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RBC Heritage 2019: Shane Lowry Leads by 1 Stroke as Darkness Shortens Round 2

Tim Daniels

Shane Lowry holds a one-shot lead in the 2019 RBC Heritage tournament after second-round play was suspended due to darkness on Friday night at Harbour Town Golf Links in Hilton Head, South Carolina.

Lowry, who stands at nine-under through 16 holes, was three under on his Round 2 scorecard before conditions were deemed unplayable. A rain delay that halted the action for nearly four hours forced the second round to stretch into Saturday.

Trey Mullinax owns second place at eight-under, while Dustin Johnson and Emiliano Grillo share third place at seven-under. All three finished their second round, but other players have as many as nine holes to complete on Saturday morning.

Shane Lowry started his day with birdies on the first two holes and three of his first five. It was a continuation of his strong play Thursday, when he posted a bogey-free 65 to grab the lead.

"My scores haven't been great as of late," he told reporters after Round 1. "But I felt like I've been playing OK. So maybe this is a reward for the perseverance."

Although he cooled off after Friday's hot start, with one birdie and one bogey over his final 11 holes before the stoppage, he's still atop the leaderboard. And it'd take a terrific finish from someone to overtake him before the end of Round 2 with five-under the top score among players with holes to finish.

The 32-year-old Irishman is seeking his first PGA Tour win since the 2015 Bridgestone Invitational.

Dustin Johnson, the top-ranked player in the world, is two strokes off the pace after finishing tied for second behind Tiger Woods at last week's Masters. The 2016 U.S. Open champion has five birdies and one bogey as part of a four-under 67 on Friday.

He's now shot 70 or better in 20 of his past 21 rounds dating back to the Genesis Open in mid-February.

But it was Emiliano Grillo who stole the spotlight on Friday with an albatross on the par-five fifth hole. His 282-yard drive into fairway left him 254 yards to the hole. He hit the approach shot of a lifetime to go from even par to three under in the blink of an eye.

Here's a look at a couple more highlights from Day 2:

The PGA Tour announced the second round will resume Saturday at 7:45 a.m. ET.

No rain is in the Weather Channel forecast for Hilton Head on either Saturday or Sunday, so the tournament should still finish on time despite Friday's lengthy delay.

   

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