Matt Fitzpatrick rides a good bounce and great golf to a 63 to lead Viktor Hovland at Hilton Head

HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. (AP) — Matt Fitzpatrick had one good break and a lot of great golf for an 8-under 63 to take a one-shot lead Friday over Viktor Hovland on a blistering day of heat and big numbers in the RBC Heritage.

Fitzpatrick was cruising along when his tee shot on the par-3 14th turned hard to the left, headed for sand and trees when it caught what appeared to be the edge of a cart path that sent the ball back down a slope onto the green and headed for the water.

It was slowed just enough by a sprinkler to stay dry, and he holed a 30-footer for a most unlikely birdie. Fitzpatrick birdied two of the next three and completed a bogey-free round.

“Yeah, it was lucky, there's no two ways about it,” Fitzpatrick said. “Sometimes you need that in a week, so it's nice to get, and then even nicer to take advantage of it.”

Hovland had it far tougher in the afternoon when the wind got stronger, and it doesn't take much around tree-lined Harbour Town for players to get indecisive or catch the wrong gust.

Hovland got the right club on the exposed par-3 17th to 12 feet for his eighth birdie of the day and a hard-earned 65. That included a birdie on the par-5 fifth when he was still 205 yards out for his third shot and wound up holing a 30-footer.

“I wouldn’t say I striped it today, but at least I kind of kept the ball in front of me, and that’s what you’re trying to do on this golf course,” Hovland said.

Fitzpatrick, who won the RBC Heritage in a playoff over Jordan Spieth in 2023, was at 14-under 128.

Harris English got the wrong gust on the 11th hole and went from scrambling for par to figuring out how to escape with double bogey from a plugged lie in the sand. He overcame that, had a 68 and was three shots behind.

Scottie Scheffler, who played alongside Fitzpatrick, hit all 14 fairways for only the fourth time in his career — two of those were on the runway-wide fairways of Kapalua — and had a steady diet of birdie chances in the 18-foot range. He managed a bogey-free 67 and was seven behind.

Fitzpatrick and Scheffler both hit the ball so well it looked they were playing a Tuesday money game, with birdie chances on every hole and exchanging birdies early on before the wind acted up.

On the par-4 eighth, Scheffler hit enough of the left corner of the green that it hopped right to 7 feet. Fitzpatrick followed on the same line and was 6 inches closer, and Scheffler looked back at the Englishman and smiled.

But it was Fitzpatrick who surged ahead with a batch of three straight birdies on the front and three straight birdies on the back. The longest par putt he had was 4 feet on the final hole.

He called it a continuation of good iron play that began when he finished one shot behind Cameron Young at The Players Championship, then won the following week at Innisbrook in the Valspar Championship.

Patrick Cantlay, who took a big step last week with consecutive bogey-free rounds at the Masters after opening with a 77, shot 64 and was four shots behind along with Sepp Straka (67) and Ludvig Aberg, who was closing in on Fitzpatrick until three bogeys on the back nine led to a 71.

Robert MacIntyre also was in the mix, three shots behind, until the wind died enough to keep his ball from finding the 17th green, and then he took two to get out of a bunker for a double bogey. That wiped out a lot of good work, and a bogey on the 18th dropped him to a 68, six behind.

There were 20 double bogeys on the day from the 82-man field on 11 of the holes at Harbour Town. Spieth made three of them and scratched out a 73.

Akshay Bhatia had 11 birdies to offset his double bogey in a round of 63.

“Man, it got tricky there on the back nine, as it can here at Hilton Head,” English said. “Gusty winds. You don’t really know what direction it’s coming from.”

Fitzpatrick has a history at Hilton Head Island beyond winning three years ago. His family used to come over on holiday. He suspects his father typed in the words “tennis” and “golf” and “nice weather” and off they went. He recalls going to the tournament, even getting a golf ball signed by Boo Weekley. And now here is, a major champion looking for another plaid jacket for the winner.

AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf

Scottie Scheffler inspects his ball in a bunker on the 18th hole during the second round at the RBC Heritage golf tournament Friday, April 17, 2026, in Hilton Head, S.C. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

Viktor Hovland, of Norway, hits from the waste area on the 10th hole during the second round at the RBC Heritage golf tournament Friday, April 17, 2026, in Hilton Head, S.C. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

Matt Fitzpatrick, of England, hits from the 18th tee during the second round at the RBC Heritage golf tournament Friday, April 17, 2026, in Hilton Head, S.C. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

Matt Fitzpatrick, of England, prepares to putt on the 18th hole during the second round at the RBC Heritage golf tournament Friday, April 17, 2026, in Hilton Head, S.C. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Two U.S. Army soldiers have been injured after encountering a brown bear in a mountainous training area in Anchorage, the military said Friday.

The incident happened Thursday as the soldiers were participating in a “land navigation training event” in Arctic Valley, part of the Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson’s training area.

The soldiers were receiving medical care as of Friday, a military official told the Anchorage Daily News. Messages sent to base spokespersons were not immediately returned to The Associated Press on Friday.

The soldiers’ conditions were not released pending notification of relatives.

Both soldiers used pepper spray on the bear, the official said. Few other details were available about the incident because it was still under investigation.

“The safety and well-being of our personnel is our highest priority,” Lt. Col. Jo Nederhoed, a spokesperson for the U.S. Army 11th Airborne Division, said in an email to the Anchorage Daily News.

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game is investigating what it says appears to have been “a defensive attack" by a bear that had recently emerged from a den. The area near where the incident occurred has been closed to recreational activity by base officials, the department said.

Samples were collected by investigators with the aim of positively identifying the species and gender of bear involved, the department said.

The base encompasses 100 square miles (259 square kilometers) within the Municipality of Anchorage, where up to 350 black bears and 75 brown bears roam freely.

FILE - A sign marks the entrance to Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska, Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Thiessen,File)