2026 RBC Heritage leaderboard: Matt Fitzpatrick takes control with Friday 63, Viktor Hovland hot in pursuit

Despite his efforts to run away and hide, Fitzpatrick still has some serious contenders chasing him into the weekend.

Weekend contenders

2. Viktor Hovland (-13)
3. Harris English (-10)
T4. Ludvig Åberg, Patrick Cantlay, Sepp Straka (-9)
T7. Rickie Fowler, Robert MacIntyre, Si Woo Kim and four others (-8)
T14. Scottie Scheffler, Collin Morikawa and three others (-7)
T19. Akshay Bhatia, Russell Henley and six others (-6)

Hovland's performance on Friday was arguably as impressive as Fitzpatrick's given he played in the much tougher conditions late in the afternoon. His 65 kept him hot on Fitzpatrick's heels and ensured he'd play in the final pairing on Saturday as he looks to pick up his first win of 2026. He too has been fantastic on the greens, ranking second in strokes gained putting, and if he can keep that up alongside some continued improvement as a ball-striker on the weekend, he'll be a serious threat to pick up his first signature event win.

Back-to-back birdies for Viktor Hovland 🔥

He moves to 6-under on the day and is just one back of Matt Fitzpatrick's lead.

📺 Golf Channel pic.twitter.com/1yR2ede6Yy

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) April 17, 2026

The man leading the field in putting is Harris English, who wasn't able to score quite as well on Friday, but keeps himself in the mix heading into the weekend. The group at 9 under includes the 18-hole leader, Ludvig Åberg, who found things much more difficult in the afternoon wind on Friday. However, he was able to grind out an under-par round despite not having his best to stay in contention. Straka's presence is not a huge surprise given his accuracy off the tee and as a ball-striker, and Cantlay continues his solid play of late with a 64 to give himself a shot going into the weekend.

Among those a bit further back are Scottie Scheffler and Collin Morikawa. Scheffler played the first two days with Fitzpatrick and has simply not been able to make enough putts to keep pace, but his ball-striking gains he picked up at the Masters seem to have carried over, which will give him plenty of opportunities to finally breakthrough with a low round this weekend. Morikawa has been incredibly open about the mental struggles he's had coming back from his back injury, but he keeps playing solid golf in spite of those challenges. Hopefully as he keeps putting solid rounds together, he can start ridding himself of the lingering doubt that his back will hold up.

Early disappointments

T53. Jordan Spieth (-1)
T61. Chris Gotterup (E)
T67. Tommy Fleetwood (+1)
T81. Justin Thomas (+8)

There is no cut this week, so all 82 players will see the weekend, but while everyone will have a tee time on Saturday and Sunday, some big names will not be a factor.

Gotterup got off to such a hot start to the season and hasn't yet found that form again since leaving the West Coast. He had a solid showing at his first Masters, but hasn't gotten much of anything going this week at Harbour Town.

Fleetwood entered the season with massive expectations after finally getting that first PGA Tour win at the Tour Championship, but just has not been able to recapture that late season form yet in 2026. That's continued this week on a course that would seem to be a solid fit for his skillset, and he's left searching for his A-game.

Spieth and Thomas are recent past champions at this event, and would've had high hopes that a friendly course could bring out their best. Unfortunately for Thomas, that has not materialized as he's looked a bit lost all week and finished the second round in last. Spieth has been better than that, but he opened his second round with a tee shot out of bounds that led to a double bogey that put him in an early deficit he couldn't fully climb out of. Spieth's seemed close to that breakthrough all year, but continues to struggle putting full rounds -- much less full events -- together of really strong play.