US PGA Championship second round
-4 McNealy (US), Smalley (US); -3 Matsuyama (JJpn), Gotterup (US), Potgieter (SA), Jaeger (Ger), Lee (Aus), Greyserman (US)
Selected: -2 Scheffler (US), Young (US), Thomas (US), Aberg (Swe); -1 Rahm (Spa), Rai (Eng); +1 McIlroy (NI), Schauffele (US), Spieth (US); +2 Wallace (Eng), M Fitzpatrick (Eng)
Full leaderboard
The second day of the US PGA Championship crystallised what was already becoming clear: Aronimink is a course for the golfers who adapt the quickest.
Maybe there should be little surprise that Maverick McNealy, an intelligent but unheralded American who once considered snubbing golf for a business career, is leading the way.
Just like on day one, the majority of the world’s leading players were again left befuddled and bemused by a punishing course set-up.
Those who were able to think strategically and problem solve were rewarded.
The later starters, including McNealy and Rory McIlroy, were also able to take advantage of slightly more benign conditions in the late evening sun.
McIlroy’s pre-tournament prediction of being able to take the sting out of Pennsylvania course by smashing his driver as far as he could proved wide of the mark in a disappointing opening round.
On Friday, the Masters champion demonstrated his ability to reconfigure and bounced back with one of only two bogey-free rounds – a three-under 67 which left him one over par and five shots behind the leaders.
Given the volatile nature of this tournament, McIlroy knows the value of his unflustered round.
“It was a day to get back into the tournament and that’s what I managed to do,” McIlroy said.
McNealy, the son of a Silicon Valley billionaire, sits alongside fellow American Alex Smalley atop a bunched leaderboard which continues to feature some surprising names near the summit.
The pair are a shot ahead of Germany’s Stephan Jaeger – who had an unusual round of 18 pars – and South Africa’s rising star Aldrich Potgieter, although the presence of American Chris Gotterup, Japan’s former Masters champion Hideki Matsuyama and Australia’s Min Woo Lee – all in form on the PGA Tour this year – is far from leftfield.
Lurking below the frontrunners are a host of superstars eager to pounce at the weekend.
World number one Scottie Scheffler, fellow American Cameron Young and Sweden’s Ludvig Aberg are in a group on two under par, while Spain’s Jon Rahm is one under.
Three-time major champion Jordan Spieth – aiming to finally end a nine-year wait to complete the career Grand Slam – is alongside McIlroy at one over.
Given 58 players all within six shots of the lead the second men’s major of the season remains impossible to call.
Going into the tournament there was a lot of talk centering on how Aronimink could prove too easy for the world’s best given the last tournament held here, a PGA Tour event in 2018, which Keegan Bradley won on 20 under par, defeating Justin Rose in a play-off.
Even if bombed drives missed wide fairways, the belief was that players would be able to gouge wedges out of the thick rough onto greens and lead to a putt-off.
The PGA of America has responded by setting up the course in a manner which aimed to disprove that.
The rough has largely been penal for those who have been unable to keep the ball on the fairways, while the severity of the slopes on the greens have generally caused havoc, with more three-putts after two rounds than during the whole of the Masters.
However, McNealy was one player who bucked the trend on Friday. The 30-year-old former world number one amateur ranks joint 143rd – out of a 156-man field – with his driving accuracy – but has used his short irons superbly to launch a challenge.
“I think this is one of the few courses I can compete on without hitting enough fairways, I think the missed fairways penalty isn’t as bad as other places,” he said.
“Fairways are definitely easier to control the ball and I hope to hit more this weekend.”
The putting surfaces have always been considered as the Pennsylvania course’s best defence and the placement of the holes – particularly given the tricky, windy conditions over the first two days – have been incredibly punishing.
Following his second round, Scheffler described Friday’s pin positions as “absurd”.
“They are the hardest I’ve ever seen,” said the 29-year-old American.
“They were just so far into the areas where we thought the pins were going to be. It’s just challenging.”
Sympathy might well be in short supply for Scheffler.
Purists will enjoy seeing the top players have to patiently plot their way around as they rely on strategy in their attempts to problem solve.
Gotterup managed the conditions better than anyone else in a five-under 65 which was the round of the day, but he still described the hole locations are “extreme”.
“A lot of the holes feel like, with the wind, you have no margin for error,” he added.
Former world number one Justin Thomas fared better than most with a second round of one-under 69, but conceded the testing wind made carding birdies difficult.
“You have to hit the right shots, or the shots that are being asked,” he said.
“Just because you have a wedge in your hand doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re trying to make birdie.”
More casual fans, however, may counter that the punishing conditions have ruined the tournament as a spectacle.
The expressions of some players as they trudged around Aronimink indicated they tended to agree.
American player Sahith Theegala was seething when his ball vanished on the 10th hole following a shot from a fairway bunker, meaning he had to take a penalty drop in the sand as he posted a triple-bogey seven.
England’s Tyrrell Hatton is rarely able to contain his displeasure at what he perceives to being wronged by the course and his patience snapped when his ball did not do as he expected on one green.
The sluggish nature of the rounds – some taking almost six hours – added to the sense of frustration.
As well as the tough conditions, the congestion was fuelled by several shared tees and greens in close proximity.
McIlroy closed his eyes – seemingly meditating rather than napping – as he sat propped against an advertising board while waiting or several minutes on the 10th tee.
After also being forced to wait on the fairway, McIlroy stuck his approach to the green well below the hole and exasperatedly moaned about how long he was having to wait between shots.
Thomas and playing partner Keegan Bradley remonstrated with officials after they were put on the clock for falling out of position.
“We were behind,” said Thomas. “But we weren’t holding up the group behind us.
“It’s so hard out there and the last thing I’m going to do is make a mistake because I feel like I’m rushing.”
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