RBC Heritage: Aberg grabs 1-stroke lead

MIAMI (AFP) — Sweden’s Ludvig Aberg fired eight birdies in a crisp eight-under par 63 on Thursday to take a one-stroke lead in the US PGA Tour RBC Heritage, where world number one Scottie Scheffler was five off the pace.

“Anytime you are bogey free and you make eight birdies, it’s a good day,” said Aberg, who said solid work with his irons was key to his bogey-free effort at Harbour Town Golf Links at Hilton Head Island, South Carolina.

“(I) Felt like I was hitting the flights I was trying to do,” he said. “I was on the correct side of the flags, those kind of things that I really like to see. Then a few putts went in on the back nine that I didn’t really do on the front.”

Three-under through the first eight holes, Aberg kickstarted a back-nine surge with a nine-foot birdie at the 10th.

“It was a tricky read, kind of up and over, double breaker, and that was really nice,” said Aberg, who got up and down for par at 11 before another birdie at 12.

That was followed by a 22-foot birdie putt at the par-three 14th, and back to back birdies at 16 and 17.

“It was nice to see the putt on 14 go in,” he said. “It was the longest putt I made today, I think. Obviously hit the right shot, short left, and then a good putt to end it off.”

Aberg had a one-stroke lead over American Harris English and Norway’s Victor Hovland.

Half a dozen players shared fourth on six-under 65, a group that included former US Open champions Matt Fitzpatrick and Gary Woodland.

Rory McIlroy, coming off his second straight Masters triumph on Sunday, skipped the elite signature event.

World number one Scottie Scheffler, who finished runner-up to McIlroy at Augusta National after his weekend surge left him one stroke behind the Northern Ireland star, carded a three-under par 68.

Scheffler’s week started with a bogey at the par-four first, where his tee shot went out-of-bounds on the right.

“It was looking like it was going to hit those trees and I guess it flew right through them and hit (a) path and went out of bounds,” said Scheffler, who admitted he didn’t even know there was an out-of-bounds lurking there.

He got on track with birdies at the third, fifth and sixth and after a bogey at the seventh picked up two more strokes coming in.

“I feel like I did some good stuff out there,” Scheffler said. “Conditions were tough late in the day. (I) would have liked to have had a better start, but outside of that, I felt like I executed pretty well.”