Xander Schauffele clings to PGA Championship lead, but the sharks begin to circle
Xander Schauffele kept the competition at arm’s length on day two at Valhalla, but a line-up of major champions and popular stars are waiting in the wings…
Xander Schauffele didn’t reproduce his heroics of the first round, but the American showed enough steel to keep a one-shot 36-hole lead at the PGA Championship over Collin Morikawa.
There is a host of past champions and aspiring champions waiting to pounce at the weekend, so let’s take a look at what occurred in round two of the season’s second major.
So what happened on PGA Championship Friday?
Let’s start from the start. A fatal traffic collision outside of Valhalla Golf Club caused a delay of over an hour to the round two tee times.
Then, it was this heavy police presence which Scottie Scheffler became involved in. “A misunderstanding” between the World No.1 and a police officer led to his arrest and the distribution of four charges.
You can read more about the arrest here, but Scheffler reached the golf course in time to play with Brian Harman and Wyndham Clark. He began the day on four-under, five shots behind Xander Schauffele, and in his typical style, he birdied his first hole, the 10th hole.
The first player to reach Schauffele, before the American had started his second round, was Mark Hubbard. Having shot six-under on day one, the World No. 81 made three birdies on his first nine to tie the lead.
Former PGA Champion Collin Morikawa joined Schauffele and Hubbard at the top of the leaderboard too. The 27-year-old was bogey-free through his first 14 holes and with four birdies too, he launched himself into contention on nine-under.
Morikawa was the first player to reach double digits in the red with his third consecutive birdie on his second nine. He took a one-shot lead over Schauffele on 10-under. He extended this to a three-shot lead at one stage on 12-under. In pursuit of his third major title, Morikawa signed for a 65 to finish on 11-under just as Schauffele was entering the fray.
He might’ve been a jailbird in the morning, but Scheffler made six birdies on the fairways. He shot a staggering 66 in the circumstances and reached nine-under, and well in the hunt for a third major title.
It didn’t take long for Schauffele to find the gas peddle. He made three birdies on the front nine to reach 12-under, and Morikawa’s leading score had been surpassed. Earlier in the day, Hubbard and Belgian Thomas Detry finished on nine-under and in the thick of major contention.
Schauffele made par on each of his last seven holes to finish on 12-under to lead the championship by one shot from Morikawa as dawn approached. At the other end of the leaderboard, it wasn’t to be for Tiger Woods. Two early triple-bogeys set the four-time PGA Champion on track to a 77 and a seven-over total.
Viktor Hovland carded an impressive five-under 66 to reach eight-under for the championship too. Sahith Theegala progressed from six-under on Thursday to 10-under on Friday to reach within two shots of Schauffele in the hunt for a maiden major title. This was briefly before the horn sounded and darkness halted play.
Who said what after the PGA Championship second round?
Collin Morikawa (-11)
“I had belief since day one that I was going to be able to do it, and obviously you want to see the results, but just believing that it’s possible and just knowing that it’s going to happen. I talked before I won ZOZO last year, I talked about I know I’m going to win again, it’s just a matter of when, is it going to be tomorrow, is it going to be – but it’s going to happen.
“I know I still have it in me, and that’s what’s exciting is that, after Augusta, it sucked to finish like that and it sucked to lose to Scottie, but at the end of the day, I knew I had three more majors coming up and to prep for that and get things as sharp as possible and just come out strong. It’s obviously nice to get off to this start.”
Mark Hubbard (-9)
“I putted really well today. I wasn’t moving quite as well, driving it quite as well as yesterday, so it made it a little tougher. I think just that quick turnaround, didn’t finish until probably like 8:20 last night, and do some recovery stuff, get home, eat dinner, all of a sudden it’s 10:45.
“I’m like, Oh, God, I got to play. So just didn’t quite have my legs under me, but my putter really showed up and kind of kept me in there.”
Scottie Scheffler (-9)
“I don’t really know. I feel like my head is still spinning. I can’t really explain what happened this morning. I did spend some time stretching in a jail cell. That was a first for me. That was part of my warmup. I was just sitting there waiting and I started going through my warmup, I felt like there was a chance I may be able to still come out here and play.
“I started going through my routine and I tried to get my heart rate down as much as I could today, but like I said, I still feel like my head is spinning a little bit. But I was fortunate to be able to make it back out and play some golf today.”
Here is every word that Scottie Scheffler said after his turbulent morning
Xander Schauffele (-12)
“When you haven’t won a golf tournament in a few years, you have to be pretty resilient. I’m just patient and trying to play the best golf I can and stay out of my own way. I know I’m playing really good golf right now, and all I can do is focus on my process and my talk with Austin, and that’s about it.”
Shot of the day
The shot of the day came early and courtesy of the DP World Tour’s Sebastian Soderberg. The Swede stepped up to the par-3 8th hole, 173 yards, and hit the perfect shot.
Soderberg made an ace and shot a 67 to creep towards the top 50 of the PGA Championship leaderboard.
Stat of the day
This was a really cool one from statistic guru Justin Ray. Schauffele made his first blunder of the week on the par-3 11th hole, which makes Hale Irwin’s achievement at the 1993 PGA all the more impressive. Paul Azinger won that year, though.
Rules situation that was almost a rules situation, but ended up not being a rules situation
Sahith Theegala brings a smile to the face of most golf fans who watch him play. His flamboyant style is to be cherished, but a degree of chaos can occasionally be injected.
On the par-5 10th hole, Theegala double-crossed his drive to the left into a hospitality area. He took relief, but he hit his second shot into a tree which rebounded back into the hospitality area near a trash can.
He was allowed another free drop and went on to make a bogey.
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Matt Chivers
Now on the wrong side of 25, Matt has been playing golf since the age of 13 and was largely inspired to take up the game by countless family members who played golf during his childhood.
Matt is a member at Royal Cinque Ports in Deal playing off a 5 handicap, just a pitching wedge away from his hometown of Dover where he went to school and grew up. He has previously been a member at Etchinghill and Walmer and Kingsdown in Kent.
Having studied history at the University of Liverpool, Matt went on to pass his NCTJ Exams in Manchester a year later to fulfil his lifelong ambition of becoming a journalist. He picked up work experience along the way at places such as the Racing Post, the Independent, Sportsbeat and the Lancashire Evening Post.
Matt joined NCG in February 2023 and is the website’s main source of tour news, features and opinion. He has reported live from events such as The Open, the Ryder Cup and The Players Championship, having also interviewed and spoken to the likes of Rory McIlroy, Tommy Fleetwood, Lee Westwood, Graeme McDowell, Henrik Stenson, to name just a few.
Consuming tour golf on what is a 24/7 basis, you can come to Matt for informed views on the game and the latest updates on the PGA Tour, DP World Tour, LPGA Tour, Ladies European Tour and LIV Golf.
What’s in Matt’s bag: Cobra LTDx LS driver, Cobra LTDx 3-wood, TaylorMade P7MC irons, Ping Glide 4.0 wedges, Odyssey putter.
