The 108th PGA Championship at Aronimink has been a stern test to say the least. A combination of strong wind, cool temperatures – especially early on Friday – and extremely difficult hole locations means we have a jam-packed leaderboard through 36 holes.
Maverick McNealy and Alex Smalley share the halfway lead at 4-under-par 136. That’s the highest leading 36-hole total in a PGA Championship since J.B. Holmes led at 1 under in 2008 at Oak Hill.
Just behind that leading pair, there are 28 players within five shots. That includes Hideki Matsuyama, Chris Gotterup, Aldrich Potgieter, Stephan Jaeger, Min Woo Lee and Max Geyserman who are all just one shot back. Lurking two shots back at 2 under is defending champion Scottie Scheffler. Jason Day, Patrick Cantlay and Jon Rahm are all three behind at 1 under.
McNealy got it to 6-under and a two-shot lead through 14 holes in his second round, but two late bogeys brought him back to the pack. His 3-under 67 was still tied for the second lowest score of the week behind Chris Gotterup’s (3 under, T3) 5-under 65 in Round 2.
“I feel like I played 4 1/2 really good hours of golf,” said McNealy, who had his best finish in a major with a T18 at the Masters in April. “Didn't play my best coming in, but there's always good stretches and bad stretches. Had a lot of things go my way today, I think. I had a good tee time, that helped. This afternoon played a lot easier than the morning, I think. Didn't take advantage of it as much as I would have liked, but that went my way. Had a couple short game shots go my way.”
Smalley played early Friday when the conditions were at their most brutal. He went out in 2-under 33 on the statistically more difficult back nine and then immediately ran into trouble with three consecutive bogeys on the front side. But Smalley was resilient with birdies on Nos. 4 and 9 to record a 1-under 69 to go along with Thursday’s 67.
“A lot of really good moments, some not so great moments, and then a lot of just trying to keep moving forward in between,” said Smalley, who is making just his fifth major start. “It was difficult, it was chilly this morning, the wind was up. Some of the hole locations are very difficult. They're right on the top of a crown. So you might have a putt that goes uphill, but once it gets to the hole, it starts going downhill. I had a couple 15- or 20-footers up the hill today that I was really just trying to lag up near around the hole and trying not to let it get away from me. It was difficult. I definitely would have taken a 1-under today before I teed off.”
Eighty-two players made the cut, which fell at 4 over. Among the notables who won’t be around for the weekend are Tommy Fleetwood (+5), Keegan Bradley (+6), Bryson DeChambeau (+7) and Adam Scott (+8).
Also lurking is Rory McIlroy. McIlroy shot up 75 spots in Round 2 with a bogey-free, 3-under 67 to get to 1 over and just five shots out of the lead.
“I think this afternoon I had a better understanding of how the course was playing, and just watching a little bit of the coverage early on today, I probably went out there yesterday being a little too aggressive thinking that guys were going to go lower than they were,” McIlroy said. “Because I certainly didn't, in the practice rounds, I certainly didn't see it playing as difficult as it has played. I think knowing that the field isn't going to get away from you, you can be a little bit more patient, especially this afternoon.”
