Xander Schauffele leads Collin Morikawa by one at PGA Championship

 

[May 18, 2024]  LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- It wasn't quite a 62 like he fired the day before, but Xander Schauffele was happy with another solid round at the PGA Championship on Friday at a rainy and soggy Valhalla Golf Club.

Schauffele had four birdies and a bogey for a 3-under-par 68 and a one-shot lead at 12-under 130 after two rounds. His 62 on Thursday set a new course and PGA Championship record.

Widely considered the best player to have never won a major championship, Schauffele is halfway home.

"Hey, guys, it's just been two rounds," he said with a wide smile. "It's just 36 holes. It's a really good start to a tournament. I'm playing some really nice golf. That's kind of it."

The second round was not completed before darkness because of the 80-minute delay to start the morning following a fatal accident that shut down the road leading into the course. Play was suspended at 8:41 p.m.

Eighteen golfers will have to finish the second round on Saturday morning at 7:15 a.m. The field will then be repaired and the second round is scheduled to begin at 9 a.m.

Schauffele has a one-shot lead over Collin Morikawa, who had a string of five straight birdies on his final nine en route to a 6-under 65 and an 11-under two-day total. Sahith Theegala followed up a 65 with a second-round 67 and is alone in third at 10 under.

World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler is in a four-way tie at 9 under. Scheffler fired a 66 on Friday following his early-morning arrest outside the property.

Thomas Detry of Belgium (67), Mark Hubbard (68) and Bryson DeChambeau, who tied Morikawa for the low round of the day with a 65, also stand at 9 under heading into the weekend.

Viktor Hovland of Norway (66), Austin Eckroat (67) and Tony Finau (69) are four off the lead at 8 under.

After nine birdies and no bogeys on Thursday, Schauffele rolled in four more birdies in his first 10 holes to move to 13 under. He made his first bogey of the tournament at the par-3 11th hole before parring his final seven holes.

"Definitely didn't have the finish I wanted," Schauffele said. "I felt like I was hitting some really good shots in there, a couple unlucky breaks in the fairway, but that start was nice. Definitely settled me in. Making that long putt on the third hole was definitely a nice snag to make me feel a little bit more comfortable."

It took a while for anyone to catch Schauffele to start the second round, but Morikawa finally did it with the run of birdies late in his round. He made birdie at Nos. 4-8 to go to 12 under before his bogey at No. 9.

It was the longest birdie streak of his major championship career.

"I've been putting great so far since Augusta, so it's nice to just kind of keep that trend going," Morikawa said. "And was able to hit a few good close shots, few wedge shots, take advantage of the short holes, the par-5s and for the most part didn't really make any big errors, other than the last hole, just that approach shot."

Morikawa had four straight top-25s heading into this week. The two-time major champion (2020 PGA Championship, 2021 Open Championship) has himself in contention for a third.

"I know I still have it in me, and that's what's exciting is that, after Augusta, it sucked to finish like that and it sucked to lose to Scottie (at the Masters), but at the end of the day, I knew I had three more majors coming up and to prep for that and get things as sharp as possible and just come out strong," he said. "It's obviously nice to get off to this start."

Scheffler was booked on four charges, including assault of a police officer, before he was able to return to Valhalla to make his delayed tee time. He opened birdie-bogey-birdie before recording four more birdies on the day.

"I did spend some time stretching in a jail cell. That was a first for me," Scheffler deadpanned after his round. "That was part of my warmup. I was just sitting there waiting and I started going through my warmup, I felt like there was a chance I may be able to still come out here and play. I started going through my routine and I tried to get my heart rate down as much as I could today, but like I said, I still feel like my head is spinning a little bit. But I was fortunate to be able to make it back out and play some golf today."

The cut is expected to be 1 under par, which at this point would put 79 golfers into the weekend. It would mark just the third major to ever have a cut line that was under par, joining the 1990 Open Championship at St Andrews and the 2006 Open at Royal Liverpool.

Notable players expected to miss the cut include Spaniard Jon Rahm (even par), Adam Scott of Australia (3 over), Wyndham Clark (4 over), Phil Mickelson (4 over) and Tiger Woods (7 over).

--Jody Demling, Field Level Media

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