Xander Schauffele takes control in Las Vegas after birdie blitz

Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry both well off the pace at halfway stage in the desert

Tyrrell Hatton was three shots off the pace in second place at the halfway mark of the CJ Cup PGA tournament in Last Vegas on Friday.

Hatton could not quite match his first round of seven-under 65, but still managed to card a four-under 68 to be 11-under par behind American Xander Schauffele, who made six birdies in a row amid a 64 to be 14-under.

Meanwhile Rory McIlroy had a rollercoaster of a second day at Shadow Creek - seven birdies were offset by four bogeys as he posted a three under par round of 69.

Further down the leaderboard, Shane Lowry is in a share of 52nd place on two over par following a second round of 74.

READ MORE

The 29-year-old Hatton had an eventful day, with seven birdies offset by three bogeys.

He carried on from his two-shot overnight lead with birdies on the fourth, seventh and eighth, to turn in three-under 33 and a formidable 10-under for the tournament.

In unusual scenes, Hatton had to re-situate his ball in a greenside bunker on the 11th after playing partner Jon Rahm’s divot landed on it. He chipped out to eight feet but took two putts for bogey.

He recovered with birdie threes on the 12th and 14th holes, before ending with a run of bogey-bogey-birdie-birdie.

Schauffele enjoyed the tournament’s lowest round so far with his remarkable 64. After birdying his second hole he then unleashed his incredible streak of birdies from his fourth to his ninth, to turn with a seven-under 29.

Yet he was then able to add just one more birdie on his way home, against eight pars.

Lying third, a shot behind Hatton, was American Russell Henley, while England’s Matthew Fitzpatrick was seven shots off the lead on seven-under.

Ian Poulter shot a two-under 70 to be in a tie for 13th at five-under and Justin Rose was on two-over after rounds of 74 and 72.

Latest second round scores in the The CJ Cup Shadow Creek (USA unless stated, par 72):

130 Xander Schauffele 66 64

133 Tyrrell Hatton (Eng) 65 68

134 Russell Henley 66 68

135 Talor Gooch 70 65

136 Jason Kokrak 70 66, Collin Morikawa 71 65

137 Matthew Fitzpatrick (Eng) 69 68

138 Hideki Matsuyama (Jpn) 70 68, Justin Thomas 72 66, Tyler Duncan 67 71, Lanto Griffin 70 68, Kevin Streelman 68 70

139 Harry Higgs 72 67, Ian Poulter (Eng) 69 70

140 Jason Day (Aus) 70 70, Joaquin Niemann (Chi) 72 68, Andrew Landry 71 69, Jon Rahm (Spa) 67 73, Billy Horschel 70 70

141 Daniel Berger 71 70, Viktor Hovland (Nor) 75 66, Sergio Garcia (Spa) 71 70, Mark Hubbard 70 71, Sebastian Munoz (Col) 71 70, Harris English 75 66

142 Richy Werenski 74 68, Brooks Koepka 74 68, Kevin Na 76 66, Abraham Ancer (Mex) 69 73, Rory McIlroy (NIrl) 73 69, Brian Harman 71 71, Rickie Fowler 74 68

143 Carlos Ortiz (Mex) 72 71, Robby Shelton 73 70, Bubba Watson 74 69, Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa) 70 73, Patrick Cantlay 71 72, Cameron Champ 74 69, Si Woo Kim (Kor) 69 74, Tom Hoge 73 70, Danny Lee (Nzl) 71 72, Joel Dahmen 68 75, Cameron Smith (Aus) 69 74Hanbyeol Kim (Kor) 74 69

144 Marc Leishman (Aus) 73 71, Sung Kang (Kor) 73 71, Ryan Palmer 68 76, Matt Kuchar 76 68, Adam Hadwin (Can) 75 69

145 Keegan Bradley 75 70, Nick Taylor (Can) 71 74

146 Justin Rose (Eng) 74 72, Byeong-Hun An (Kor) 73 73, Shane Lowry (Irl) 72 74, Joohyung Kim (Kor) 75 71, Dylan Frittelli (Rsa) 74 72

147 Seonghyeon Kim (Kor) 77 70, Sungjae Im (Kor) 78 69, Jim Herman 78 69, Corey Conners (Can) 77 70

148 JT Poston 78 70, Scottie Scheffler 71 77, Tommy Fleetwood (Eng) 77 71, Gary Woodland 73 75, Mackenzie Hughes (Can) 73 75, Kevin Kisner 77 71, Jordan Spieth 74 74

150 Alex Noren (Swe) 77 73, Tae Hee Lee (Kor) 75 75, Brendon Todd 77 73, Adam Long 78 72, Jeongwoo Ham (Kor) 79 71

151 Kyoung-hoon Lee (Kor) 78 73

152 Brendan Steele 73 79, Michael Thompson 75 77, Paul Casey (Eng) 75 77

153 Jaekyeong Lee (Kor) 77 76, Matthew Wolff 80 73