LEADERBOARD
(*Started on the 10th)
- -5 Corey Conners (F), Scottie Scheffler (F), Viktor Hovland (F)
- -4 Bryson DeChambeau (15)
- -3 Justin Suh (14*)
- -2 Keegan Bradley (15), Brooks Koepka (F), Callum Tarren (16*)
The Irish
- E Rory McIlroy (F), Shane Lowry (F)
- +3 Pádraig Harrington (F)
- +9 Séamus Power (F)
Other notables
- +1 Collin Morikawa (F)
- +4 Jon Rahm (17), Cameron Smith (17)
- +5 Jordan Spieth (F), Justin Thomas (F)
Rory McIlroy interviewed by Sky: “I wouldn’t say it all came together but I held it together well. I was a bit erratic off the tee, I rode my luck a bit with those drives. I finished really strongly. With how badly I feel I played to be only five off the lead is a real bonus.”
That’s all from me for tonight. Fun final nine holes there for the Irish players. 69 for McIlroy and 67 for Lowry, just outside the top 10. Well poised for moving day tomorrow.
Philip Reid’s report of the action to come from Oak Hill. Good night!
Very nice approach at 18 by Hovland gives him a chance to join the leaders on the last. Five feet left and he gets it!
Lowry in the bunker on the last. It spins too much for him and he has a similar putt to McIlroy left for par and to stay under par. From 17 feet, it just goes to the right. What a shame to finish bogey-bogey after that hot streak. In the end, even par and tied 11th for Lowry and McIlroy. Still a 67 for Lowry, made his move.
Pádraig Harrington is finished on +3, a 71 today on a day that promised more.
Spieth grinds to the end and holes a par putt to make the cut.
Birdie for McIlroy! Finishing in style, didn’t seem like much was happening but a back nine 33 and a 69 today, he’s even for the tournament. Some big putts today. Well in it.
Lowry’s drive at 18 is a big hook, oh no. In trouble there, it will be a lay up to the par 4 at best there. Hovland and Spieth find the fairway.
On the short par 4, DeChambeau hits a fairway wood on the green, rolls off the edge but chips close and he’ll get to -4. Justin Thomas has a putt to make the cut after taking two from the bunker.
Conners finishes up with a two-under 68. Top of the leaderboard with Scottie Scheffler.
Lowry on 17 in the rough off the tee so he lays up. His wedge approach is just okay, 18 feet for par to stay at -2, he misses though. Shame, gives a shot back to go back to -1.
McIlroy hasn’t been shown much on the coverage with a lot of birdies around him. He hasn’t dropped a shot on the back nine, but seven pars in his last eight holes. He’s middle of the fairway on the last hole after a 333-yard drive down the middle. 160 or so to the pin. It’s a good one, 15 feet for birdie.
Bad news for Pádraig Harrington late in his round. He has double bogeyed the 7th to drop to +3. He appeared to pitch into the bunker, as he got stuck in the rough throughout the hole. Shame after he had such a strong start to the round.
On 18, Scheffler has to get up and down once more. Chip goes a distance past, 12 feet left... and he misses! That’s a round of 68 and a final score of -5 after 36 holes.
Another birdie for Koepka, the two-time PGA champion has moved right into contention with three birdies in his last four holes. -2 now. Koepka went from being 7 behind to 3 behind over the past hour.
Lowry putts from off the green on 16, leaves himself 5 or 6 feet for par which he sinks.
Another great drive by Koepka at 18, Scheffler goes into the left rough. Conners on 8 hits a bad iron and into the bunker, well short of the green. Hovland misses another makeable birdie putt, putter gone cold on the back nine. Rahm makes it three birdies in a row to get back to +3.
A heavy rain shower comes as Keegan Bradley and DeChambeau swap places, Bradley bogeys and Bryson birdies. Koepka hits his iron approach to close on 18 for a chance of yet another birdie and to get to -2. Suh birdies from distance to get to -3. All-action finish to the second round!
Koepka makes birdie at 17, he’s sneaking into contention with a very strong back nine at -1. At home in all the majors. Scheffler makes an important 10 footer for par on the same hole to stay at -6. Lowry is short of the green at the 16th, needs to chip in to keep up the birdie run.
Rahm has a good chance of three birdies in a row. Conditions a lot more benign after the rain softened the course and the wind has died down.
Birdie for Lowry! That’s five in six. The putter is getting really hot now. Lighting it up on the back nine at Oak Hill today like it’s Portrush.
Spieth also birdies the 15th to move back inside the cut line. Conners falls out of the lead with a bogey on 7, Scheffler solo leader.
Another good shot by Lowry at 15! A chance for five birdies in six holes. Eight feet at the par 3 to get to -2. Callum Tarren misses a birdie chance to go to -4. He missed eight consecutive cuts earlier in the season on the PGA Tour, so a change in form.
Lovely hurling from Lowry. Just four holes left. Four under for the day.
Birdie for Lowry! That’s 4 in 5 holes! Super bunker shot to a few feet which he sinks.
McIlroy pulls his iron shot a bit at the 15th and misses the slope that Scheffler got. And Morikawa does, to hit it close. Good effort with the putt though it slides by.
Lowry’s playing partners Spieth and Hovland are doing a lot of messing. Spieth over the green from the bunker out of bounds. Hovland from just inside the out of bounds fence to the bunker, but at least a great shot to close for par.
Meanwhile Callum Tarren gets another birdie to move to -3.
Scheffler heats up! He catches the slope at the par 3 15th and is eases down towards gimme range for another birdie to catch Conners.
Hovland misses the putt and then hooks wildly at the 14th off the tee, almost out of bounds. Seems he got away with it but a very bad swing there. Lowry is just short of the green to the left on the same hole. Birdie for Koepka on 15 as he moves to even par, following Lowry.
Birdie for McIlroy! He gets up and down at the 14th despite his disappointment at his drive, a good chip and putt.
Another birdie for Shane Lowry! Three birdies in four holes, birdies the par 5 up the hill. Flying now.
McIlroy goes for the green on 14, but immediately frustrated with it as he’s short. Does not look impressed. Meanwhile, a brilliant shot by Hovland on 13 peppers the pin and sets up another birdie chance. Scheffler birdies the 14th and moves within one.
Sloppy bunker shot by McIlroy on 13 and leaves himself another outside birdie chance on the par 5. Just not creating good opportunities for himself. Misses that one, another par.
Another birdie for Shane Lowry! Putter starts to get hot as he hits to 15 feet and holes that one at 11. +1 now. McIlroy in the greenside bunker short of the par 5 13th in two. Spieth goes bogey-double bogey to fall to +5.
“Great hole, PGA, great f**king hole,” says Jon Rahm as he missed the green on the 11th. Frustrations coming out, as McIlroy hits the fairway off the tee at the 13th. Scheffler on 13 misses his birdie putt, he’s gone a bit cold, no birdies since the second hole.
Rory takes an iron off the tee on 12, middle of the fairway on the short par 4. But not a great approach this time. Overhit, didn’t get the slope and lengthy birdie putt, which he leaves short. Disappointing, when his playing partners both wedged it within 10 feet.
Birdie for Lowry at the 10th! An approach to 16 feet and made the putt. Back to +2
Same score as McIlroy, who hit two good iron shots at 10 and 11, misses from 7 feet at 10 and from 20 feet at 11. Needs a few birdies on the way in to stay in contention. Hovland birdied the 10th to move to -4 and into a tie for 2nd.
Birdie for McIlroy! There we go, the first one of the day. A big long raking putt from 44 feet into the hole. Much needed. He’s back to +2 with nine holes to go. Perfect way to go into the back nine.
Super wedge hack out of the long wet rough by Scheffler after a 350-yard drive on 10, good chance to join the lead again. Bunker trouble for DeChambeau on 6, doesn’t get out at first attempt, second attempt over the green.
Meanwhile, Koepka birdies the 10th to go to +1.
McIlroy heading into the back nine, going to take a short break, back soon for an exciting finish to Friday’s round!
Birdie for Lowry! A nice approach to 12 feet and sank the putt on the 8th. He’s +3, level with McIlroy now. Harrington hits in the bunker on the 18th and lays up short. In true Harrington fashion and course management, he gets up and down for par, for a one under front nine of 34.
Harrington’s 70-yard bunker shot is well hit to 15 feet and now he has a chance to escape with par. Sadly he missed the putt and that’s a third bogey of the day for the Irishman to go with his four birdies. He’s +1.
Conners left himself 85 yards short of the green in two on the par 5 18th, but good wedge shot from the rough gives him a chance to save par. Which he does. Brilliant par and a 33 for his front 9.
Lowry drops to +4 with a bogey at 6, which is almost customary at this point. Harrington gets his first par of the day on 16. He’s miles left off the tee, then he hits his iron into the bunker well short of the green on 17.
Scheffler safely gets his par at the 8th. McIlroy made bogey on 7.
From the drop from the hazard, Rory hits a decent shot to the middle of the green but a tough ask for par from there.
Scheffler misses the fairway at the 8th and is in the rough near a tree. He comes up short of the green. DeChambeau goes left of the long 4th and then pitches it close, but misses good chance for birdie to move into a tie for 2nd. Conners uses a putter from well off the green but leaves it short. But he makes his par.
Meanwhile Keegan Bradley gets another birdie, at the 4th and goes to -4.
McIlroy hits it in the water with an iron off the tee. Looked a good tee shot originally but just kept rolling all the way into the drink. Disappointing.
Some of Pádraig Harrington’s approaches so far: 2 feet, 5 feet, 2 feet, 3 feet. Flying it, if he can keep mistakes off the card.
Birdie for Harrington! No pars for Harrington yet, a fourth birdie in sixth holes at the 15th. His second 2 of the day, an approach to 3 feet.
A few good minutes from the Irish as McIlroy escapes with a bogey at the 6th after it looked like it would be much more than that.
Not a great bunker putt by Scheffler leaves him with a tough par save on 7, he misses and falls out of the lead. His first bogey of the tournament.
As expected Harrington bogeys 14 and falls to +1. Hovand hits a great tee shot at the par 3 5th but can’t convert the birdie.
Disaster for McIlroy at the tough 6th hole! Hits into the water off the tee, then goes well right again with his 3rd shot and threatens the water. Oh dear. He avoids the water, has an important 7 or 8 footer for bogey now. DeChambeau bogeys the third to fall two behind.
Conners joins the lead! He’s been striping the ball today and peppering the pins. After missing from 7 feet on the last for birdie, he makes from 8 feet at the next.
Big putt needed for par for Harrington on 14, couldn’t get his pitch close when he missed the green.
An interesting hole for Gary Woodland. Can’t get a swing from the greenside bunker, so uses a wood to knock it a few yards up the bunker. Then holes the bunker shot for par! Scheffler gets a solid par at the 6th, avoiding disaster at the toughest hole on the course.
Great birdie chance miss to join the lead by Conners, but he misses 7 feet. Fellow Canadian Adam Svensson is up to tied 5th and -2 for the tournament. Keegan Bradley’s putt at 2 catches the corner of the hole and he’s up to -3.
Scheffler makes the green at the 6th, he’ll be happy with that. DeChambeau starts with two pars. Rory starts with five straight pars.
Birdie for Harrington! He attacks the flag on the par 5 13th, 207 yard to 2 feet with another sensational shot. He’s back to even par and up to a tie for 13th.
Massive and straight drive by Scheffler at the tough 6th, ideal for him. Rory’s tee shot is on the green on the 5th but a long birdie putt coming.
Bogey for Lowry at 3, missed the green and didn’t get up and down. Conners birdies the 13th, to move within one of the lead. A nice approach to 9 feet and then made the putt through the rain. Morikawa birdies the 4th to get back to even par. Just a par at the par 5 for McIlroy.
DeChambeau about the tee off as a rainpour comes and the umbrellas are up. His opening drive is in the rough. Harrington bogeys the 12th unfortunately to fall back to +1. Overhit the green and could only get his chip to 26 feet, missed the putt. Scheffler hits the middle of the green with his third shot on the par 5 4th. Hovland drops one of the two shots he gained at the third as he hits it in the bunker and then doesn’t get up and down. Koepka has a dreadful lipout for birdie on 4, ball comes in and out of the hole.
Another birdie for Viktor Hovland! He’s followed Scheffler’s lead with birdies at his opening two holes. McIlroy hit a good iron shot at 3 to 18 feet but misses his birdie putt to the left.
Birdies for Shane Lowry and Pádraig Harrington! Good start by the Offalyman as he birdies his first hole. He hit a 142-yard approach to within 4 feet and sank the putt. Meanwhile, it’s two in a row for Harrington as he birdies 11. 248 yards to 5 feet. He’s on fire to start this round.
Par for Scheffler on 3 after a good lag putt. Rahm misses a good birdie chance on 1, a lot of work for him to do today, way back on +6. Another good approach by Hovland on 2.
Hovland birdies his first hole as well to move to -3 and a tied for third. McIlroy hit the green on the second but in an awkward spot as he aims his putt way right of the hole but it still ends up a few feet past and left.
Speaking of awkward, Rich Beem brings up hurling and makes a DJ Carey reference on Sky. Paul McGinley chose not to elaborate too much on that.
McIlroy makes the par.
Birdie for Harrington! What a shot by Pádraig Harrington at the 10th, his first hole of the day! His 95-yard approach threatens the hole and sets up an easy chance from 2 feet for a birdie to bring him to +1.
Opening par for McIlroy, solid putt. Needs to hit a few more fairways though to create scoring chances.
Birdie for Scheffler! Two to start and he takes the lead. Looking in fine fettle.
Rory from 99 yards in the rought leaves it well short of the green. His pitch is good but work to do to save his par from 5 or 6 feet.
Two great shots by Corey Conners at the 10th set up a chance at birdie, which he just misses. A terrible putt by Rose at the 7th means back-to-back bogeys and -1.
On the second hole, Scheffler peppers the flag again. A putt coming to take the lead!
Wow, an amazing approach by Scheffler on the first, a wedge to a foot. Emphatic start and he’ll tie the lead.
Big reception for McIlroy on the first. His first drive is a few yards to the left of the fairway, not terrible but a missed fairway.
Scheffler taps in the birdie and joins the lead!
Favourite Scottie Scheffler has teed off on round two. He hits a big fade and hangs onto the first cut of rough. Big drive down the middle by Koepka on the same hole. Rose bogeys the 6th, like most players in the field. He drops down to -2.
Next up is Rory McIlroy on the tee!
The brutal 6th hole today as Rose gets himself in a tricky spot on it.
Séamus Power is finished his second round. 74 on Day One for +9 for the tournament. Won’t make the cut.
More like a US Open this today, a real grind. Rose rolling back the years and playing like he did at Merion in 2013. The Englishman, who won the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am earlier this year on the PGA Tour after a long win drought, is plodding away nicely. If he can get in at -3, you wouldn’t be overly surprised if he was the clubhouse leader at the end of the day.
Another bogey for Scott, he’s back to even par, as Dustin Johnson double bogeys the 6th to also fall back to even. On the same hole, Mickelson hits into the water off the tee, then threatens the water with his third again. Proving hard to avoid the big numbers. McIlroy moving up the leaderboard before he goes out.
Rose’s birdie chance on the third just slips by but another par on the board.
Good charge by Patrick Cantlay today, 4 under for the day, up to even par. Dustin Johnson is in trouble at the 6th and will lose at least one shot after going in the water. Another drop shot for Séamus Power at the 15th hole. He’s +8 and will be going home this evening.
David Gorman here, taking over from Malachy for the rest of the night’s action at the PGA. Dustin Johnson has just holed a long one for birdie at the 5th to get to -2. The LIV golfer putting himself in a good position ahead of the weekend. Rory is out in just over an hour. Will be aiming to drive a lot better than yesterday. Only hit two fairways.
Rose is one tough hombre. He scratches his way to another par, holing another nine-footer on the second green to keep himself steady at -3. No luck for Power at the 14th, however, where he needs to get down in two from 50 feet for par. He does the needful but pars are half a loaf for him at this stage.
Taylor Pendrith becomes the first leaderboard-botherer to get into the house. He was seeing out a smooth back nine right up until the final hole, where he missed a 13-foot putt to leak one last bogey for a 69. Add that to his level-par opening round and he’s on -1 for the tournament. If the predictions play out and the wind and rain arrive across the rest of the day, Pendrith won’t be far off the lead going into the weekend.
Rose misses ANOTHER fairway, this time wiping one left on 2 and into the teeth of an ugly-loooking bunker. There’s a dogs-chasing cars look about him at the minute - he can surely only avoid disaster for so long if he can’t get the ball on the fairway. Meanwhile, Power posts a par on the par-five 13th. His main birdie chances come in the next two holes. If he doesn’t play them in at least one-under, it’s going to be very tough to see how he makes the weekend.
As expected, DJ couldn’t save himself after blazing it into the cabbage to the right of the third green. He struggles to a shoddy bogey and goes back to -1. Rose is struggling too, missing yet another fairway down the first (his 10th) and having to chip out sideways. In fairness, that’s a brilliant wedge from 99 yards, leaving himself an uphill putt from around eight feet for par. He makes it! That’s a big putt. He needs to start getting it between the ditches off the tee but this is solid scrambling from Rose.
Séamus Power Birdie Alert 2! He’s really digging in here and if he’s going to make the cut, putts like that are going to be why. He left himself with 29 feet on the 12th and probably would have been happy enough with two putts. But this one caught the hole and now he’s up to +7. With the scoreable 14th and 15th up ahead, Power has definitely given himself a chance of making the weekend. Can he take it?
Rose finally drops a shot. Well and all as he has scored, he hasn’t hit a fairway all day. And now it’s caught up with him - he misses right on 18 and struggles to get back on track, ultimately leaving an 18-footer short on the green. That puts him back to -3. Canada’s Taylor Pendrith is one shot back, his third birdie of his back nine moving him to -2. Dustin Johnson is on -2 as well but he’s in trouble after a shank off the tee on the 3rd and seems certain to drop at least one shot here.
Ouch. Max Homa has just duffed a chip like you or I would. Through the back of the third, in a tickish bit of rough, he chopped down on the ball but didn’t follow through and it only dribbled onto the green. His putt slides by and that’s three bogeys in five holes since he got within two of the lead. Back to +1 for Homa.
Rose is a little loose on the 17th, missing only his second green of the round a bit long and a bit right. He chips down the green to five feet but it’s no gimme... he finds the bottom of the cup though and stays on top.
Séamus Power Birdie Alert! The Waterford man had a rotten front nine, turning in 39 to find himself on +9. If he’s going to make the cut, he needs to get motoring and that’s a good start. A fine drive down the 10th fairway, followed by a smooth approach from 118 yards to eight feet. He drains the put and gets back to +8. He’ll most likely need at least two more coming in.
Justin Rose! Finally somebody catches DeChambeau and it’s the veteran Englishman. That’s another birdie, his third of the day, rolling in a tramliner from 25 feet on the 16th. He moves up to -4 and the joint lead. Conditions have been tough over the last hour with the wind becoming ever more of a factor. But Rose has kept on keeping on and holed a couple of long ones. That’ll do it in a tough major like this.
Yikes. Block’s day has turned black. Coming off that bogey on the fourth, he whiffs a pure 90-degree shank off the tee on the par-three fifth. He gets a huge stroke of luck with a bounce back into the rough but can’t take advantage and chunks his second into the bunker. He fails to get up and down and that’s a double bogey, sending him back to level par. That’s brutal. Oh, and the thoughest hole on the course is next. Gulp.
DJ drops another on the 17th, pulling his putt from 15 feet. That sends him back to -1. Rose has a chance to join DeChambeau on the 15th but curls his putt just outside the hole and stays a -3. Block bites off a little more than he can chew on the par-5 fourth, getting caught in the rough just off the right of the green. His stance is awkward and he has to grip way down the shaft to hit his pitch but he gets it out to eight feet. He can save par here - but it catches the back over the hole and hops out! Pity.
The good news for any players not on the course yet is that nobody is going mad and running away with it. The lead is still at -4 and after almost four hours of play, nobody has caught DeChambeau, never mind passed him. The bad news is there’s a reason for that - the course is tough and the wind is up. The best round on the course so far belongs to Sihwan Kim who has made five birdies and one bogey to move to +1. But you wouldn’t exactly say a low score is out there, on the evidence so far.
Oof. From absolutely nowhere, Dustin Johnson is in trouble on the 17th. After a monumental drive, he had a wedge in his hand in the middle of the fairway. It tempted him into a ping at the flag but he pulled it ever so slightly left and the ball ran off down the slope 30 yards away and down into a hollow. He could only sky his chip back and now he has around 22 feet for par. No dice - DJ drops to two under-par. Adam Scott drops one too at his seventh but Justin Rose is hanging tough - a scrambling par on the 13th keeps him at -3.
Homa’s good run ends with a lip out on the 16th - he hasn’t had a par since his first hole of the day on the 10th. He hit a nice putt there from around 15 feet and it looked like it was going to dive in. Not to be though and he falls to -1.
Well now. That’s magnificent stuff from Block. He has fired a stunning approach to the 2nd, whistling one out the first first cut of rough to land softly 10 feet from the hole. He has that to join DeChambeau in the lead at -4. There’s a small bit of break in it - ach, just slightly too much and it misses on the low side. Shame.
They have company now too. Block is refusing to go away, regardless of the rareified air he finds himself in. He rolls in a splendid birdie on the first hole - his 10th - and moves to -3. Justin Rose is humming as well and two birdies in his first three holes gets him into that group too.
Homa tidies up for his fourth birdie in five holes on the 15th and he’s suddenly right up there on the leaderboard at -2. Considering he was +3 at the turn during his opening round, that’s some going on a tough course. On the same hole, Adam Scott finds a birdie too and he joins Johnson, Scheffler and Connors at -3.
The easiest hole on the course is the short par-four 14th and the players are feasting on it. Max Homa, Tony Finau and Adam Scott have all taken birdie there in the past 10 minutes, making up immediately for dropped shots on the previous hole. Homa has jumped 14 places since the start of play, into red numbers with that birdie - plus he’s just stitched it to three feet on the 15th. By contrast, Pieters is going backwards, making his second bogey in a row on the 7th.
Bad news for Séamus Power, who leaks another bogey on the par-five 4th. He lost his drive well left and had to take his medicine wedging back into the fairway. He ultimately left himself too much to do and drops back to +7. The wind is getting up out there. Hard to know where the cut is going to be - +6 or +7 looks to be the general area. Power can’t afford too many more shots to go, clearly.
Eric Cole started the day a shot clear of DeChambeau but ran into trouble as he finished his first round this morning. He’s begun his second round with a scratchy opening hole, sailing through the first green with his approach and leaving himself with six feet for par. That putt slides by and he falls back to -2.
Pieters leaves himself 15 feet for par on the difficult sixth... and he misses! That drops him back to -2. Where he is joined by Justin Rose, who gets his day off to a fine start with a birdie on the 10th. Counting his chip-in on the 18th to finish his opening round, that’s back-to-back birdies for Rose. He’s motoring.
The big movers so far on Day Two have been Belgium’s Thomas Pieters and the club pro Michael Block. Pieters exploded from the blocks with birdies at 3 and 4, building on his 69 from yesterday. He’s in trouble on the 6th though and will have to get up and down from 30 yards, wedging over a bunker with very little green to work with. We’ll see. As for Block, he made an even better start with three birdies in his first seven holes. But he’s just dropped one on the 17th after being in thick rough just short of the green and he slips back to -2.
Séamus Power has just dropped an early shot, failing to get up and down from the sand in front of the third green. That pushes him out to six over-par. He’s going to be cut watching most of that day, you’d imagine.
Day Two is underway at Oak Hill and nobody is getting away from the field just yet. A few of the strong finishers from last night are on the course but Big Bryson DC is still on his own at the head of affairs. We won’t see him until around teatime but there’s a serious afternoon’s golf to be played before then. Malachy Clerkin here taking you through the next few hours.
