ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Over the course of a strange and sometimes meandering first two days of the 2023 PGA Championship — at a golf course in Oak Hill that has produced sometimes random champions — the horses have made the second turn. Leave it to Rory McIlroy, who has made somewhat of a home in Rochester, to sum up the forthcoming weekend.
“I may just tee it high and bomb it everywhere,” said McIlroy on Friday after shooting 69 to get it back to even par, five shots back of co-leaders Scottie Scheffler, Viktor Hovland and Corey Conners.
Among McIlroy and those three you can find Bryson DeChambeau (-3), Brooks Koepka (-2), Justin Rose (-1) and Shane Lowry (E). All major champions. All ready for a weekend at the races. Just beyond even par sit Dustin Johnson, Patrick Cantlay and Collin Morikawa (+1) all ready for a fight as well.
The streak of elite major champions — the last four years have been a stars-only situation at the majors — looks set to continue this weekend as the final 36 holes at Oak Hill are played.
The obvious question, of course, is whether anyone can catch Scheffler. The second-ranked player in the world ranks No. 3 in approach play and No. 3 from tee to green. He is trying to win what would be his third massive event in the last seven that have been played (he also took the 2022 Masters and 2023 Players).
The problem for the horses in the back is that Scheffler isn’t going to beat himself.
“I find myself comfortable in these situations,” Scheffler said. “These are the positions I want to be in. I want to be near the lead. I don’t want to be in 30th place or going home. I show up to the tournaments to perform at my best. I’m proud of how I did the first few days, and I’m excited to be in a good position going into the weekend. With that being said, I’m going to keep my head down and keep doing what I’m doing.”
Nobody is better at playing his own game, punishing greens in regulation and maintaining distance between himself in the field. The delicious situation that presents for fans, however, is some combination of Koepka, McIlroy, Hovland, Morikawa, Johnson and DeChambeau throwing the kitchen sink at golf’s version of Tim Duncan.
McIlroy’s sentiment of teeing it high and sending is emblematic of how almost anyone other than Scheffler must play to win this tournament.
There are innumerable templates for weekends at majors, but this one — if you like the hits — will be as good as it gets. A superstar edging out in front with two bogeys over 36 holes at one of the hardest golf courses in recent memory being chased by some of the great major champions of the last 25 years.
Koepka is one of those greats, and his back-nine 31 was as exciting a two-hour stretch as we’ve had at this tournament all week. It also convinced me that major championship “you guys are all dorks, the real king of these things is here to take the trophy” Brooks Koepka is truly back. The Masters could have been a one-off. His start here proves that it’s not, and it’s going to be a hell of a show watching him try to arm wrestle a fifth trophy from the rest of the thoroughbreds on this leaderboard.
Could somebody outside this group of elite players win the tournament? Absolutely. Conners co-leads and Justin Suh is a few back with Taylor Pendrith and Callum Tarren loitering.
But let’s be honest about what’s happening here: With the tournament jumping all over the place Thursday and Friday, the best players began to assert themselves. Scheffler stayed cool, McIlroy and Koepka showed fight, Bryson did Bryson things, and other major champions surged to within striking distance.
All the talk this week in Rochester has been about the garbage plate, an appalling collection of several different meats piled on top of french fries and topped with gravy and sauce. It’s disgusting. It’s also what this leaderboard looked like for a bit: somewhat of a mess, a lot going on, no real direction.
That changed late Friday as the horses kicked and started rolling toward the top. Now, it’s center cut only with a weekend ahead that’s going to absolutely rock.
Club pro contention
Michael Block’s 70-70 start was astonishing. He beat or tied nine of the top 10 players in the world and became the first club pro in nearly 15 years to put himself inside the top 20 after 36 holes. Now, he sets his sights on even more impressive records. The last time a club pro finished in the top 20 at a PGA Championship was 1990, and Block has an opportunity to match that over the next two days at Oak Hill.
Block was asked after his round to pinpoint his “why not?” moment of the week.
“To win, by far,” said Block. “As weird as it sounds, I’m going to compete. I promise you that.”
If you’re not rooting for him to get in the mix, then I don’t know what to tell you.
Tough … but fair?
Oak Hill has obviously been tough on some of the best golfers in the world, but is it playing fairly? The strategy thus far has been to abdicate any hope of hitting the fairway — because you probably aren’t going to anyway — and send the ball as far as one possibly can (see McIlroy above). This is going to be a fascinating subplot to watch over the next two days with so many bombers near the top of the board. Will golfers adopt the “Bryson at Winged Foot” methodology and wail away, or will the player who hits the most fairways take the championship? I feel confident in the former, but it’s definitely up in the air.
Jon Rahm’s run to come
Thursday represented just the sixth stroke-play round all year in which Rahm has lost strokes to the field. It didn’t last long. Rahm stormed back on Friday to compile a 68 in which he finished fourth in the field from tee to green. He hasn’t putted at all this week (currently 120th in the field), but he’s still going to factor Sunday because he simply will not go away. This has the feel of another RBC Heritage where he struggled in Round 1 but crushed over the last three rounds and finished inside the top 15.
Rick Gehman is joined by Kyle Porter and Mark Immelman to break down Round 2 of the PGA Championship at Oak Hill Country Club. Follow & listen to The First Cut on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
Is it (finally) Rory’s time?
I could not be more impressed with McIlroy’s fight on Thursday after going out in 38 and again on Friday after making bogey at two of the first seven. He said after the round that he couldn’t believe he was within five of the lead given how he was hitting it, and the resiliency he’s shown over the first 36 holes has been aspirational. Is this — of all the possible ways — the way he finally notches his fifth major championship? McIlroy went bogey free with three birdies over his final 11 holes Friday. Keep that up and he may be inside the top five after Moving Day.