The afternoon tee time of the second round at the RBC Heritage did not unseat the Englishman Matt Fitzpatrick (-14) from the top of the leaderboard, but it did see Viktor Hovland (-13), despite the complications the course presented as the wind picked up considerably, push hard to hold onto a second place he had shared after the opening day and now occupies outright
The Norwegian admitted after his round that his season hadn’t started well, but that he’s finally beginning to see light after a lot of technical work: “I’ve had a pretty tough start to the year,” he admitted. “I’ve hit a lot of balls this week on the TrackMan, looking for feel and the right ball flight.” That work appears to be starting to bear fruit, at least partially, in a round in which, despite not being entirely sharp, he senses improvement
“I’m not where I want to be yet, but I like the direction things are heading,” he revealed, a sign that, after months of doubt, he is beginning to “see” again the shot he is looking for, especially that controlled left-to-right ‘draw’ that has been the main focus of his preparation. Today he again missed a handful of fairways — eight out of 14 to be exact — and nearly half the greens in regulation, but he managed to scrape together eight birdies to offset his two bogeys
Back-to-back birdies for Viktor Hovland 🔥
He moves to 6-under on the day and is just one back of Matt Fitzpatrick's lead.
📺 Golf Channel pic.twitter.com/1yR2ede6Yy
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) April 17, 2026
“Today was tougher, mainly because of the wind,” he admitted. And although he made some mistakes, they were almost always in ‘controlled’ positions, which minimised the consequences: “I haven’t had any big errors. I’ve kept the ball in front of me, and that’s key on this course.” He now has an exciting weekend ahead in which he’ll go head-to-head with Fitzpatrick, while both keep an eye in the rear-view mirror on a long list of chasers
Luck also helped the Englishman in addition to his great golf today. On the par-three 14th he completely missed left from the tee, towards a patch of sand and trees. The ball bounced off a sort of buggy track and returned to the green, heading for the water. But it stopped just before reaching the hazard thanks to a sprinkler. In a couple of days we’ll see whether it was champion’s luck, a player who already knows what it’s like to win the Hilton Head Island, where he lifted the title in 2023
Harris English (-10), with whom Hovland shared second place after the first 18 holes, was held up today with a three-under-par round, although he reached double digits to be sole third. Patrick Cantlay (-9) rallied with a superb 64. Meanwhile Sepp Straka (-9) picked up a few strokes and Ludvig Aberg (-9), leader yesterday at eight under, stalled and relinquished his privileged position. From there, more heavy artillery, with names like Rickie Fowler (-8), Keegan Bradley (-8), Si Woo Kim (-8) or Collin Morikawa (-7), among others, as well as the world Number One, Scottie Scheffler (-7), who is beginning to get going
This RBC Heritage, part of the famous Signature Events that share $20 million in prize money, has no cut, to the relief of many. Good news for names like Justin Thomas (+9) and Tony Finau (+8), surprisingly last and second-last respectively after two days to forget… but this time with the weekend ahead to try to take revenge and climb the leaderboard. Things got complicated in the afternoon wave and in this second round 20 double bogeys were recorded among the 82 players, spread over 11 holes at Harbour Town. Jordan Spieth (-1) carded three of them and finished with 73
The other side of the coin belonged to Akshay Bhatia (-16), who managed no fewer than 11 birdies to make up for his double bogey in a 63, climbing 46 places into the top 20 of the standings
