FORT WORTH, Texas — Harris English quipped to the caddy that nobody beats him on a par-3 Colonial hole, which is true after he followed his birdie into the opening round by one hole on Friday. There is only one player ahead of him on the overall leaderboard.
PGA Tour rookie from England Harry Hole maintained the singles lead with a 36-hole par 12-under 128, making a great save from the sand at the same par 3, to go three strokes ahead of the Englishwoman. After opening with an 8-under 62, Hall had four consecutive birdies in the middle of a second innings 66.
Birdie Hall’s streak ended with a bogey in the fourth third, 12th of the day, when he missed the fairway and then came just short of the green before hitting two runs from 9 feet.
In the final group of the day, Hall hit his putt on No. 8 in the sand in front of the green. Hall failed to get the ball out of the deep dugout on his first attempt, but saved the ball by taking it on the next attempt to the edge of the green and watching it roll into the cup.
The English ace of eight from 170 yards was part of his no-stealth 66.
“Hard 9… pushed it about 4 or 5 yards from where I was aiming, but it’s good that this hole got in the way,” English said. “Just one of those shots where I hit it net, right at the flag.”
His third hole on the PGA Tour was the first on the Colonial No. 8 hole since Jim Furyk in 2011.
English were a blow against Emiliano Grillo, who shot a best score of 65 to go 8-under. Adam Schneck (67), Byung Hoon An (66) and Robbie Chilton (67) are tied for fourth.
Scotty Scheffler, the No. 1 player in the world and last year’s Colonial playoff runner-up, had his second consecutive round of 67 and was tied for seventh at 6-under at 134. Prior to that, he was tied for ninth at 5-under after a blank bogey. from stealth 66.
Jordan Spieth, still dealing with a sore left wrist, shot 72 in the two days to miss the cut. The 11th-ranked player had three bogeys and a birdie over his last four holes.
Other than the hole-in-one, it was just a steady run for the four-time PGA Tour winner, who took third place earlier this month at the Wells Fargo Championship. He hit 11 of 14 fairways and 14 of 18 from the green.
“When I got into trouble going down the tee or around the green, I got up and down it. I did a really great ninth,” said English. “I had a lot of hitting like 15 or 20 feet out and didn’t do much…but as long as I keep hitting the ball and keep giving myself chances, some good things are going to happen this weekend.”
Coming off the one hole, English drove into the right-hand rough at number 9 and then into a green bunker before exploding to 6 feet and making a putt. His only birdie on the back nine was the twelfth, when he made 17 feet from the margin.
Grillo, the 30-year-old from Argentina, was in the round before converting with a birdie from the 389-yard bunker from the 10th green. It was the first of five birdies, including long putts on both par 3s – from 19 feet in the 13th, about 38 feet in the 16th – before getting close to 7 feet in the 18th.
“There are a lot of different clubs off the tee. I have to keep it on the right, I have to keep it on the green. I think that’s the strong part of the game,” said Grillo. “I was fortunate enough to get some good hitting on the back nine. Very happy to finish off the great shot on the 18th and putt well.”