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Thanks for reading today. Scott Murray will guide you through the weekend action.
Can Maverick McNealy or Alex Smalley hold on and cause an upset? Might Aldrich Potgieter be that man? Will Scottie Scheffler overwhelm them and the field to record a fifth major championship triumph? Or can Rory McIlroy launch an audacious bid for his seveth major sucess? Much to look forward to. Join Scott to find out what happens.
Moving day will matter tomorrow. The last 30 winners of the PGA Championship were tied seventh or better heading into the final round – and 29 of them were tied fourth or better.
Talking to the press, Rory McIlroy has had a few thoughts on the set up this week: “The only thing I would say is, I think a bunched leaderboard like this is a sign of a not great setup. It’s easy to make a ton of pars, hard to make birdies and, not that it’s hard to make bogey, but it feels like bogey is the worst score you’re going to shoot on any one hole. There are not a lot of hazards. I’ve always felt like really good setups spread the field a bit, and not great setups bring everyone together. I feel like that’s what’s happened the last two days.”
Notable names that have missed the cut: +5: Russell Henley, Robert MacIntyre, Tommy Fleetwood, Wyndham Clark. +6 JJ Spaun, Viktor Hovland, Tyrrell Hatton. +7 Bryson DeChambeau. +8 Adam Scott.
Rory McIlroy cards a second round 67 It gets him safely into the weekend on +1, five shots back of the lead. Here he is talking to TV: “I just needed to find a feeling with driver last night. Too many wayward drives yesterday. Much better today and I limited the mistakes. It was a day to get back in the tournament and I did it. Some of these hole locations have been brutal. Hard to even get a lag putt close to. It’s a bunched leaderboard, anyone who makes the cut will feel they’re in it.”
Here are a few names to think of when we consider the chances of the co-leaders, Maverick McNealy and Alex Smalley, this weekend: Jhonattan Vegas, Matt Jones, Robert Streb, Carl Pettersson, Tim Herron – they’ve all led, or co-led, this championship at halfway and drifted away over the final 36 holes.
Beware Scottie Scheffler this weekend. A statement of the bleeding obvious, you might mutter, and with some justification. But get this: 29 of his last 32 third and fourth round scores have been sub-70. Moreover, in 14 of those 16 tournaments, he logged two sub-70 scores at the weekend. If he maintains that record he’ll put pressure on everyone else in the top 20.
Maverick McNealy on his rise to the top of the leaderboard: “Hard golf course, fun test, but a long time to be switched on. I played four a half hours very good golf and an hour not so great. This is one course where I can contend without hitting fairways. I hope to hit more fairways this weekend, though.”
The back nine has mostly been sloppy by Jon Rahm. But he closes out with a delicious back foot chip to confirm his par that leaves him -1 for the championship. Rory McIlroy played an average 8-iron into the green and has a 40-foot birdie putt. It was a nice line yet leaves a testy little par putt. Jordan Spieth has played the hole best of the trio and he has 11 feet for birdie to hit the weekend on level-par, but it only brushes the hole. He looks close and, while he’s twitched every bit as much as we’d expect him to, he also looks under control. Now for the McIlroy par putt and in it pops. A 67 for +1 for the tournament.
Ludvig Åberg on opening rounds of 66-72: “Compared to yesterday, I did most things better. I was hitting more fairways, I was hitting it closer, and I was making more putts. We knew it was going to be a day of patience with some of those pins. The wind was up early in our round. It died down, which made it a little bit easier. But still a difficult golf course, and I’m pleased with my patience.”
Maverick McNealy ties Alex Smalley for the halfway lead A fine effort by the Californian to make it two unheralded pacesetters in this second major championship of the year. That said, big names linger close behind, including Scottie Scheffler who is just two shots back of the lead.
-4: Smalley (F), McNealy (F)
-3: Matsuyama (F), Gotterup (F), Potgieter (F), Jaeger (F), Lee (F), Greyserman (F)
-2: C Young (F), Thomas (F), Scheffler (F), Puig (F), English (F), SW Kim (F), Åberg (F)
To Maverick McNealy on the par-five 9th. He’s found rough from the tee and also with his second shot, but he’s still got a 13 feet for birdie and the solo lead. He’s an excellent putter, one of the best, but the wind has left his sails in the last hour and it never looks close.
A magnificent 57 feet and 3 inch birdie putt at 17 pulls up two inches short for Jordan Spieth. Now Rory McIlroy has a go from 33 feet and it rests near the hole for par. Finally, from 30 feet, Jon Rahm, and it’s a cosy two putt for par. As you were.
Bryson DeChambeau finished with three straight birdies. But it’s not enough to get him into the weekend. He completes 36 holes in +7. A tough week and it’s not been the easiest year, of course. Decisions to be made.
Min Woo Lee has been asked if a win this week would be good for his family. His sister Minjee is already a multiple major winner. His reply was lovely: “It is tough. You win one, but you got to win three more to overtake the sister. Still a long way to go.”
To the business end of the par-five 16th hole. Jordan Spieth’s eagle putt stays up, but he taps in for birdie. He’s now +1 for the week. Rory McIlroy has a swift 11 foot birdie putt to get back to level-par for the championship … it was a little tentative and slips past. Now Jon Rahm has seven feet for his birdie … it lips out! Not a lot of energy in the group after that trio of first putts and they’ll be frustrated heading to the 17th tee.
Jordan Spieth is yet to scratch a par breaker on his card today. He’s made 12 pars and three bogeys. But a superb approach to the par-5 16th should change that. He’s left himself 10 feet for eagle.
Harris English has completed a second round of 67 to start the weekend on -2 for the championship. He was tied second behind Scottie Scheffler in this championship last year and then second behind Scheffler in the Open.
Maverick McNealy’s tee shot at the par-3 8th came to rest up against a cushion of first cut grass. He used the toe of his putter to progress it, and it didn’t work out too well. It left 12 feet for the par and he missed it. He drops back to -4 for the week, back in a tie for the lead with Alex Smalley.
Jon Rahm was looking quite chipper when he got to -2 for the round on the 11th. It’s been downhill ever since, though. He saved par at 12 after finding trouble. But has now made bogey at both 13 and 15. And, having missed right with a few tee shots, he now hooks his tee shot at 16 into heavy rough.
We had a big clue that something special had happened with a huge roar out on the course. A long Rory McIlroy birdie putt? No. A huge Min Woo Lee try? No. So it must be Rickie Fowler’s long birdie try at 17?!?! Oh yes! From 9 feet and it gets him to +1 for the week.
It’s going to be a huge weekend for Alex Smalley and he knows it. “I’m certainly not one that’s super loud or boisterous, I try to stay laid back,” he told the press. “I don’t like being in the spotlight a whole lot, so I’m still trying to get used to playing in front of large groups of people. My first couple years on tour, I kind of struggled with that. It can be a little overwhelming. I realise that there are probably people who don’t know who I am, and that’s fine.”
Lots of chatter from the commentary team about likely conditions at the weekend. After the chilly conditions so far this week, it is forecast to heat up and the wind will continue to blow. Those two factors should contribute to fast fairways and faster greens.
‘The Ludvig Åberg Move’ sounds a little like a Len Deighton rip-off spy novel. In reality, he’s just made his fourth birdie in five holes at the par-five 16th. He’s -4 for the round and -3 for the championship. Smooth swinging and box fresh, he’s right in the hunt.
Maverick McNealy’s magic touch has left him. A three putt at 6 has seen him slip back to -5 for the week.
I’ve always been tickled that his Going for the Green percentages are low. In short, that means he isn’t a very gung ho golfer. In fact, he’s rather calculating. I like to think that somewhere his parents are shaking their heads, disappointed that he’s not lived up to their hopes and dreams for him.
William Simpson is backing me up on the Andrew Coltart obsession with Garrick Higgo’s clumsy timekeeping. He emails: “He’s very grumpy about it. Why does it matter so much to him?” Quite.
Stephan Jaeger has 12 feet for birdie on the 9th, his final hole of the day. It would be lovely for him to make it. But also neat if he made par instead because it would be his 18th of the second round. He’s a busy little fellow with rather neat and short paces.
The putt doesn’t drop so it’s 18 pars for Jaeger! He hits the weekend on -3 for the championship. It’s his 13th major start and he’s in good shape to register a first top 20 finish.
Andrew Coltart on commentary slips his final dagger of the week into the back of Garrick Higgo. He’s got himself in a terrible tiswas about Higgo missing his tee time yesterday. Higgo has finished the week on +5 and is going to miss the cut by the two shots he was penalised because of his daft mistake. Coltart seems to think some vengeful golfing gods got involved. His obsession has been quite peculiar.
Garrick Higgo, more like Grrr-ick Higgo. Photograph: Richard Heathcote/Getty Images The updated leaderboard now that Maverick McNealy is stretching clear – and Si Woo Kim is repeating what he did on Friday in last year’s PGA Championship in sneaking onto the front page.
-6: McNealy (14*)
-4: Smalley (F),
-3: Matsuyama (F), Gotterup (F), Potgieter (F), Jaeger (17*), Lee (15)
-2: C Young (F), Thomas (F), Scheffler (F), Puig (F), Cantlay (15), SW Kim (15), Rahm (13)
Another birdie from Maverick McNealy, this time from eight feet at the 5th. He’s now -5 for the round and -6 for the championship. He’s two clear of the field and has opportunities to come on the front nine.
A move from Sweden’s Ludvig Åberg. He was level-par through 11 holes, but his body language suggested he was doing worse than that. He’s now made three birdies on the bounce. He’s -3 for the day, -1 for the championship and bouncier.
Meanwhile, Jon Rahm has followed one terrible tee shot with a poor one. This time, he found heavy rough and has only been able to thrash the ball into a fairway bunker. Rory McIlroy was in the fairway and has found a different bunker to Rahm.
Aldrich Potgieter is taking positive thoughts from finishing bogey-bogey to lose the lead. “Sleeping on the lead is not always good,” he said. “It’s mentally draining for a week like this where it’s so big. So I think being in a couple shots back puts me in a position where I can look for a low round instead of defending.” He then referenced his victory in the Rocket Classic last summer when he found sleeping on the lead tough, struggled early in his final round, but then composed himself.
A bold strike on the 12th green from Rory McIlroy and his 10 foot birdie putt drops. He’s now +1 for the championship and has red numbers in his crosshairs. He has a genuine chance to get himself in contention. He backs it up with a solid iron from the 13th tee. Playing partner Jon Rahm completes his par saving exercise from off the green at 12 to make amends for that dodgy drive.