PGA Championship report: Koepka survives meltdown

PGA Championship report: What happened on Friday at Bethpage Black?

Brooks Koepka dropped his first shots of the week on Friday but the bad news for the field was that he added another seven birdies to post a 65 for the lowest 36-hole total score in major championship history.

And the lowest 36-hole score to par in the PGA at -12. The most important stat is the one that shows him seven clear of his closest rivals Jordan Spieth and Adam Scott.

Once again it was ruthlessly brilliant; drives were power-faded into position, approaches rained in to short range, the short game was mustard and the putts, for the most part, kept dropping. In truth he shaved the hole on a few occasions.

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Scott’s putter threatened to cause a bit of disruption to Koepka’s Zen-like progress as he rattled in efforts from everywhere. There were birdies at the first three and, after five holes, he had knocked in 106 feet’s worth of bombs. On Thursday his total footage was 74.

And he managed to continue the fine run with three more birdies at 11, 13 and 14 before he somehow missed from less than two feet at 17 but a pitch and a putt at the last got him round in a best-of-the-day 64.

Then there was Tiger who spent most of the day playing from the rough or even worse and that all eventually took its toll over his back nine. He somehow reached the turn in level but then the shots dribbled away at pace and he signed for a 73 to go with his 72 which was one too many.

Spanish duo Jon Rahm and Sergio Garcia were two of the other big names to miss the cut, Bubba Watson missed a short one to do likewise and they were joined by Ian Poulter and Bryson Dechambeau.

PGA Championship report: Friday talking points

At the start of the week three-time major winner Jordan Spieth was rated a 50-1 chance with the bookies – his best finish in 11 starts this year was his T21 at Augusta.

Now he’s placed at five under after a brilliant 66 and we’re all talking about the most unlikely bid for the career Grand Slam.

While his strong iron play gets overlooked and his driving has been poor all we really want to talk about is his putting and the king of the greens is starting to roll them in again. And his head and technique are less muddled..

“I’ve really cleared my set-up, especially inside of 10, 12 feet. I feel more comfortable. My eyes are seeing where the putter is pointed so I can be reactive to the correct line. It seems easy, but when that gets off, golf is pretty difficult and that’s where I’ve been the last year and a half. Now the putter is certainly better.”

SOLO 2nd.@JordanSpieth from 39 feet for ?.

He’s just two off the lead. #LiveUnderPar pic.twitter.com/G0psDKIHOk

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) May 17, 2019

After all the chat about the new Rules of Golf this year we came out of the Masters joyfully unscathed. At Bethpage on Friday David Lipsky was penalised two shots for arriving late to the 1st tee for his 12.43pm tee time.

He was in the vicinity, walking toward the tee with his putter and a ball, but was not within the area defined as the starting point which seems pretty unforgivable particularly given all the huffing and puffing this week to try and avoid any silly mistakes.

The local rule states: For the purpose of applying Rule 5.3a, the starting point for hole #1 and hole #10 is defined by the rope, gallery stakes, green bike fencing and/or blue stakes, blue dots or blue lines.

So the Las Vegas star’s opening birdie became a bogey and, despite three late bogeys, he managed a 74 to add to his 70 to squeeze in on the mark.

Matt Wallace is the leading European after he enjoyed a remarkable run around the turn. After a birdie at the 18th he then had four 3s and a 2 in his next six holes with his only par coming at the par 5. For a time he held second on his own but a couple of late bogeys will see him start the weekend at four under.

Justin Rose is one off Wallace after a 67 while Tommy Fleetwood, like Wallace got to -6 at one point, but then saw four shots go in his last seven holes. Another Englishman Matt Fitzpatrick threw in a 65 to get back to level.

One of the comebacks of the day came from Rory McIlroy who looked for much of Friday to be heading back home to Florida. On Thursday he had to wait until his final hole to record his first birdie and day two began in horrific fashion with five dropped shots in his first three holes.

Out in 40 he was seven over after 3o holes but then things finally came together and the putts began to drop.

“I was four over through 3 in Boston a couple years ago and ended up winning the tournament, and that just sort of came back into my mind after I made that start. So in a way it’s calming. I’ve been in this position before and I’ve been able to come back. It’s just a matter of not pressing too much and staying patient and letting the good golf sort of come through. Took a while but it eventually got here.”

McIlroy will go into the weekend at plus three but at least he’ll be part of it.

Count 'em….. ☝️✌️? birdies in a row for @McIlroyRory! pic.twitter.com/FYukWyilYy

— PGA Championship (@PGAChampionship) May 17, 2019

Another stellar comeback came from Rich Beem, winner of the 2002 PGA and making his first start of 2019.

The Sky Sports analyst admitted that his game was nowhere on Wednesday found something with the putter and put together a ridiculous finish to his effort.

His last six holes produced five birdies for a back nine of 30 for the 48-year-old and a 69 to sit on +4 and in for the weekend.

PGA Championship report: Best photo

Tiger’s opening tee shot has been one of the constant quirks throughout his career and this is where his drive at the 1st went. And given this is 2019 everybody wanted their slice of the modern-day GOAT even though all he was doing was hacking it out of some knee-high bund.

Needless to say he saved his par.

PGA Championship report: Best quote

Brooks Koepka after getting to 12-under:

I was battling a little bit of a push. I felt like everything was leaking right and just hung in there. It’s something I’ve done my entire life so it should be an easy fix.

PGA Championship report: Best stats

66 for @JordanSpieth – his 13th round of 66 or lower in majors since the beginning of 2015.

Most rounds of 66 or lower in majors since beginning of 2015:
Spieth – 13
Koepka – 9
Matsuyama – 8

— Justin Ray (@JustinRayGolf) May 17, 2019