PGA Championship Round 2: What to know as 15 golfers are within 2 of lead

PGA Championship co-leader Maverick McNealy hasn't finished in the top 15 of a major championship. Richard Heathcote / Getty Images Share articleThe second round of the PGA Championship at Aronimink on Friday didn’t do much to unpack the tight conditions atop the leaderboard. Fifteen players head to the weekend in or within two strokes of the lead, the most at any men’s major championship since the 2002 Open. That week ended in a four-man playoff, for what it’s worth. Will anyone get separation on moving day at the PGA? Here are the top numbers and notes to know from the second round in Newtown Square, Pa. 1. Two Americans sit tenuously atop the leaderboard after Round 2 at 4 under par. Alex Smalley, who had two rounds in the 60s in majors in his career entering the week, has opened this PGA Championship with scores of 67 and 69. Smalley has been excellent on the diabolical greens at Aronimink, gaining well over 5 1/2 strokes on the field putting through two rounds. He has holed seven putts of 10 feet or longer this week; no player in the field has made more. With him in Saturday’s final pairing will be Maverick McNealy, who has reached the top 10 of the Official World Golf Ranking but is in the top 25 entering the weekend of a major for the first time. The Stanford product hit 14 greens in regulation and gained a season-high (and field-best) 5.3 strokes on the field from tee to green. Neither Smalley nor McNealy has a top-15 finish in a major championship. This is the first time in 14 years no player is at 5 under or better after 36 holes at the PGA Championship. 2. Eight strokes separate the leading score of 4 under and the cut line (4 over). That ties the smallest such gap in PGA Championship history. In 2006 at Medinah, the number was also eight (four shared the lead at 8 under, with the cut coming in at even par). The record for largest 36-hole comeback to win the PGA won’t happen this year; nobody teeing it up Saturday is nine off the lead, the deficit faced by eventual champions Bob Rosburg in 1959 and Bob Tway in 1986. Of the 21 players under par through two rounds, 12 played in the early/late side of the draw. The average 36-hole total score for players in the early/late half was 144.5, eight-tenths of a stroke lower than their counterparts who went out late/early. 3. The group at 3 under comprises a wide array of accomplished pros. Hideki Matsuyama made just one bogey Friday in a round of 67. The 2021 Masters champion is in the top five through two rounds of a major for the fifth time. South African Aldrich Potgieter, 21, looked primed for the second-day lead before a bogey-bogey finish. Potgieter is looking to follow in the footsteps of fellow South African Gary Player, who won the only men’s major previously contested at Aronimink, the 1962 PGA. Chris Gotterup carded a 65 on Friday, the low round of the week. Gotterup, who has wins in Hawaii and Arizona this season, gained more than 7 1/2 strokes on the field, his best in a major. Gotterup is playing in just his sixth major, a solo third last summer at The Open his best yet. Last summer at PGA Frisco, Minjee Lee posted her third career major victory. With a win this week, Min Woo Lee would make them the first brother-sister duo to win men’s and women’s professional major golf championships. Lee is the field leader in strokes gained tee to green through two rounds (+7.64). 4. Scottie Scheffler’s second round got off to a rocky start, with three bogeys on his first four holes and six consecutive missed fairways. But the world No. 1 was resilient, as he has been over and over again at this championship. Friday marked the seventh time since 2021 that Scheffler has made the turn over par in a round at the PGA. In all seven of those rounds, he broke par on the second nine. Scheffler hit seven of his last eight fairways, an important correction at Aronimink. Through two rounds, on par-4s and -5s, Scheffler is 4 under par on the 20 holes on which his tee shot has found the fairway. When missing the fairway, he’s 2 over par. If Scheffler wins this week, he will reach five major wins at age 29. Only three men in professional golf history have won a fifth major before age 30: Bobby Jones, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods. Scheffler’s weekend resume in majors is immense. Since 2022, in Rounds 3 and 4 in majors, Scheffler leads in score to par (-47), birdie average (4.25), strokes gained approach per round (1.30) and strokes gained tee to green per round (2.28). 5. Cameron Young carded an excellent round of 67 on Friday, capped with an eagle at the par-5 ninth to finish his day. Young hit 10 of his last 11 greens in regulation, and his lone dropped shot came on the 13th (Young’s fourth hole of the round). After missing two putts in the 7- to 9-foot range Thursday, Young was perfect inside 10 feet on Aronimink’s greens Friday. A Young win this week would make eight of the last 10 men’s majors won by top-three players in the Official World Golf Ranking. The only player to win the PGA and Players Championships in the same season was Hal Sutton in 1983. 6. Stephan Jaeger was one of seven players tied for the lead after Round 1. Friday, he did something not seen at the PGA Championship in 15 years: record 18 pars in a round. Jaeger filed a delightfully bland 70, the first player to make par on every hole in a PGA Championship round since Richard Green in 2011. Here’s the good news: Jaeger is the first player to have a share of the first-round lead at the PGA and follow it with a bogey-free second round since Nick Price in 1994. Price won that week. 7. Ludvig Åberg hit a field-best 17 greens in regulation for a 66, tying his lowest career round in a major. He also shot 66 in the first round of the 2024 U.S. Open. After starting with three birdies in his first 27 holes of the week, Åberg caught fire late Friday, making four birdies in his last seven holes. No player in the field gained more strokes in Round 2 with approach shots than Åberg. Fellow budding European star David Puig is also 2 under, contending on the weekend of a major championship for the first time. The Spaniard, 24, who won the Australian PGA last November, led Friday in strokes gained putting. Fellow Spaniard, Arizona State product and LIV golfer Jon Rahm is three back, despite ranking No. 80 out of 82 players to make the cut in approach shot proximity. The former world No. 1 is contending despite hitting just 11 fairways and having basically neutral strokes gained putting numbers through two days. Watch out. Two-time PGA champion Justin Thomas opened with two 69s. Thomas and Rahm are two of seven major winners within four shots of the lead, the most entering Round 3 of the PGA Championship in 20 years. 8. This section is dedicated to club professional Ben Kern, the lone member of the “CoreBridge Financial Team” to advance to the weekend. Kern shot 67, a score bettered by the best players on Earth only twice in the last two days (Gotterup, Åberg). Kern made a field-high 151 feet of putts Friday. He was no slouch with his ball striking, either. Kern had more strokes gained approach in Friday than Matsuyama or Matt Fitzpatrick. He had a better strokes gained tee to green number than Rahm or Bryson DeChambeau. And it’s not even his best career round in the PGA Championship: He also shot 67 in 2018, in the third round at Bellerive (also a par-70 course). 9. After finishing his first round in a way he never had — a bogey on each of the last four holes — Rory McIlroy bounced back with a bogey-free 67 and comfortably made the cut. A day after going 1-for-6 scrambling, Rory was 3-for-3 after missing the green in regulation. McIlroy shot 67 or better in a major championship round for the 43rd time. Only Woods has more such rounds (48). McIlroy’s bogey-free round was his 16th in a major, breaking a tie with Jason Day for the most in the last 20 seasons. 10. Of the last 50 men’s major winners, 45 have been within four shots of the lead after two rounds. At the PGA Championship, 33 of the last 36 winners have been in the top 10 after 36 holes. The last man to charge from outside the top 10 after two rounds in a major and win was Fitzpatrick at the 2022 U.S. Open (tied for 13th). From outside the top 20, you have to go back to Collin Morikawa at the 2020 PGA at TPC Harding Park (tied for 25th). Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms