Matt Fitzpatrick of England shot a spotless, 8-under 63 to vault into the lead halfway through the RBC Heritage on Friday in Hilton Head Island, S.C.

Fitzpatrick climbed to 14-under 128 at Harbour Town Golf Links, while Norway’s Viktor Hovland came close to tying him at the end of the day but settled for a 65 and second place at 13 under.

Harris English sits third at 10 under following a 68, and first-round leader Ludvig Aberg of Sweden made three back-nine bogeys on his way to 70, slipping into a tie at 9 under with Patrick Cantlay (64) and Austrian Sepp Straka (67).

There is no 36-hole cut at the post-Masters signature event with a $20 million purse. Justin Thomas, last year’s champion, will be grateful to see the weekend as he’s fallen to dead last in the 82-man field following rounds of 76 and 75 (9 over).

Fitzpatrick, 31, won the Heritage in 2023 in its first year as a signature event. With the course comfortability came a lucky break at the par-3 14th on Friday.

His tee shot flew far left of the green, but his ball appeared to bounce off a tree and a cart path to come back to the green with some speed. It nearly rolled all the way off into the water, but a sprinkler head helped bring it to a stop. The head allowed Fitzpatrick a free drop for relief, and from just off the green he drilled a 33-foot putt for birdie.

Akshay Bhatia matched Fitzpatrick for the round of the day, shooting 63 and tying a tournament single-round record with 11 birdies. After a poor first round, he moved up to 6 under on the leaderboard.

–Field Level Media

Through eight Cup Series races, five different drivers have been the first to the checkers and positioned their teams nicely at the top of the standings.

Reigning series champion Kyle Larson is hoping it’s his turn to join that list Sunday at the AdventHealth 400 at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City, Kan.

In its effort to crown a championship by creating more competition in every race instead of a Game 7 scenario for just four drivers, NASCAR scrapped its system and revisited the “Chase” format reminiscent of 2004’s Chase for the Nextel Cup, which had 10 drivers competing in a 10-race playoff.

Some variations made their way into the new 16-race postseason, but the most significant is the 55-point reward to each race winner, a 15-point bump from 2025.

Though five drivers have won a race so far, 23XI Racing’s Tyler Reddick has been victorious in half, owning four total victories to give him a 62-point advantage over second-place Ryan Blaney.

Winning mattered a lot in 2025. First, it was a “win and you’re in” the playoffs, then it was tacking on postseason points with another. Finally, winning in the final three stages advanced a driver to the next one.

However, winning matters even more now and can create a gap from the pack from Race 1 to Race 36, even after a lone 26-race reset that favors the points leader.

Win a lot and a hot shoe can be in Reddick’s perch, sitting pretty in the catbird seat.

Denny Hamlin, Bristol first-time victor Ty Gibbs and Chase Elliott occupy third through fifth, which leads to the first non-winner in sixth place, Larson.

Hamlin arrives at Kansas as one of the betting favorites, but Larson appears on a quest because the Hendrick Motorsports pilot has yet to end a race as the top dog on a Cup Series Sunday.

It’s been a minute since grabbing the checkers.

Larson finds himself in a unique position Sunday: It marks the final time this regular season where he is a defending race winner. The Elk Grove, Calif., product also won at Homestead-Miami (this season’s finale) in March of 2025 and Bristol last spring.

“I feel like we’re really close, like we could have won four to five races in this time span of not winning, maybe even more,” said Larson, who has 260 points and is second to Blaney with 72 stage points. “It’s kind of wild to think it’s been almost a year since I’ve won because I don’t feel like we’re that bad. … It just hasn’t happened.”

Larson, 33, said last November’s championship in the Arizona desert made his current 32-race winless streak seem like no big deal, saying, “Ultimately, celebrating the championship in Phoenix felt like a win in a lot of ways.”

The two-time series champ does not lead single-digit laps at Kansas. Larson runs the point in chunks and is usually the guy being chased at the leaderboard’s perch.

Larson led 221 laps a year ago in his last victory and is a three-time winner at the 1.5-mile track in the past nine races.

Since 2021, his No. 5 Chevy has paced 761 circuits there, more than double that of Hamlin (337), the next highest leader.

But just leading the final one Sunday will be fulfilling.

–Field Level Media

Top-seeded Elena Rybakina escaped in a third-set tiebreaker while No. 2 Coco Gauff and No. 3 Iga Swiatek were upset victims to Karolina Muchova and Mirra Andreeva, respectively, in Friday’s quarterfinals of the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart, Germany.

No. 7 Muchova saved 12 of 15 break points during a 6-3, 5-7, 6-3 victory that marked her first win over Gauff in seven career meetings. The Czech will next face No. 4 Elina Svitolina after the Ukrainian delivered a 7-6 (2), 7-5 win over Czech Linda Noskova.

No. 6 Andreeva of Russia rallied for a 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 win to defeat Swiatek of Poland for the third consecutive time. Andreeva saved 9 of 14 break points while winning in two hours, 36 minutes.

Andreeva next faces Rybakina, who staved off a second match point against Canada’s Leylah Fernandez as part of winning the final three points to score a 6-7 (5), 6-4, 7-6 (6) victory. Rybakina had a 7-6 edge in aces and hit 51 winners while winning in three hours, two minutes.

Rouen Metropolitan Open

Teenage qualifier Veronika Podrez of Ukraine reached the semifinals in her first main-draw tournament by rolling to a 6-4, 6-1 victory over Brit Katie Boulter in Rouen, France.

Podrez, 19, had 28 winners against 11 unforced errors while finishing off Boulter in 78 minutes. Podrez’s semifinal opponent will be second-seeded Sorana Cirstea after the Romanian registered a 7-6 (2), 6-2 victory over Anna Bondar of Hungary.

Top-seeded Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine and Tatjana Maria of Germany will meet in the other quarterfinals. Kostyuk ousted Ann Li 6-0, 6-7 (4), 6-3, while Maria beat Belarus’ Iryna Shymanovich 7-6 (5), 6-2.

–Field Level Media