced speeds.
“It was robust not seeing a couple of birdies in,” he mentioned. “However we’ll work on a couple of issues and be high-quality for the weekend.”
Smith, who was bogey-free in his opening 62, dropped three pictures in a five-hole stretch on Friday.
“I feel the golfing gods obtained a couple of again on me in the present day,” the Australian mentioned.
High-ranked Dustin Johnson used a back-nine surge to keep away from his second straight missed lower and after leaving the Masters early, returning solely to slide the inexperienced jacket on new champ Hideki Matsuyama. Consecutive bogeys on the fourth and fifth holes at Harbour City dropped him to 1 beneath, however 4 birdies coming in gave him a 67 and left him 11 pictures behind Cink.
These going dwelling included Patrick Cantlay, Harris English, Sergio Garcia and Kevin Na, all among the many prime 30 within the FedEx Cup level standings this season.