Hovland holds halfway lead at Hero World Challenge

Defending champion Viktor Hovland held the halfway lead at the Hero World Challenge here while world number 2 Scottie Scheffler moved closer to reclaiming the top spot in the Official World Golf Ranking.Hovland, one of the four overnight leaders, shot an eagle for the second straight day to take a one-stroke lead after a card of 2-under 70 in the second round on Friday.

Defending champion Viktor Hovland held the halfway lead at the Hero World Challenge here while world number 2 Scottie Scheffler moved closer to reclaiming the top spot in the Official World Golf Ranking.

Hovland, one of the four overnight leaders, shot an eagle for the second straight day to take a one-stroke lead after a card of 2-under 70 in the second round on Friday. He was at 5-under 139.

The Norwegian, the world number 12, had a slam dunk eagle from just under 85 yards at the par-5 sixth, and four birdies including three consecutive ones from holes 13 to 15.

''It's kind of strange like I knew it was windy and I feel like I missed so many putts,'' said Hovland, who is trying to become only the second player after Tigers Woods to win back-to-back Hero World Challenge titles.

''And I still don't feel like I'm hitting it very good. I'm not comfortable over the ball, but the ball's going straight and I'm giving myself looks.'' He is a shot ahead of the quartet of Xander Schauffele (72-68), Scheffler (68), Cameron Young (71-69) and Collin Morikawa (71-69).

Scheffler moved up seven spots to be tied second as he navigated the relentless wind at Albany for a round of 4-under 68.

The American golfer, who spent 30 consecutive weeks at number 1 in OWGR, had a stretch of four birdies in five holes from the 11th to the 15th but dropped a shot on the 17th.

Should he win this tournament, he could replace Rory McIlroy at the top of the ranking.

''No. 1 is obviously a place I'd like to get back to, but if we're not playing golf for a while, who knows what the world rankings are going to do. Right now it seems to be a bit of a flawed system, so we'll see what happens there,'' he said.

South Korea's Tom Kim, who was the only bogey-free golfer in round one, dropped shots on day two and could only manage an even-par 72 as he was in sole sixth position.

Justin Thomas (72-70) was seventh with joint overnight leader Sepp Straka (69-74) and Bill Horschel (73-70) tied eighth while Matt Fitzpatrick (74-70), Jon Rahm (73-71) and Tony Finau (72-72) were tied 10th.