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SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — A dunk hole-in-one. A climb into the top 10 by the world’s No. 1 player. A repeat bid showing life. And a fan favorite with a late surge.
The 2025 WM Phoenix Open seemed to have a bit of everything in Friday’s second round.
TPC Scottsdale was awash in sunny skies and warm temperatures and the Stadium Course got rocking after lunch with roars heard all across the venue when Emiliano Grillo made a hole-in-one on the 16th hole. Check that. When he dunked a hole-in-one. Not only that, slo-mo showed the ball swirl a couple times around inside the cup. It’s the 12th ace at 16 in tournament history at TPC Scottsdale.
“You always dream of making a hole-in-one there, so every time that you step in there, you’re trying to make it,” he said, adding that he used a pitching wedge. “Yeah, I mean, it was loud. It was very loud. It was a lot of emotions. I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t know what to do. There was a lot going on. I just loved watching the beer go on to the green. That’s what I enjoyed.”
Grillo ended up needing that ace because he shot a 2-under 69 and ended up at 2 under, right on the cutline. They didn’t finish the second round Friday evening due to darkness so the official cut will come Saturday.
Grillo is moving on to the weekend but he now has plenty of work to do to catch tournament leader Thomas Detry.
Playing in his 68th PGA Tour event, Detry shot a Friday 64 to back up his Thursday 66 and posted 12 under midday. That put him two clear of Alex Smalley, who also played in the early wave in the second round, and Michael Kim, whose 63 late in the day tied for low round and also got him to 10 under. Those are the only three players at double digits under par so far. For Detry, he’s halfway home to his first PGA Tour victory. He said he’s liking his game tee to green so far.
“Just very comfortable on the greens. I’ve been hitting a lot of fairways, as well. The greens are getting firm. I think they’re going to get firmer and firmer over the weekend, as well. The fairways are kind of the key,” he said. “I’ve got this low-tee drive which has been working pretty well the last couple of weeks. Good fairway finder.”
He closed his Friday round strong with birdies on 16 and 17. His shot to 16 spun and stopped just inside 3 feet.
“It’s just fun to give the crowds what they want, a bit of fun, and give a good look at a hole-in-one, which is what I did the last two days. Almost dunked it yesterday, and today was pretty close,” he said.
Scottie Scheffler, who made his 2025 season debut last week at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, shot a 5-under 66, three shots better than Thursday.
“I feel much better about how I played today than yesterday. I felt like both days could have gotten more out of my rounds, but overall did a lot more good things out on the course and looking forward to the weekend. We’ll see how the leaderboard shakes out, but I have an outside chance going into the weekend,” he said. Scheffler is T-12.
Defending champion Nick Taylor shot 70 on Thursday but made a move Friday, shooting a 5-under 66 to get inside the top 20 at T-18. Should he win, he’ll go back-to-back right behind Scheffler’s back-to-back titles.
Other movers and shakers on Friday include:
Monday qualifier Will Chandler, who shot a Thursday 68, was 4 under through 16 and tied for 12th.
Justin Thomas (66-68, 8 under, four shots back) brought some more roars at 16 after stopping his tee shot 3 feet, 3 inches, draining the birdie putt and then motioning to the crowd as he held his hand up to his ear. He’s tied for seventh.
Jordan Spieth, who had 11 pars and a birdie on his card before making eagle at Nos. 13 and 15 to get to 8 under and made one last birdie on the 17th to get into a tie for fourth.
Five under over his final six holes. Not bad.
“It was cool,” he said. “You know there looks coming in on this golf course, and you just have to put the ball in the fairway, really, because from the fairway every hole is very much birdieable out here.”
On 13 and 15, after his drive, he had the same club in his hand for both second shots.
“I had two 5-irons that I put really nice swings on into the par 5s. It was good to have good numbers. Fortunate for both of them to feed the right distance to have good looks.”
Spieth made his season debut a week ago, his first start since August at the FedEx St. Jude Championship after undergoing surgery on his left wrist to repair a ruptured tendon sheath. He played 22 times last season with seven missed cuts. But he’s a crowd favorite here and his Friday evening surge brings some star power to the top of the leaderboard.
On the bottom of the leaderboard is a pair of WDs: J.J. Spaun and one of the tournament’s favorite stars Rickie Fowler, who cited illness before pulling out Friday morning.
There were 13 players on the golf course when play was halted for darkness. The second round will conclude Saturday morning before the cut is official. The projected cut is 2 under.
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: WM Phoenix Open 2025: Thomas Detry leads, Scottie Scheffler makes move
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