Key events
Viktor Hovland has shown great moxie since coming a cropper at the bottom of the false front at 12. Birdie at 15, and now another at 17, as he holes a big left-to-right swinger on the par-three. He’s back to -3, his bid back on course. Meanwhile his playing partner Bryson DeChambeau pumps a fist of celebration and relief, after carving his tee shot miles right of the green, then getting nowhere near with the chip. A ten-footer retains his status at -2.
There’s no stopping Max Homa! He yanks a wild drive into the trees down the left of 3. He catches a break, in so much that he’s got a route into the green, albeit over a large tree. He whips high and hard, and finds the green, 30 feet past the flag. And then the inevitable, a little left-to-right downhill tickler over a ridge. It never looked like missing. When you’re hot, you’re hot. He’s now seven under for his round today, and -5 overall. Meanwhile another birdie for Michael Thorbjornsen, and there’s a new look to the top end of the leaderboard.
-6: Vegas (5)
-5: Homa (11*), Rai (9), Thorbjornsen (7), Gerard
Bryson DeChambeau takes out his frustration over that careless three-putt on the monster 526-yard par-four 16th. He blooters his drive 359 yards down the track, then wedges (!) from 160 yards to 15 feet. He’s left with a straight uphill putt, and it’s always dropping into the middle of the cup. What a birdie! A wedge into a 526-yard par four, though. He’s -2.
Collin Morikawa takes his penalty drop at 18. Then, having hacked back out onto the fairway, falls victim to that false front, like Tyrrell Hatton before him. Unlike Hatton, Morikawa only (only!) makes double bogey, but he’s now taken six strokes at 18 on both days. The hole’s cost him four shots already. Goodness knows what’ll go through his mind if he’s in contention coming down the last on Sunday. He’s -2 overall.
Matthieu Pavon hadn’t done much in the majors before last season. But then he finished tied for 12th at Augusta, before grabbing fifth spot for himself at the US Open. Now the 32-year-old Frenchman is going again: birdies at 2, 4, 7 and 8 have elevated him to -4, just a couple off the leader Jhonattan Vegas. JJ Spaun continues to rise as well, birdie at 10 taking him to -4 as well. And they’re alongside the 23-year-old Michael Thorbjornsen – born in the USA to Norwegian and Zimbabwean parents – who is going along very steadily today: one under for his round through 6, with birdie at 2, after yesterday’s quietly impressive 68.
Cam Davis finds a big bunker down the left of the 11th fairway. Always out of position as a result, he ends up carding bogey and slips back to -4. But there’s a bounceback birdie for Aaron Rai, who moves the other way as reward for swishing a glorious fairway wood from 242 yards to seven feet. He’s -5 again.
Bryson DeChambeau just about avoids a full-blown putting fiasco on the par-five 15th. Having found the dancefloor in two, he overcooks his 50-foot eagle putt so much that it nearly topples off the green at the back. The fringe just about stops that particular humiliation. Then he whistles the 15-foot birdie putt he’s left himself five feet past the hole. He does very well to keep his calm and tidy up for a three-putt par, but that was a piping-hot rush of blood, and he leaves the scene in a full miff. He’s -1.
Tyrrell’s gonna blow. Having already taken a wild swish at the rough after leaving his fourth short of the green, his fifth, a chip up, topples back off the false front. This could be super costly. In the end, he does well to clip his sixth to kick-in distance, but that’ll be a triple bogey seven. He clatters down the standings to -2. Though he’s not the only one: in the group behind, the previously blemish-free Collin Morikawa finds the creek from the tee as well.
Tyrrell Hatton is in all sorts down the 18th. He hooks his drive into the creek on the left. Then having taken his penalty drop, sends his third into thick oomska down the right. The lush stuff grabs the hosel as he plays his fourth. He’s short of the green and staring a double, maybe a triple, in the face. Meanwhile there’s trouble afoot for Aaron Rai, too, at 8. His drive disappears into shoe-covering rough and, always out of position, he ends up with bogey five. He’s -4.
Max Homa ‘out’ in 30
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.
-6: Vegas (3)
-5: Davis (10), Hatton (8*), Rai (7), Gerard
-4: Homa (9*), Scott (8*), Morikawa (7*), Thorbjornsen (4), Jaeger, Smalley, Fox, Donald
… as does Tyrrell Hatton, who tidies up for his richly deserved birdie on 17. Hatton had wobbled a bit after that watery meltdown on 14, requiring a lucky ricochet out of the trees at 15 to make par, but he seems to have settled again. That’ll certainly help. And he could be sharing the lead soon, because Jhonattan Vegas is looking skittish this morning, and has just pulled his approach at 3 into a bunker.
-6: Vegas (2)
-5: Davis (9), Hatton (8*), Rai (7), Gerard
-4: Scott (8*), Thorbjornsen (4), Jaeger, Smalley, Fox, Donald
Aaron Rai started the day cold, with a pair of bogeys at 1 and 2. No way to build on yesterday’s superb 67. But the 30-year-old late-bloomer from Wolverhampton has responded brilliantly. Birdies at 4 and 5 to repair the damage, and now another at the par-five 7th. Just a shame he didn’t hit his long eagle effort, because it was dead on line. He joins Cam Davis and Ryan Gerard in sharing second place at -5.
Tyrrell Hatton nearly aces 17. A dart launched with great precision at the flag. One big bounce. One smaller bounce. A third bounce that lands the width of one ball behind the hole. So close. He’s left with a ten-footer coming back for his birdie.
Jhonattan Vegas scrambled par from the bunker at 1. He can’t get up and down from greenside rough at 2. His lead halved in short order.
-6: Vegas (2)
-5: Davis (9), Gerard
-4: Rai (6), Hatton (6*), Scott (6*), Thorbjornsen (3), Jaeger, Smalley, Fox, Donald
Back-to-back birdies for Adam Scott at 14 and 15. He’s -4 overall after a fine 69 yesterday. The genial 2013 Masters champion is in veteran territory now – he’s 44 years old – but if you’re going to chalk up a major late in the day, the PGA is the tournament in which to do it. Here’s the list of the oldest major champions of all time, and it’s dominated by players winning this very championship.
1. Phil Mickelson (2021 PGA, 50 years 11 months)
2. Julius Boros (1968 PGA, 48 years 4 months)
3. Tom Morris Sr. (1867 Open, 46 years 3 months)
4. Jack Nicklaus (1986 Masters, 46 years 2 months)
5. Jerry Barber (1961 PGA, 45 years 3 months)
6. Hale Irwin (1990 US Open, 45 years)
Viktor Hovland demonstrates the absurdity of golf at 12. His approach doesn’t reach the green and he chips up from the bottom of a steep swale. The ball thinks about stopping on the putting surface but eventually topples and rolls back to his feet. At an excruciatingly slow pace, just to rub it in. He tries again. The same thing happens. Then a third attempt … which ends the width of a dimple away from dropping into the cup. But that’s a double bogey and he slips back to -1.
A street-fighting par for Jhonattan Vegas at 1. Having found a fairway bunker with his opening drive, he sent his second into another trap guarding the front left of the green. Shortsided, he could only flip his third shot 12 feet past the flag … but he made a series of big putts yesterday, and he makes another now. He remains at -7.
Max Homa pours in another birdie putt, this time on 15, and he’s started 4-4-4-2-2-4. Green Mile coming up, let’s see if he dismantles that as well. He’s -3. He’s playing with Joaquin Niemann, who is also flying, and repairing the damage done by his opening round of 74 at great speed: birdies at 10, 12, 14 and 15 have whisked the Chilean up the standings to -1.
Here comes the tournament leader Jhonattan Vegas. An astonishing late-evening finish, five birdies in his last six holes, for a front-nine total of 30. A magnificent 64. He finds a fairway bunker with his opening drive. Vegas is going round with a 23-year-old Aussie called Elvis Smylie. Elvis and Vegas. That’s some coincidence if it’s not deliberate. And if it is deliberate, then that’s all right.
Tyrrell’s gonna Tyrrell at some point. And here he blows! His drive into the short par-four 14th is heading straight for the flag. A little bit to the right and it’s landing on the green and rolling out into Max Homa territory. But it’s not a little bit to the right. It takes a kick left off a bank just in front of the green and into the drink. Having taken his drop, he chips up to six feet, but pulls the attempted par saver. He taps in for bogey on a hole that Homa nearly made albatross, and all for the sake of a few feet either way in the landing zone. Hatton launches his ball into the water and exits the scene, powered solely by the steam pouring from his lugs. He’s -4.
The erstwhile PGA and Open champion Collin Morikawa has also started fast. Birdies at 10 and 12 and he’s -3. Bryson DeChambeau gets up and down from 43 yards on 10 to open with birdie; he’s -1. And JJ Spaun birdies 2, 3 and 4, though this year’s Players Championship runner-up hands one of those strokes back at 5. The 34-year-old Californian is nicely placed at -2 nonetheless.
All bets for today’s shot of the day are off. If anyone does better than Max Homa on the driveable par-four 14th – a 341-yard tee shot that rolls to within a couple of feet – we’ll be doing well. A mere 21 inches away from a hole-in-one albatross. As it is, he taps in for an eagle two. He’d just birdied the par-three 13th as well, and unsurprisingly that’s the first time in his major career that he’s gone 2-2. Having also birdied 10 this morning, it’s the fastest of starts for Homa, who had been in appalling form this season (five consecutive missed cuts) until making the weekend at the Masters and finishing in a tie for 12th. He’s clearly rediscovered something. He’s -2 overall.
Yesterday’s other shot of the day was made by Justin Thomas on 18. His approach had landed in the creek down the left, but bounced off a rock and back out … only to settle on the other side of the creek, in a thick tuft of grass, his backswing hampered by another large rock. He tried the Jean van de Velde approach, shoes and socks off, standing in the stream, but eventually opted for balancing on the small patch of waterside grass on tippy toe, before chopping down and firing his ball over the water and onto the green to ten feet. Shame he didn’t make the putt for one of the all-time par saves, but he’d have taken bogey when watching his approach sail towards the hazard. The two-time PGA champion signed for a 73 that stood as something of a salvage job after a horror start led to four dropped shots in the first six holes. He’s still not without hope and is now +1 overall after birdie this morning at 11.
Tyrrell Hatton makes one of the great two-putts for par on 12. He sends his approach over the flag, but he’s on a ridge that’s no use for getting to the pin. He’s forced to face away from the hole with his first putt, utilising the backstop to send his ball on an absurd 50-foot U-turn. He nearly makes it, too, though the ball rolls a good ten feet past the pin. He smiles wryly … then nails the putt that remains. That’s outrageous. His flat stick very much the hero so far today. He remains at -5.
A good number of pundits identified Bryson DeChambeau as this week’s winner. But yesterday it didn’t quite happen for the reigning US Open champion and Masters nearly man. A level-par round of 71 that was, by his own widescreen standards, a little nondescript … though he still managed to hit one of the two shots of the day (the other we’ll mention in a minute) at the 227-yard par-three 17th: an 8-iron punched to three inches. So close to an ace, and what power. So here’s an indication of how well Jordan Spieth played the 10th back there; Bryson is currently 50 yards short of the green in his first two strokes of the day. It’s a long old track all right.
Jordan Spieth’s dream of joining Rory et al in the Career Slam club looks kaput for another 12 months after yesterday’s 76. Too far gone already, the 2015 Masters and US Open champion and 2017 Open winner has his work cut out simply making the cut. That’s right, yes? Well, let’s just hang on a minute, because he’s come out on the front foot swinging haymakers. Having split the 10th fairway with his opening drive, he’s just launched a fairway wood straight at the flag, from 283 yards to eight feet. In goes the eagle putt, and all of a sudden he’s back up the standings at +3. It’s still the longest of long shots, but you know Jordan, no situation is considered irretrievable. Here’s to some more of his trademark swashbuckle.
The first significant move of the day has been made by Tyrrell Hatton. The entertainingly volatile Englishman has kept a lid on things so far this week, and you’d be in a good mood too had you birdied the last yesterday. His approach at 18 was one of the strokes of the day, and has clearly buoyed him going into round two. Consecutive birdies to start, at 10 and 11, a 15-foot birdie putt followed by another from 20 feet, and Hatton moves into a tie for second. Heading in the other direction: Cam Davis, with bogey at 3, and Aaron Rai with bogey at 1.
-7: Vegas
-5: Hatton (2*), Gerard
-4: Davis (4),Jaeger, Smalley, Fox, Donald
-3: Scott (2*), Rai (1), Campos, Thorbjornsen, Bradley, R Højgaard, MacIntyre, Fitzpatrick, Echavarria, Poston, Hisatsune, Noren
The first yelp recorded by today’s blog is emitted by Ludvig Åberg. The young Swede didn’t bring his Å-game yesterday – the air-mailing of a couple of greens never a great sign – and yet he still managed to battle his way to a 70, his putter digging him out once or twice. But his first shot of the day doesn’t augur well, a drive at 10 carved into the trees down the right. His playing partners Patrick Reed (+1) and Jordan Spieth (+5) split the fairway.
Preamble
It’s a star-studded leaderboard. Just not studded with the stars we expected. Here’s how the top of it looks …
-7: Vegas
-5: Davis, Gerard
-4: Rai, Jaeger, Smalley, Fox, Donald
-3: Campos, Thorbjornsen, Hatton, Bradley, R Højgaard, MacIntyre, Fitzpatrick, Echavarria, Poston, Hisatsune, Noren
… and here are today’s tee times (USA unless stated, all times BST). It’s on!
Starting at hole 1
12.00 Adam Hadwin (Can), Keith Mitchell, Bob Sowards
12.11 Eric Cole, Cameron Davis (Aus), Eric Steger
12.22 Brian Bergstol, Jacob Bridgeman, Austin Eckroat
12.33 Byeong-Hun An (Kor), Niklas Noergaard (Den), JJ Spaun
12.44 Dean Burmester (Rsa), Patrick Rodgers, Nick Taylor (Can)
12.55 Joe Highsmith, Aaron Rai (Eng), Cameron Young
13.06 Tom Hoge, Matthieu Pavon (Fra), Taylor Pendrith (Can)
13.17 Patton Kizzire, Matt McCarty, Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen (Den)
13.28 Richard Bland (Eng), Tyler Collet, Jimmy Walker
13.39 Jason Dufner, Shaun Micheel, Michael Thorbjornsen
13.50 Rafael Campos (Pur), Ryan Lenahan, Matt Wallace (Eng)
14.01 Brian Campbell, Elvis Smylie (Aus), Jhonattan Vegas (Ven)
14.12 Larkin Gross, Johnny Keefer, Chun-An Yu (Tai)
17.30 Ryan Fox (Nzl), Justin B Hicks, John Parry (Eng)
17.41 Andre Chi, Patrick Fishburn, Seamus Power (Irl)
17.52 Max McGreevy, Sepp Straka (Aut), Alex Smalley
18.03 Rickie Fowler, Brooks Koepka, Shane Lowry (Irl)
18.14 Jason Day (Aus), Tommy Fleetwood (Eng), Phil Mickelson
18.25 Patrick Cantlay, Matthew Fitzpatrick (Eng), Jon Rahm (Spa)
18.36 Corey Conners (Can), Rasmus Hoejgaard (Den), Min-Woo Lee (Aus)
18.47 Rory McIlroy (NIrl), Xander Schauffele, Scottie Scheffler
18.58 Tony Finau, Max Greyserman, Nicolai Hoejgaard (Den)
19.09 Keegan Bradley, Maverick McNealy, Andrew Novak
19.20 Akshay Bhatia, Sam Burns, Denny McCarthy
19.31 John Catlin, Jesse Droemer, Garrick Higgo (Rsa)
19.42 Eugenio Lopez-Chacarra (Spa), Justin Lower, Rupe Taylor
Starting at hole 10
12.05 Michael Kartrude, Jake Knapp, Sami Valimaki (Fin)
12.16 Michael Block, Mackenzie Hughes (Can), Erik van Rooyen (Rsa)
12.27 Lucas Glover, Max Homa, Joaquin Niemann (Chi)
12.38 Tyrrell Hatton (Eng), Adam Scott (Aus), Will Zalatoris
12.49 Dustin Johnson, Collin Morikawa, Justin Thomas
13.00 Ludvig Aberg (Swe), Patrick Reed, Jordan Spieth
13.11 Wyndham Clark, Joo-Hyung Kim (Kor), Hideki Matsuyama (Jpn)
13.22 Bryson DeChambeau, Viktor Hovland (Nor), Gary Woodland
13.33 Daniel Berger, Sergio Garcia (Spa), Russell Henley
13.44 Brian Harman, Justin Rose (Eng), Cameron Smith (Aus)
13.55 Brandon Bingaman, Sung-Jae Im (Kor), Davis Riley
14.06 Christiaan Bezuidenhout (Rsa), Takumi Kanaya (Jpn), Tom McKibbin (NIrl)
14.17 Beau Hossler, Keita Nakajima (Jpn), Timothy Wiseman
17.25 Luke Donald (Eng), Padraig Harrington (Irl), Martin Kaymer (Ger)
17.36 Taylor Moore, David Puig (Spa), John Somers
17.47 Nic Ishee, Kurt Kitayama, Alexander Noren (Swe)
17.58 Ryo Hisatsune (Jpn), Tom Johnson, JT Poston
18.09 Bud Cauley, Nicolas Echavarria (Col), Davis Thompson
18.20 Thomas Detry (Bel), Harris English, Michael Kim
18.31 Stephan Jaeger (Ger), Chris Kirk, Robert MacIntyre (Sco)
18.42 Laurie Canter (Eng), Thorbjoern Olesen (Den), Karl Vilips (Aus)
18.53 Rico Hoey (Phi), Si-Woo Kim (Kor), Sam Stevens
19.04 Robert Gates, Ben Griffin, Lee Hodges
19.15 Nick Dunlap, Harry Hall (Eng), Thriston Lawrence (Rsa)
19.26 Ryan Gerard, Greg Koch, Marco Penge (Eng)
19.37 Dylan Newman, Victor Perez (Fra), Daniel van Tonder (Rsa)
