PITTSFORD, N.Y. (AP) — Viktor Hovland has joined Scottie Scheffler and Corey Conners atop the leaderboard at the PGA Championship. Hovland polished off his 3-under 67 with a short birdie putt on the 18th hole to move to 5-under for the tournament.
Bryson DeChambeau is one shot back at 4-under as he finishes up the back nine.
Brooks Koepka, who called his opening round of 2-over 72 one of the worst days of ball-striking he's had in a while, responded with a 4-under 66 to get within three shots of the leaders heading into the weekend at Oak Hill.
Major champions and good friends Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth are sticking around for the weekend too, but they needed to work to make it happen.
Justin Thomas, the defending PGA champion, sank an 8-foot bogey putt on the 18th to finish on the likely cut line at 5-over. Spieth, nursing an ailing left wrist, saved par from a greenside bunker on 18 to join Thomas at 5-over.
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Scottie Scheffler has joined Corey Conners in a share of the lead at the PGA Championship. Way down the leaderboard, there's another race going on.
Who gets to return to Oak Hill on Saturday?
The cut was shaping up to be 5-over par, and every shot matters to Masters champion Jon Rahm and Jordan Spieth.
Rahm was one shot outside the cut line until he made birdies on the 13th and 14th holes to get to 4 over. Spieth was moving in the right direction until he bogeyed the 11th, made double bogey on the 12th and a bogey on the 14th to fall to 6 over. Spieth was in a bunker in front of the reachable par-4 14th hole and sent that over the fence and out-of-bounds.
He bounced back with a birdie on the 15th and was right on the cut line at 5 over.
Among those certain to miss was Talor Gooch. That's only significant because Gooch is No. 63 in the world. The top 60 after this week are exempt into the U.S. Open. Gooch did not enter qualifying, and therefore won't be playing. He has won back-to-back this year on the LIV Golf circuit.
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Corey Conners is the first player to reach 6-under par at Oak Hill in the PGA Championship, building a two-shot lead over Scottie Scheffler and Viktor Hovland in the second round.
The forecast for stronger wind in the afternoon hasn't materialized. The surprise was a few passing showers that were enough for players to get out their umbrellas. It's taking a little fire out of the course. But Oak Hill remains tough. Only 11 players are under par.
One of them is Bryson DeChambeau, just barely. He took a double bogey on the sixth hole when it took him two to get out of a bunker. DeChambeau is 3 over through seven holes for his round, now five behind Conners.
Three of those under par are Canadians. Conners is 6 under through 11 holes. Taylor Pendrith had a 69 and was 1 under for the championship. Adam Svensson is 1 under for the day. Maybe it's a home game. The Canadian border is some 90 miles away.
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Scottie Scheffler has picked up right where he left off at the PGA Championship.
The world's second-ranked player began the second round with back-to-back birdies to move to the top of the leaderboard at drizzly Oak Hill.
Scheffler hit his approach shot stiff at the par-4 first hole for a tap-in birdie and rolled in a 9-foot putt on the second hole to move to 5-under for the tournament.
Scheffler is tied at the top with Corey Conners. The Canadian started on the back nine and birdied the 13th and 15th holes to join Scheffler at 5-under.
Scheffler opened with a bogey-free 3-under 67, his first bogey-free round in 52 tries at a major tournament.
First-round leader Bryson DeChambeau is part of a group two shots back. DeChambeau, who opened with 4-under 66, bogeyed the third hole to fall a bit off the early pace set by Scheffler and Conners.
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Justin Rose's fast start to the second round has him within one shot of Bryson DeChambeau at the PGA Championship.
Rose birdied three of his first seven holes and was at 2 under for the day, 3 under for the tournament as he made the turn at breezy Oak Hill.
The 41-year-old Rose, the 2013 U.S. Open champion, used a hot putter to take advantage of conditions that appear more scoring-friendly than during the first round on Thursday. Rose didn't hit a fairway on his first nine holes but still managed to roll in birdie putts of 15, 20 and 26 feet.
Rose won his 11th PGA tour event at Pebble Beach in February. Rose has four top-10 finishes at the PGA and tied for 13th at Southern Hills last year.
Mito Pereira, who double-bogeyed the 18th in the fourth round at Southern Hills to squander a chance at a stunning victory, is 3 under through 11 holes to move to 1 under for the tournament.
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Club professional Michael Block has joined considerably more famous company near the top of the leaderboard at the PGA Championship.
The 46-year-old Block, the head pro at Arroyo Trabuco Golf Club in Mission Viejo, California, birdied three of his first five holes of the second round to climb to 2 under as he heads to his second nine at Oak Hill. That put Block two shots behind first-round leader Bryson DeChambeau, who will begin his second round Friday afternoon.
This is the fifth PGA appearance for Block, who qualified by finishing in a tie for second at the PGA Professional Championship this month. He has yet to make the cut in six previous starts at major championships.
Block began the second round by rolling in an 8-foot birdie putt on the par-4 10th hole at the East Course. He hit his approach to tap-in range on the par-4 12th and drained a 12-footer for birdie on the short par-4 14th.
Block is putting himself in solid position to make it to the weekend. The 156-man field will be reduced to the top 70 and ties later Friday.
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Bryson DeChambeau has the lead at the PGA Championship, his first time atop a leaderboard in a major since he won the 2020 U.S. Open at Winged Foot.
That was assured when PGA Tour rookie Eric Cole returned to Oak Hill on Friday and sent his first shot on the sixth hole into the water and made double bogey.
DeChambeau opened with a 4-under 66 on Thursday and has a one-shot lead over Scottie Scheffler, Dustin Johnson, Corey Conners and Cole.
The first round was suspended Thursday night because of darkness, due to a two-hour frost delay at the start of the opening round. Cole was at 5 under and in the middle of the sixth fairway. He finished with three straight pars.
Phil Mickelson held it together until the very end. His shot from the rough stayed below the 18th green in more rough. He didn't advance that to the green, chipped the next one 12 feet short and two-putted for double bogey. He wound up with a 73.
Even with the frost delay, the PGA Championship is back on schedule. The second round began as 30 players were finishing their first round. Justin Rose chipped in for birdie on his last hole for a 69, making it 16 players who broke par in the opening round.
The next task for Mickelson, Jordan Spieth and Jon Rahm was to be among the top 70 and ties who make the cut.
DeChambeau plays in the afternoon.
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