Spieth shoots 66 to share Hero lead

Spieth, whose hole-in-one in Round 1 remained the shot of the day, battled a rugged start with three straight birdies, and then a surge on the back nine carried him to a six-under 66.

Spieth’s second round score was matched by fellow leader Bill Haas and they were joined on 11 under par by fellow American Jimmy Walker who shot a 67 in Albany.

Walker offset two bogeys with seven birdies in his round. “Coming off how much golf weve been playing, Im still going to be about making sure Im resting….

“The grind is still there, ” Spieth said. On the golf course, though, he remains all business.

Spieth, who coasted to victory by a massive 10 strokes in last year’s Hero World Challenge played at Windermere in Florida, was delighted with his “great bounce-back” in the second round at Albany.

The Masters and US Open champion pulled his tee shot into a bad lie to the left of the fifth green and could not get up and down, but he holed excellent putts for birdie at the next three holes before draining a 30-footer for an eagle at the 11th.

Paul Casey, who shared the first-round lead after opening with a 66, lost ground on the leaders when he dropped shots at 15 and 16 in a disappointing 70.

On Wednesday, Spieth told PGA.com that he thinks he can play even better in 2016 than he did in 2015, when he won two majors.

“So I’ve got a little bit to work on but everything feels good”, said the 22-year-old player after the day’s play. “Top 10s, top 5s aren’t going to cut it where I need to get to”.

Sweden’s Stenson shook off an illness that hampered his buildup to record five birdies by the turn, but was less prolific over the final nine holes and finished with a six-under 66 that was matched by Van Zyl. He originally was penalized one shot for marking his ball off the green at the par-5 third, only for the penalty to be rescinded when officials determined it was too hard on some holes to determine where the putting surface ended.

“If my mom had putted, she would have shot 65, ” Lahiri said.