Few players in the world, if any, deserve a victory in a Major more than Xander Schauffele (-12). Since 2017 he has been at least once in the top 10 of a Major after 36 holes every year except 2022. Seven out of eight. Few, if any, have been knocking on the door longer.
This Friday he had a trial by fire before his eyes. He was going out in the afternoon, after signing the lowest round in the history of the PGA Championship and needed to keep pushing the accelerator. And he has done it. It is true that there was a moment that seemed he could break the tournament even more, when he got to -13 after ten holes, but we should not take any merit away from his round of 68 strokes.
Schauffele, despite his +1 in the last eight holes, we will see if it is not a symptom that the pressure is already squeezing a player who undoubtedly finds it harder to win than others, has managed to maintain the solo lead with a one-stroke advantage over Collin Morikawa (-11), who was already up at the Augusta Masters and has handed in the best card of the day (65), two over Sahith Theegala (-10), who continues to grow and four over Thomas Detry (-9), someone who finds it much harder to win than Schauffele himself, Mark Hubbard (-9), the surprise guest who has made all the cuts this year on the PGA Tour, Bryson DeChambeau (-9), also author of 65 strokes and leaving putts on the way and, of course, Scottie Scheffler (-9), whose shadow (really it’s not a play on words after the episode of his morning arrest) is getting longer. If he is capable of making 66 strokes being a bundle of nerves, what not to expect from him in the next 36 holes. He’s made of different stuff. Pure steel. We’ll see, however, if tomorrow is not when the adrenaline and accumulated tension drop comes. It would certainly be almost human.
There are other very important names up there. Four strokes behind Schauffele are Tony Finau, who has also left putts on the way, the reborn Viktor Hovland, recovering his dimension from the hand of his old coach Joe Mayo and Austin Eckroat, a player who already knows what it means to win on the PGA Tour and who does everything really well. Similarly, we must pay close attention to Brooks Koepka, who is five strokes behind, missing some really short putts, although he has also made some important ones, as well as Hideki Matusyama or Harris English, tied with Koepka.
The classification is tight and very beautiful. The one who has dropped out is Rory McIlroy (-5). He cannot be ruled out for being who he is, but the reality is that he needs a stellar weekend. He has to be the best of the next 36 holes to give himself an option. He’s had a very flat day. He’s barely made two putts and has made, again, very big mistakes. He made a crushing double bogey on the 12th. It’s his fifteenth of the season. Last year he made a total of seven on the PGA Tour.
The cut is still pending to be closed. The round could not be completed due to lack of light after the delay that occurred in the morning due to the unfortunate fatal accident that occurred at the gates of Valhalla. The cut will be -1 or -2. In any case, it will be the lowest in the history of the PGA Championship and equals the lowest in the history of the Majors, achieved in the Open Championship of 1990 and 2006. Out of this cut, whether at -1 or -2, players of the stature of Jon Rahm, Matthew Fitzpatrick, Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Ludvig Aberg, Adrian Meronk, Sam Bruns, Wyndham Clark or Adam Scott have been left out.
The game will resume at 7.15 in the morning, local time, (13.15 in mainland Spain) and the third round will start at 15.00 hours, also, of course, in Spain.
