PGA Championship: Tough morning gives way to gentle afternoon in Round 2 at Aronimink as Jon Rahm, Rory McIlroy fight back
Two unfamiliar names sit atop the leaderboard, but there are plenty of former major winners within striking distance headed into the weekend.
NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pa. — Once again, the game’s best challenged Aronimink at the PGA Championship, and once again, the course pummeled the field. But this time, Aronimink had a co-conspirator: the PGA itself, which placed Friday’s pins in what Scottie Scheffler called “absurd” locations .
Need proof? Here’s proof. The lead after Thursday was 3-under.
The lead after Scheffler left the course about halfway through Friday’s round? Still at -3, thanks to a wicked combination of wind, undulating greens and those diabolical pin placements. By the afternoon, though, the wind had rolled out, and the low scores rolled in.
Alex Smalley set the pace at -4 early in the afternoon , and then Maverick McNealy matched him in the late wave. Both briefly held two-stroke leads on the field, and both almost immediately gave those leads back. Smalley has only played in four majors before this week, three of them PGA Championships.