HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. >> Justin Thomas made a pair of birdies on the crusty, breezy back nine at Harbour Town to salvage a 2-under 69 for a two-shot lead Friday at the RBC Heritage, his first 36-hole lead in more than four years.

Thomas is winless since the 2022 PGA Championship and is weary of the topic. He also knows there’s a long way to go on a course that demands precision while allowing a low score.

Si Woo Kim had one of those low scores, a blistering start that had him at 8 under through 12 holes until he settled for a 64. He was two shots behind, along with Russell Henley (68).

Six players were within four shots of the lead, a group that includes defending champion Scottie Scheffler, who didn’t have much go right in his round of 70. On the scoring pins, he was out of position. He was in the fairway for the tucked pins. There wasn’t as many birdie opportunities, but he’s still right in the mix. Andrew Novak (65) and Tommy Fleetwood (66) were three behind.

It was shaping up to be a wide-open weekend at a tournament where no one seems to stress too much coming a week after the Masters. Not everyone, of course. The mystery Friday were the four golf grips — the shaft snapped in half — outside the scoring trailer.

Thomas was in a far better mood, especially the end of the round. One of those tough pins was on the 13th, just to the right of steep bunker framed by railroad ties. He played wedge beautifully to the wide front of the green and holed a 15-foot putt.

Far more impressive was the par-5 15th, where Thomas had 287 yards with one towering tree that always seems to get in the way. He prefers to hit a 5-wood for a little more altitude. He hammered a 3-wood onto the green to set up a two-putt birdie, and finished with three pars.

The shot on No. 15 also illustrated the adjustments he’s making with a fill-in caddie, Joe Greiner, as his regular looper Matt Minister recovers from a back injury.

“He’s still getting used to everything as much as I am,” Thomas said. “We were talking about the shot and trying to hit it right at the green. The tree was kind of in the way. I was like, ‘I feel like it’s a good 3-wood number.’ And he was like, ‘Yeah.’

“Then after I hit it, he goes, ‘I’m so glad you said that because I thought it was a perfect cut 3-wood, but I didn’t want to say that.’ That’s some of the funny adjustments and things we’re working with.”

Lindblad joins Buhai atop the leaderboard in the LPGA Tour’s JM Eagle LA Championship >> Ingrid Lindblad took a share of the lead into the weekend at El Caballero Country Club in only the fourth start of her rookie season on the LPGA Tour. Lindblad shot a career-best 9-under 63 in cool conditions Friday afternoon to join Ashleigh Buhai atop the leaderboard at 13-under 131 in the JM Eagle LA Championship.

“I feel like if you put the work in, like eventually it’s going to show up,” said Lindblad, the 25-year-old former LSU star from Sweden. “Obviously, it’s hard to tell exactly when it’s going to show up, but, obviously, I feel like I’ve been working on good things in my golf game that I need to get better at. After a day like this, it shows that it paid off.”

With the temperature only climbing into the low 60s on an overcast day, Lindblad had 10 birdies and a bogey on the first 14 holes. She parred the final four.

“I thought I read the greens really well,” Lindblad said. “It wasn’t just like tap-ins for par. It was 10-footers, 17-footers. I read the greens really well. Thought I had good speed on the greens. Really just one putt that ran away from me and I three-putted it.”

Buhai had a share of the lead for the second straight day after opening with a 63 to match Yan Liu. The 35-year-old South African player parred the final five holes Friday in a 68.

Joel Dahmen sets 36-hole tournament record in Dominican Republic>> Joel Dahmen played bogey-free for the second straight day for a 6-under 66 to set the 36-hole record at the Corales Puntacana Championship and build a four-shot lead going into the weekend at the site of his only PGA Tour victory. Dahmen won the tournament in 2021, and another victory would be a boost. It won’t get him into the Masters next year, but Dahmen narrowly kept his PGA Tour card last year and winning is worth a two-year exemption. Michael Thorbjornsen, the Stanford alum who earned a card through the PGA Tour University ranking, matched his career best with a 63 and was four shots behind along with Garrick Higgo (68) and Charley Hoffman (66).

Dahmen, the only player without a bogey on his card this week on the Corales course, was at 16-under 128 to set the tournament record through two rounds.