Xander Schauffele said he played the best golf of his life after his opening 62 at the PGA Championship on Thursday. Although Friday’s round was not of the same caliber, the leader will have no qualms.
As he cruised the course with his first outing with nine birdies and no bogeys, Schauffele faced the task of chasing Friday.
While Schauffele waited to finally enter the course, Collin Morikawa had thrown down the gauntlet thanks to a flurry of five consecutive birdies.
And it was a challenge Schauffele accepted. If there were any doubts about whether he could finally hold on and close out a major, he quickly answered them with his 10th birdie of the tournament on the second Friday.
Two more followed on the front nine to reach the turn at 12 under par for the tournament and sank another on the 10th. He wasn’t cracking under the pressure. Not yet, anyway.
Xander Schauffele watched Collin Morikawa make a charge Friday at Kentucky.
But Schauffele returned to the course he dismantled on Thursday and maintained his lead.
The first crack began to show on the par-three 11th when he missed his birdie-putt attempt on the par-three and failed to convert to save par. His first unforced error and his first bogey of the week.
But he outlasted it with steady pars throughout the rest of his round, shooting a three-under 68 for the wire-to-wire lead at the halfway point at 12 under.
It wasn’t the nine birdies of the first round earlier, but it was still enough to protect his lead and ward off Morikawa’s threat.
“When you play one of the easiest nine-unders you’ve ever seen, it makes you feel like you’re shooting a million,” Schauffele’s playing partner Justin Thomas said after his first 62 on Thursday.
Morikawa, watching from the clubhouse, would have sympathized with the Louisville native when his 65, with a solitary birdie, wasn’t enough to knock Schauffele off the lead.
The 2020 champion birdied five consecutive holes before finishing with bogey on his final six holes to shoot a six-under 65 and sit one stroke behind Schauffele at 11 under.
“Look, the little five-run birdie was just me playing solid golf and sometimes when the putts miss, that’s what happened,” Morikawa said.
Morikawa had thrown down the gauntlet thanks to a flurry of five consecutive birdies.
After losing to Scottie Scheffler at Masters, Morikawa chases another major title
“But for the most part, that’s the type of golf I’m going to ask for myself over the next two days and 36 holes is just being present, making your shots, executing them, and if the putts fall, the putts fall.”
‘But don’t really force anything. I wasn’t forcing anything, especially all day today.
Morikawa had been something of a stranger to the top of a major championship standings since his victory at the 2021 Open. That was until he made a phone call to a familiar face.
After a rough patch earlier this year, the 27-year-old reunited with Rick Sessinghaus, the coach who helped him win two major championships.
He then competed at The Masters in April and is now considered Schauffele’s biggest challenger. He dominated the tough conditions at Valhalla on Friday to prove that he can once again perform at his best on golf’s big stage.
“I know I still have it in me, and the exciting thing is, after Augusta, it sucked to finish like that and it sucked to lose to Scottie, but at the end of the day, I knew I had three more majors left.” “Prepare for it and make things as precise as possible and come out strong,” he said. “Obviously it’s good to start like this.”
