Defending champion and world No. 1 Jordan Spieth fired a six-under par 66 on Friday to grab a share of the lead after the second round of the Hero World Challenge.
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With six birdies, two bogeys and an eagle, the reigning Masters and US Open champion finished 36 holes on 11-under 133 to join fellow Americans Bill Haas and Jimmy Walker atop the leaderboard in the 18-man invitational event hosted by Tiger Woods at the Albany resort near Nassau, Bahamas.
Americans Patrick Reed and Chris Kirk each shot the day’s best round, a 65, to share fourth with Bubba Watson on 134 with England’s Paul Casey and Americans Zach Johnson and Matt Kuchar sharing seventh on 136.
Spieth birdied the par-3 second but stumbled with bogeys at the par-5 third and par-3 fifth. He responded with three birdies in a row starting at the par-5 sixth, eagled the par-5 11th and added back-to-back birdies at 13 and 14.
Walker, who shared the firstday lead with Casey and Johnson, opened with back-to-back birdies but took bogey at the fifth as well.
He answered with birdies at the last four par-5 holes – six, nine, 11 and 15 – as well as going bogey-birdie at 12 and 13. Haas opened with a birdie and eagled the sixth, then added birdies at seven, nine and 11.
His lone blemish, a bogey at 13, was followed with a birdie on the next hole and four concluding pars. India’s Anirban Lahiri fell back to five-under par after a double bogey on the 18th hole.