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-8: Vegas (F)
n -6: Pavon (F), Fitzpatrick (F), SW Kim (F)
n -5: Homa (F), Scheffler (F)
n -4: Stevens, (F), MacIntyre (F), Poston (F), Smalley (F), Fox (F), Bezuidenhout (F), Thorbjornsen (F), McCarthy (F), Gerard (F), Higgo (17)
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Not the finest closing hole for the championship leader Jhonattan Vegas. His second shot at the par-four 18th finds sand, his recovery shot is less blast than waft, it dribbles off the front apron of the green, his chip slips a nasty three feet past the pin, and oh dear! Another ugly effort – he misses! Yikes. He finally finds the bottom of the cup after six strokes. He’s added a 70 to his opening round of 64 to set a 36-hole mark of -8. Back out on the course, Rory McIlroy drains an excellent par putt at the third to stay -1 for the day.
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Max Homa’s drive at 9 sails in the wayward fashion towards trouble down the left. But not for the first time this afternoon, he’s got a chance to go for the green by whipping high over a tree. And not for the first time this afternoon, he makes it. Two putts later, and that’s par and a brilliant round of 64, matching Jhonattan Vegas’s effort yesterday. Inches away from a hole-in-one-albatross as well. That’s his lowest career round in a major. He’s the early clubhouse leader at -5.
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Max Homa misjudges his second into 18, and his ball topples back off the false front. No matter! He bumps a chip up the bank and straight in! Yet another birdie, and he’s covered the back nine in 30 strokes. That’s just two shy of the nine-hole scoring record currently held by Brad Faxon, who took 28 across the front nine at Riviera in 1995! Green Mile, Schreen Mile. He’s -4 and right in the mix now. As is Collin Morikawa, who looks in the mood to add a second PGA title to his resumé. He rolls in a 20-footer across 16 for his third birdie of a blemish-free round. And with Jhonattan Vegas getting up and down from sand again, this time at 3, the leaderboard is beginning to hot up after a slow start.
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-6: Vegas (3)
n -5: Davis (10), Hatton (8*), Rai (7), Gerard
n -4: Homa (9*), Scott (8*), Morikawa (7*), Thorbjornsen (4), Jaeger, Smalley, Fox, Donald
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It’s a star-studded leaderboard. Just not studded with the stars we expected. Here’s how the top of it looks …
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-7: Vegas
n -5: Davis, Gerard
n -4: Rai, Jaeger, Smalley, Fox, Donald
n -3: Campos, Thorbjornsen, Hatton, Bradley, R Højgaard, MacIntyre, Fitzpatrick, Echavarria, Poston, Hisatsune, Noren
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… and here are today’s tee times (USA unless stated, all times BST). It’s on!
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Starting at hole 1
n 12.00 Adam Hadwin (Can), Keith Mitchell, Bob Sowards
n 12.11 Eric Cole, Cameron Davis (Aus), Eric Steger
n 12.22 Brian Bergstol, Jacob Bridgeman, Austin Eckroat
n 12.33 Byeong-Hun An (Kor), Niklas Noergaard (Den), JJ Spaun
n 12.44 Dean Burmester (Rsa), Patrick Rodgers, Nick Taylor (Can)
n 12.55 Joe Highsmith, Aaron Rai (Eng), Cameron Young
n 13.06 Tom Hoge, Matthieu Pavon (Fra), Taylor Pendrith (Can)
n 13.17 Patton Kizzire, Matt McCarty, Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen (Den)
n 13.28 Richard Bland (Eng), Tyler Collet, Jimmy Walker
n 13.39 Jason Dufner, Shaun Micheel, Michael Thorbjornsen
n 13.50 Rafael Campos (Pur), Ryan Lenahan, Matt Wallace (Eng)
n 14.01 Brian Campbell, Elvis Smylie (Aus), Jhonattan Vegas (Ven)
n 14.12 Larkin Gross, Johnny Keefer, Chun-An Yu (Tai)
n 17.30 Ryan Fox (Nzl), Justin B Hicks, John Parry (Eng)
n 17.41 Andre Chi, Patrick Fishburn, Seamus Power (Irl)
n 17.52 Max McGreevy, Sepp Straka (Aut), Alex Smalley
n 18.03 Rickie Fowler, Brooks Koepka, Shane Lowry (Irl)
n 18.14 Jason Day (Aus), Tommy Fleetwood (Eng), Phil Mickelson
n 18.25 Patrick Cantlay, Matthew Fitzpatrick (Eng), Jon Rahm (Spa)
n 18.36 Corey Conners (Can), Rasmus Hoejgaard (Den), Min-Woo Lee (Aus)
n 18.47 Rory McIlroy (NIrl), Xander Schauffele, Scottie Scheffler
n 18.58 Tony Finau, Max Greyserman, Nicolai Hoejgaard (Den)
n 19.09 Keegan Bradley, Maverick McNealy, Andrew Novak
n 19.20 Akshay Bhatia, Sam Burns, Denny McCarthy
n 19.31 John Catlin, Jesse Droemer, Garrick Higgo (Rsa)
n 19.42 Eugenio Lopez-Chacarra (Spa), Justin Lower, Rupe Taylor
n Starting at hole 10
n 12.05 Michael Kartrude, Jake Knapp, Sami Valimaki (Fin)
n 12.16 Michael Block, Mackenzie Hughes (Can), Erik van Rooyen (Rsa)
n 12.27 Lucas Glover, Max Homa, Joaquin Niemann (Chi)
n 12.38 Tyrrell Hatton (Eng), Adam Scott (Aus), Will Zalatoris
n 12.49 Dustin Johnson, Collin Morikawa, Justin Thomas
n 13.00 Ludvig Aberg (Swe), Patrick Reed, Jordan Spieth
n 13.11 Wyndham Clark, Joo-Hyung Kim (Kor), Hideki Matsuyama (Jpn)
n 13.22 Bryson DeChambeau, Viktor Hovland (Nor), Gary Woodland
n 13.33 Daniel Berger, Sergio Garcia (Spa), Russell Henley
n 13.44 Brian Harman, Justin Rose (Eng), Cameron Smith (Aus)
n 13.55 Brandon Bingaman, Sung-Jae Im (Kor), Davis Riley
n 14.06 Christiaan Bezuidenhout (Rsa), Takumi Kanaya (Jpn), Tom McKibbin (NIrl)
n 14.17 Beau Hossler, Keita Nakajima (Jpn), Timothy Wiseman
n 17.25 Luke Donald (Eng), Padraig Harrington (Irl), Martin Kaymer (Ger)
n 17.36 Taylor Moore, David Puig (Spa), John Somers
n 17.47 Nic Ishee, Kurt Kitayama, Alexander Noren (Swe)
n 17.58 Ryo Hisatsune (Jpn), Tom Johnson, JT Poston
n 18.09 Bud Cauley, Nicolas Echavarria (Col), Davis Thompson
n 18.20 Thomas Detry (Bel), Harris English, Michael Kim
n 18.31 Stephan Jaeger (Ger), Chris Kirk, Robert MacIntyre (Sco)
n 18.42 Laurie Canter (Eng), Thorbjoern Olesen (Den), Karl Vilips (Aus)
n 18.53 Rico Hoey (Phi), Si-Woo Kim (Kor), Sam Stevens
n 19.04 Robert Gates, Ben Griffin, Lee Hodges
n 19.15 Nick Dunlap, Harry Hall (Eng), Thriston Lawrence (Rsa)
n 19.26 Ryan Gerard, Greg Koch, Marco Penge (Eng)
n 19.37 Dylan Newman, Victor Perez (Fra), Daniel van Tonder (Rsa)
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Thanks for reading today. A few shots still to be played before everything is wrapped up but no television pictures so we’ll bid farewell.
Scott Murray will guide you through all the weekend action. Can Rory McIlroy repeat history? Will Bryson DeChambeau fire? Is Scottie Scheffler going to land a third major championship victory? Or are we due a surprise? Join Scott tomorrow to find out!
Jhonattan Vegas confirmed as the halfway leader on -8
The Venezuela player holds a two-shot advantage over the field, but Scottie Scheffler will be the man whose shadow looms darkest for the pace-setter.
-8: Vegas (F)
-6: Pavon (F), Fitzpatrick (F), SW Kim (F)
-5: Homa (F), Scheffler (F)
-4: Stevens, (F), MacIntyre (F), Poston (F), Smalley (F), Fox (F), Bezuidenhout (F), Thorbjornsen (F), McCarthy (F), Gerard (F), Higgo (17)
Catch up with the day’s action with Ewan Murray’s report.
Among those who have missed the cut this week are: Shane Lowry, Sepp Straka, Jordan Spieth (all +2), Hideki Matsuyama, Justin Thomas (both +3), Patrick Reed (+4), Patrick Cantlay (+6) and Cameron Smith (+7).
Scottie Scheffler on his position heading into the weekend: “I think most of me is just glad to be close to the lead. If you’re going to play a 72-hole tournament, there’s going to be days and stretches of golf where you’re not swinging it your best and bumps in the road. It’s all about how you respond to those. I did a good job of responding to those mistakes today and keeping myself in the tournament.”
Ryan Gerard has got himself back on the top page of the leaderboard. The North Carolina man has gone 2-4 at the par-three 6th and par-five 7th to return to -5 for the week.
Scottie Scheffler recently said that Si Woo Kim has great comedic timing and the South Korean backs that up by dealing with the week’s big issue – mud balls – with a laugh. “I didn’t realize how bad was the mud balls yesterday,” he said just now. “Because I didn’t hit the fairway much. I hit much better driving today so I realized it’s really bad for mud balls.”
How important is position at this stage of the PGA Championship? 27 of the last 30 winners were in the top 10 at halfway and 21 of them were tied third or better. 26 of those winners were within four shots of the lead and none was further than six back at this stage.
Si Woo Kim makes it to the clubhouse in a share of second – and South Africa’s Garrick Higgo is ticking along nicely. He opened with a double bogey-6 at the 1st but has bounced back in style. He’s -3 for the day but has The Green Mile to come.
-8: Vegas (F)
-6: Pavon (F), Fitzpatrick (F), SW Kim (F)
-5: Homa (F), Scheffler (F), Higgo (15)
Scottie Scheffler chastises himself for a softish birdie putt at 18. He secures par, however. A 68 today and he heads into the weekend on -5. He’ll be the biggest threat to the field at the weekend. Defending champion Xander Schauffele had to grind to make the cut but does so right on the number.
A good putt from Rory McIlroy. He fancied it might drop but it just slips by. He avoids the ignominy of a missed cut but will need something very special at the weekend. Sitting +1 for the tournament, he’s nine shot back of the lead (he did win at Quail Hollow from nine back in 2010 …).
McIlroy is able to play his ball from the creek. But he is so wary of hooking it yet again that he hangs it out to the right. He’ll have a testing par-saving pitch to come from lush rough. There’s a curious atmosphere. The few cheers sound quite echoey. Wayne Riley thinks it’s an easy enough pitch and, not for the first time today, McIlroy’s shot suggests otherwise. It comes up short by 36 feet. A three-putt would miss the cut …
Robert MacIntyre staves off a mucky finish to his second round. The Scotsman’s approach to the 9th skewed right of the green and he cried loudly and colurfully about mud balls. His scramble left him 10 feet for par. A miss would have ruined his day but it dropped nicely into the hole. He finishes -1 for the day and -4 for the week.
Rory McIlroy’s drive at 18, meanwhile, is a nasty tug left onto the roof of the hospitality pavillion. It ricochets down toward the creek but clings to a steep slope. The hope at the turn is fizzling out and one more bad shot or decision could see him miss the cut.
So much for unflappable Scottie Scheffler. He misses his short birdie putt and then McIlroy does the same thing with his par putt! They both took aim at the right edge, the ball didn’t take the borrow they expected, and lipped out. Far more damaging for the Northern Irishman and they depart to silence from the galleries.
McIlroy steps off his tee shot at the par-three 17th. The wind gusted, disturbed him and, even after resettling, he pushed the ball wide of the putting surface. I played nine holes this morning and coincidentally had to step away from a tee shot. I was just about to pull the trigger when I heard a strangled yelp from my playing partner. I turned around to see him dancing around the tee box, pulling his shirt over his head, and swatting at a wasp that flown up his sleeve and stung his shoulder. “Sorry about that,” he said, gingerly poking his unlikely puncture wound.
The unflappable Scottie Scheffler could probably be stung by a wasp as he plays a shot and casually brush it off. His tee shot at 17 settles four feet from the flag.
A birdie for Robert MacIntyre at the 8th gets him -1 for the round and -4 for the week. The Scot was eighth in this event last year and said: “It was a great week. The first time I feel like I’ve really been contending in a major going into a final round. Emotionally it worked. I stayed patient and got my reward.”
Ewan Murray from Quail Hollow: “Scheffler, once such a placid soul, was dictating what he may and may not be asked. About golf balls.”
Cameron Smith has three LIV Golf top 10 finishes in his last four starts worldwide. But he has missed the cut in his last three majors: 80-74 at last year’s Open, 71-78 last month in the Masters, and 78-71 this week.
Bob Cushion emails regarding Rory McIlroy’s attire today. Let’s just say that Bob is no fan of a brown shirt and he’s not cushioning the blow.
Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy complete birdies at the par-five 15th. The American is now -5 for the tournament and tied fourth. The Northern Irishman is back in red on -1. The Green Mile (16, 17, 18) to come.
-8: Vegas (F)
-6: Pavon (F), Fitzpatrick (16)
-5: Homa (F), SW Kim (15) Scheffler (15)
Si Woo Kim has won the “fifth major” (The Players Championship) but he has a rotten record in the real majors. He’s played 28 of them and is yet to land a top 10 finish. It could change this week – the ace has vaulted him into the top five.
Hole-in-one! Si Woo Kim recorded the longest ace in Open history on the 238-yard par-three 17th at Royal Troon last summer and now he negotiates the 252-yard par-three 6th in one blow. He’s -6 for the day and -5 for the week. A 6th career ace for the Korean star.
Meanwhile, Alex Smalley makes a bogey at 18. He had to take a drop from the creek, but stay calm and limited the damage.
Is Dustin Johnson finished as a major championship contender?! He’s carded 78-76 this week for +12 and a missed cut. Add those numbers to his scores in his last four major starts (74-78-73-74-74-74) and it makes for ugly reading.
Bad news for Alex Smalley. His tee shot at 18 isn’t in the creek that runs down the fairway but only because the grass is long enough to grab hold of it. He’s unlikely to be bunting the ball forward, however, because he seems to be snug behind a small stone bridge. He’s fighting to stay in a share of fifth on -5 for the championship.
Eight years ago Justin Thomas won the PGA Championship when it visited Quail Hollow for a first time. He won’t be completing a repeat on Sunday, however. Rounds of 73-72 will see him miss the cut. It’s his sixth missed cut in the last 10 major championships.
Another significant Rory McIlroy moment – his birdie putt at 14. His bunker shot left him 10 feet and he makes it! Back to level-par. The par-five 15th to come. Scottie Scheffler makes an easier birdie shortly afterwards to return to -4.
Shane Lowry looks like he wants to bite through his putter shaft. In contention at the Masters until a tired finish on Saturday, in the final group last week in the Truist Championship watching his friend Sepp Straka win, that rotten lie in the middle of the fairway at 8 earlier today – his patience is being tested and he’s always struggled at Quail Hollow (no top 30 in six starts).
Rory McIlroy hits the tee at the par-four 14th. It’s 340 yards with water all the way down the left. He naturally favours the right side and finds the greenside bunker. Scottie Scheffler is up next, with driver rather than the 3-wood McIlroy used, and he joins his playing partner in the sand. Earlier today Max Homa left his drive just 1 feet 9 inches from the pin and drained the eagle putt.
By the way, take the leader out of this and the scoring is stacked. There are currently 23 players within three shots of second place (-6).
Rory McIlroy stops the rot. He gets up and down for par at the short 13th. He needs to make the most of the short par-four 14th and par-five 15th to come. Scottie Scheffler, however, has dropped a shot after his wonky blow from the tee and is now back to -3.
Scottie Scheffler is -2 for the day but has just hit a rotter at 13. He misses the green at the par-three 50 yards to the left. It’s an ugly swing and he completes it with one hand on the club, shouting “Fore!”. Rory McIlroy’s tee shot appears to find the heart of the green but then catches a slope and is swept off the putting surfaces. The testing period continues.
“So very difficult,” says Wayne Riley of Rory McIlroy’s pitch. He flips it over a bunker and it follows the contours to slide 11 feet behind the hole. But this is not a straightforward par putt – it is going to move significantly right-to-left and it will be pacey. It feels like a big moment. He’s on the brink of undoing so much good work. He misses and he was up very quickly from his stance. So very deflating. He closes his eyes in frustration. Back to +1 for the week.
Is it all about to unravel for Rory McIlroy?! After his limp bogey at 11, he doesn’t want to fritter away more shots in a hurry, but he pulls his drive into thick rough at the par-four 12th and needs to hit a low chaser onto the green below the branches of a tree. There was a touch of deceleration and he caught more grass than he hoped to. The ball slumps short of the green in more of that lush rough. TV’s Wayne Riley says that his position after two blows is “dead”.
