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The second round of the 97th PGA Championship proved to be an even tougher test for the best golfers in the world. Whistling Straits started the day with plenty of sun and light winds, but by late afternoon, thunderstorms rolled in and forced a suspension in play until Saturday morning.
Australia’s Jason Day and Matt Jones hold the top spots on the scoreboard at nine-under. Both are in the middle of their second rounds; Day with four holes to play, and Jones with six. England’s Justin Rose sits alone in third, one back of the Aussies, with one hole to finish Saturday morning.
Biggest Movers:
Hiroshi Iwata moved up 108 spots up the leaderboard after pulling off a remarkable second round at his first PGA Championship appearance. Recording an eagle, eight birdies, and one bogey on the ninth hole, the native of Japan becomes the 27th player in major championship history to shoot a round of 63. The 34-year-old currently sits tied for 15th at four-under, five shots back of Day and Jones.
2013 FedEx Cup-champion Henrik Stenson is no stranger to some big tournament contention, but a rocky first round of 76 had him under the cut line. The Swede would rally and take advantage of the morning start with eight birdies, five on his first eight, to record a six-under 66 and putting him in a tie for 28th with 13 other competitors. The 39-year-old jumped up 74 slots on the scoreboard.
George Coetzee got the early jump in moving up the leaderboard, shooting a seven-under 65 for his second round. The South African soared 59 spots to a tie for 12th position with Dustin Johnson and Danny Lee at five-under.
Notables:
Defending champion Rory McIlroy is still adjusting to playing his first tournament in eight weeks slowly but surely. The world number one settled for another round of 71 despite making an eagle on the second hole; his 11th as he started on the back nine. He sits tied 28th at two-under.
John Daly had a good start to his round, which took and interesting turn when he cam upon the tee-box at the Par-Three Seventh. After putting his first three tee shots into the hazard, he would record a 10 on the 221-yard hole and finish the day at 11-over. Daly’s reaction and what follows is something to see:
John Daly MELTDOWN — Daly throws his club in Lake Michigan after 3 shots in the water 💦💦💦 https://t.co/ZVY8J24WPS
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) August 14, 2015
Tiger Woods was unable to finish his round due to the weather conditions; he birdied two of his first three holes, but went south after following up with a double-bogey on the fourth hole.
Shot of the Day:
Jordan Spieth put his second shot on the 18th hole from the fairway short of the green into the front bunker. The pin was placed just over the hump of the bunker roughly five yards from the fringe of the green. Just when you thought this kid couldn’t get better, he pulls off an incredible shot; arguably the best bunker shot of his major season of 2015. Take a look:
Shot of the day? @JordanSpieth holes out for birdie from the bunker at 18. #SapphireOnLocation #PGAChamp http://t.co/woF8vE5uri — PGA.COM (@PGA_com) August 14, 2015
‘Moving Day’ is critical for major championships and with the weather expected to become a factor, this could inflict some significant changes on the star-studded leaderboard. If any of the remaining players want to win this tournament, they’ll have to stay true to their own game, make adjustments when necessary, and not to worry as much about the environment around them; trusting your skills and talents is key to making a major your own. Plus a little luck from Mother Nature herself of course.
Second round play will resume at 7 AM local time (8 AM Eastern time), when 57 golfers will finish the course on hopefully cleaner turf. Third round coverage will follow on CBS.