After a challenging first day at TPC Scottsdale, scoring conditions improved considerably in the second round of the 2026 WM Phoenix Open and a number of players took advantage to surge up the leaderboard on Friday.
The top of the leaderboard features a pair of Japanese stars. Ryo Hisatsune fired a 63 in the afternoon to reach 11 under, while two-time Phoenix Open champ Hideki Matsuyama shot a 64 in the morning to post 10 under heading into the weekend.
The Stadium Course at TPC Scottsdale has always been a comfortable venue for Matsuyama, and he tore up the front nine early to go out in 30 and rapidly move up the leaderboard to take the lead before the afternoon wave hit the course.
Hisatsune did his damage on the back nine, going 6 under in a five-hole stretch from No. 13 to No. 17 to move ahead of his countryman and take the lead — punctuated with a chip-in birdie after driving it in the water on the short par-4 17th.
While Matsuyama and Hisatsune were battling for the 36-hole lead, World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler found himself in unfamiliar territory trying to simply make it to the weekend after a 2-over 73 on Thursday. Scheffler opened his round with four straight pars, but finally took the lid off with a birdie on No. 5 that seemed to wake him up. It began a charge through the rest of his round as he shot 65 to not just make the cut, but get in position to make a run on the weekend at 4 under.
After some uncharacteristic misses with irons on Thursday, Scheffler seemed to get back on track with his ball-striking on Friday and was able to warm up the putter to make his move well inside the cut line.
Scheffler currently has the longest active made cut streak on the PGA Tour, now extended to 66 consecutive tournaments, after Xander Schauffele’s run of 72 straight cuts ended last week at Torrey Pines.
The leader
1. Ryo Hisatsune (-11)
Hisatsune is fresh off a T2 finish at the Farmers Insurance Open last week and seems to have carried that excellent form to the desert. The question for Hisatsune going into the weekend is whether he can be consistent enough to stay at the top of the leaderboard. He’s been a streaky player, capable of getting hot and piling up birdies, but also will run into stretches where he gives a few back. He will have a familiar playing partner in his countryman Matsuyama, and we’ll see if that can keep him comfortable in the frenzied atmosphere that is Saturday at TPC Scottsdale.
The 23-year-old is looking to make a name for himself stateside in his third full season on the PGA Tour, and there’s perhaps no better place on the PGA Tour to gain fans than at the WM Phoenix Open.
Other contenders
2. Hideki Matsuyama (-10)
T3. Chris Gotterup, Pierceson Coody (-8)
T5. Matt Fitzpatrick, Si Woo Kim, Akshay Bhatia, John Parry, Sahith Theegala, Jake Knapp (-7)
Matsuyama’s career record at the WM Phoenix Open is incredible, but a lot of that success came early in his career — including his two wins in 2016 and 2017. He’s never missed the weekend in the desert, but since those two wins he’s had just one top 10 (2022). After his performance on Friday, he looks poised to not only get back inside the top 10, but a serious threat to win his third Phoenix Open, which would tie him for the most all-time with Phil Mickelson, Arnold Palmer and two others.
Chris Gotterup was the 18-hole leader and looked like he could do no wrong in his first round, but he put too many blemishes on the card on Friday and could only manage to tread water and remain at 8 under for the tournament. He’ll need to wake the putter back up and avoid the miscues that cost him on Friday, but with his length off the tee and ability to keep the ball low under the wind, he is a serious threat to pick up his second win of the season.
Pierceson Coody is also an emerging young player and his accuracy off the tee makes him a threat this week where we’ve seen wayward tee shots punished severely due to the firmness of the greens. Si Woo Kim had the biggest turnaround of the first two days, going from a 73 to a 62 to shoot the low round of Friday, and put himself in contention once again in what’s been a red-hot start to 2026.
Notable players to miss the cut
- Joel Dahmen (E)
- Brooks Koepka (+2)
- Corey Conners (+2)
- Jordan Spieth (+3)
- Billy Horschel (+3)
- Sam Burns (+5)
Not everyone was able to make a Friday surge like Scheffler to reach the weekend. After scrapping to reach the weekend last week at Torrey Pines, Brooks Koepka couldn’t do the same this week as his putting woes continue in his return to the PGA Tour. Jordan Spieth, playing with Scheffler, couldn’t ever get his round going in the right direction and carded four bogeys on Friday to finish just outside the cut line.
Updated WM Phoenix Open odds, picks
Odds via FanDuel Sportsbook
- Hideki Matsuyama (+230)
- Ryo Hisatsune (+470)
- Scottie Scheffler (10-1)
- Chris Gotterup (11-1)
- Si Woo Kim (13-1)
- Pierceson Coody (14-1)
- Sahith Theegala (17-1)
- Matt Fitzpatrick (19-1)
Matsuyama is a deserving favorite given his history here, and if he stays as confident on the greens as we’ve seen him so far, it’s hard to see him fading far from the top of the lead. While the course’s firmness won’t change and will keep it challenging, wind aren’t going to be a real factor and I think we’ll see some excellent scoring through the weekend. That points me to Kim at 13-1 as a serious threat given his ability to pile up birdies in bunches. I also like Coody to stay near the top of the leaderboard and threaten his first career win, and at 14-1 he presents some value as well.
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