Tour Championship: Scottie Scheffler stays strong at top of leaderboard, Xander Schauffele makes big move

Scottie Scheffler gave no indication of releasing his grip on the Tour Championship, but Xander Schauffele cut his lead with a brilliant display on a course he adores. World No. 1 Scheffler arrived at East Lake as the hot favourite by virtue of his outstanding play all season and the fact he started with a two-stroke lead due to the staggered start.

Ad Scheffler extended the advantage from two to five shots on Thursday, and kept his foot on the gas on Friday. Tour ChampionshipScheffler extends lead, McIlroy fights back after starting with triple bogeyYESTERDAY AT 22:27 He got to 19-under after a round of 66 for a two-stroke lead, but East Lake specialist Schauffele raised hope of a duel over the weekend after carding a blistering round of 63. Scheffler's tee shot on the second suggested he was not likely to back off, as he took dead aim and brought his ball to a standstill four feet from the hole for a simple birdie.

An awful tee shot on the sixth leaked way to the right, but he somehow found a route through the trees and got up and down for a birdie on the par five to extend the lead to seven shots. Scheffler is a pretty laid-back character and rarely shows emotion on the course, but he cracked a huge smile on the ninth. The flag on the par three had danger written all over it and the sensible play was to run for safety to the left side of the green.

Safety was not on Scheffler’s mind, and the spectators were left in disbelief as his ball clattered into the flag and dropped five feet from the hole. The only surprise was that he missed the birdie putt. In truth, the putter was colder than the previous day but he got round without a bogey on the card to suggest more is in the locker if he can get the short stick working