An absolutely extraordinary tee shot from Bryson DeChambeau at 7. He lost his footing and ended up looking like a tailender who had tried to wallop a short ball over cow corner but spooned it up on the offside. No-one quite knows where it went. The cameras lost it, but it might be in high grass, it might be the tented village, it might be in the hands of the cover fielder.
Meanwhile, after five pars, Brooks Koepka makes birdie at 6. A short putt, but a nice putt which is key for him. He’s been superb this season - and this week - from tee to green. But he’s struggled on the greens.
Bryson DeChambeau attempts to see where his ball went. Photograph: Michael Reaves/Getty Images
Tap in birdie at 7 for Sahith Theegala. That moves him to -1 for the round and -3 for the championship.
And then Stephan Jaeger’s bunker shot at the par-five 16th escapes the sand but clings to the grass at the front of the trap. He’s forced to play it with his right leg straight, stood in sand, and his left leg bent, the knee taking the strain on the grass. A touch of snooker about it, like he’s got to get high to hit the white with a colour in front of it. He plays it – the golf shot, that is – superbly and has four feet for par.
There’s a touch of Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong about the leader. The pronunciation of his name, at least. When he won the 2022 Amateur Championship, no one had a clue. A sense of, “You like Pot-gaiter, I like Pot-heater, You like Pot-geeter, I like Pot-jeeter. Let’s call the whole thing off.” According to the PGA Tour, it is ‘POT-gee-tur’.
Can Rory McIlroy convert at 4? The noise of light aircraft circling above is the only disturbance to the quiet in the galleries ... and then cheers as the putt pours in the hole. He’s -2 for the day and +2 for the championship.
An impressive blow from the leader, Aldrich Potgieter, at 10. His drive found lush rough down the left, and the green is protected by water short and left. Potgieter took a bold line and has found the putting surface. This course is like walking an oil-slicked beam - one slip and a round can come apart, but the South African looks good at the moment.
Thanks Scott. At the 4th Jordan Spieth and Jon Rahm have found the green in regulation, but haven’t left themselves obvious birdie opportunities. Now it’s Rory McIlroy’s turn. Much better. The ball dances close to the hole: from 118 yards, he’s left himself seven feet to get to -2 for the round.
Aldrich Potgieter nearly holes out from a bunker greenside of the par-five 9th. He briefly raises his arms in glee before realising the ball’s not going to drop. It rolls a couple of feet past, but he makes the one coming back for birdie. In doing so, he becomes just the second player to reach the -5 mark, after Alex Smalley earlier on. A reminder that Potgieter is 21 and on debut.
-5: Potgieter (9)
-4: Smalley (F)
-3: Matsuyama (F), Gotterup (F), Day (6), Jaeger (5*), Lee (5)
-2: C Young (F), Thomas (F), Scheffler (F), N Højgaard (7*), Theegala (5), McNealy (3*), Hisatsune (2*)
Min Woo Lee briefly joins the leaders at -4 with birdie at 4. But then a careless three-putt on the par-three 5th hands the shot straight back to the field, and not long after he sends his tee shot at 6 into thick nonsense down the left of the fairway. How quickly things can change at Aronimink.
-4: Smalley (F), Potgieter (8)
-3: Matsuyama (F), Gotterup (F), Day (6), Jaeger (5*), Lee (5), Hisatsune (1*)
-2: C Young (F), Thomas (F), Scheffler (F), N Højgaard (6*), Theegala (5), McNealy (3*)
Rory rolls in a 15-footer for birdie at 2! He doesn’t allow himself a smile, but walks off the green with that trademark spring in his step. He’s +3, and if he can get some momentum going, oowee. Rickie Fowler meanwhile bounces back from that miserable three-putt bogey on 1 with birdies at 2 and 3! He’s -1.
Hats off to Alex Smalley, who stumbled badly just after he turned, with bogeys at 1, 2 and 3. A bounceback birdie at 4, a string of pars, and finally another birdie at 9, and that’s a round of 69 that puts him in the clubhouse lead at -4. That could easily have gotten away from the relatively inexperienced 29-year-old from Greensboro, North Carolina, so there was plenty of moxie on display there. It follows up his opening round of 67, and that’s the first time he’s posted consecutive rounds under par in the majors.
Alex Smalley reacts after finishing his round. Photograph: Carl Recine/Getty Images
Aaron Rai has been hanging around the majors for the last couple of years, without ever quite putting four rounds together. A tie for 19th at last year’s PGA his best result. But he’s not been far off clicking, forever threatening to achieve something better. And perhaps this is it for the steady 31-year-old from Wolverhampton. He pings a sensational approach at 18 from 205 yards to kick-in distance, and tidies up for his second birdie in the final three holes. That’s a 69 to go alongside yesterday’s 70, and England could yet have its first winner of this tournament since Jim Barnes in 1919.
Justin Rose – extremely relaxed, and highly amused - reacts to that absurd bacon-saving hole-out for eagle on 9, telling Sky Sports: “I left myself in the worst possible spot … I’ve been doing that all day … it was in the lap of the gods … I hit a good shot, obviously … desperate times require desperate measures, but that was pretty fun to be honest! … if you can stick around for the weekend, you can still have a good week … hopefully put my ball in the fairway and then I can show off a bit!”
Rory became just the sixth man to complete the modern career grand slam last year. Thirteen months on, can Jordan Spieth join him on that exclusive list, that also features Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods? It’s far from a pipe dream, the erstwhile Masters, US Open and Open champ needing just the Wanamaker Trophy to complete the set, and having shot a fine 69 yesterday. He misses a downhill ten-footer for birdie at the 1st, his disappointing prod drifting off harmlessly to the right, but like Rory before him, at least he gave himself the chance. He’s -1 overall.
Rory McIlroy finished up yesterday with four bogeys on the bounce. That’s new ground for the six-time major champion in one of the big ones. It felt like he’d almost played himself out of the tournament with that disastrous run, but nobody from the early phase of starters extended the overnight lead, so he’ll be coming into this round with renewed hope. If he can just replicate the work of Hideki Matsuyama … or somehow match what Chris Gotterup got up to … well, all bets would be off. Or back on. You get the gist. Anyway, he takes 3-wood at 1 for safety … then hoicks it into the thick stuff down the left. Oh Rory. But coming out of the rough means no spin, and that helps his second trundle onto the green and up to 30 feet. He’ll. have a look at birdie … and the putt doesn’t go in, shaving the hole on the left, but it was a good effort and at least he gave himself a chance. Something to build on. He remains at +4.
Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm and Jordon Spieth walk to the 1st fairway after teeing off. Photograph: Laurence Kesterson/UPI/Shutterstock
While Rose was getting up to that giddy nonsense, Scottie Scheffler was making a garden-variety birdie. And so after a round packed with an uncharacteristically large amount of wild golf, the world number one signs for a one-over 71, and ends the day at -2 overall. He’d have surely taken that when three over for his round after four holes.
Justin Rose must surely have been thinking about packing his suitcase when getting back to his digs. But not now! Off the front-left of the par-five 9th, in thick rough, he chips in for an eagle that will surely ensure his weekend’s participation! From +5 to +3 in an elegant swipe of his wedge. He raises a fist in quiet celebration, then cracks a broad smile. Shades of Birkdale as an amateur at the 1998 Open? Maybe, if you’re pushing the point. But just imagine if he somehow posts two stellar rounds over the weekend and goes on to win this thing. Because as it stands, he’s only seven back. For the record, the largest comeback by a winner after 36 holes was by Bob Rosburg in 1959 and Bob Tway in 1986, both making up a nine-shot deficit over the weekend. I mean, it’s unlikely. But you never know. Maybe? It’s on!
Nicolai Højgaard has yet to come good at a major, despite his great promise. No top-ten finish in any of them yet; his best finish at the PGA is a tie for 41st last year. But this tournament is shaping to be his breakthrough statement: birdies at 13 and 14, to follow yesterday’s 69, and the 25-year-old Dane is in the big group at -3, just a shot off leader Aldrich Potgieter.
-4: Potgieter (6)
-3: Matsuyama (F), Gotterup (F), Smalley (16*), N Højgaard (5*), Day (4), Jaeger (3*), Lee (2), Hisatsune
-2: C Young (F), Thomas (F), Brown (2*), Theegala (2), McNealy (1*), Schauffele
Rickie Fowler’s tee shot at 1 stays in bounds – just – and then he swishes a lovely second from 128 yards to 15 feet. But a careless three-putt leads to an unwelcome bogey. Fowler – best result at the PGA a tie for third in 2014 – takes a step back to +1.
The weekend looks like proving a bridge too far for the legendary club pro Michael Block. The blue-collar hero of 2023 gave himself a flicker of hope of survival with birdie at 16, but he closed with bogeys at 17 and 18 to file a round of 75 alongside yesterday’s 70. At +5, he’s almost certainly missing the cut. He’ll always have Oak Hill. Club manager Ben Kern will be here, though, after parring his way home to sign for a magnificent 67 today. He’s +1.
Justin Rose follows up bogey at 6 with another at 8. He’s now +5 and will need a birdie up the last to have any chance of surviving the cut. In the game up ahead, Justin Thomas pars 9 to finish the day with his second 69 of the week. He’s -2, and that’s where he’s joined by his playing partner Cameron Young who, having whistled his second into the par-five to eight feet, tidies up for an eagle and a round of 67. Young shot a slightly disappointing 71 yesterday, but he’s slipped back into gear very smoothly today, back home in 32.
Chris Gotterup looks like a major champion in waiting. But then we were saying that Rickie Fowler for years and years, only for the popular Californian to repeatedly fail to break the tape, coming agonisingly close again and again. He’s got 13 top-ten finishes at the majors, but no win, by some distance the highest number of the players in this week’s field. (Next cab on the rank is Brandt Snedeker with nine, then Tommy Fleetwood, Tyrrell Hatton and Luke Donald with eight.) After yesterday’s 70 he’s positioned well to launch a wrong-righting bid, but he’s just sent his opening tee shot wide left of the 1st fairway, toying with the OB. Fingers crossed that’s stayed on the property.
Chris Gotterup already has two wins on the PGA Tour this year. He also won last year’s Scottish Open before coming third at the Open a week later. He’s a player in form, on the up since crashing the scene 14 months ago, and now the 26-year-old from Maryland, of Danish descent, looks in the frame of mind to take the next step. He finishes his round today with three straight birdies, for a best-of-week 65. He joins Hideki Matsuyama in the clubhouse lead, and you wouldn’t bet large amounts against their not being in the overall lead come the end of the day.
-4: Potgieter (4)
-3: Matsuyama (F), Gotterup (F), Smalley (15*), Day (2), Jaeger (2*), Lee (1), Hisatsune
-2: Thomas (17*), Brown (1*), Theegala (1), Greyserman, Schauffele
Chris Gotterup plays a shot on the ninth hole. Photograph: Richard Heathcote/Getty Images
The 2015 champion Jason Day has flown out of the traps. Birdies at 1 and 2 and he joins the group one off the lead at -3. Meanwhile some more disappointment for Scottie Scheffler from position A in the middle of the fairway. Another average wedge in, and two putts later it’s a par when he’d have been expecting something better. He remains at -1.
And with that unlikely surname chatter, I’ll hand over to Scott Murray before returning for the final shift. The wind is picking up so it could be a fun watch this evening. All yours, Scott.
A curiosity of sport is that a performer will pop up with a name you’ve literally never heard of - and then, before you know it, there’s another one. For example, the surname Potgieter was completely new to me when Aldrich won the 2022 Amateur Championship - and many other folk, too, I would imagine. Many might only be discovering him this week. But guess what? Delano Potgieter, a South African cricketer, is making his Hampshire debut today. He’s currently 14 not out against Nottinghamshire. His namesake has found the green at the par-three 5th but will be happy to two-putt for par.
Justin Thomas loves a PGA Championship. He’s won two of them and contends, too, with four top 10 finishes in 10 starts. In contrast, he’s registered four in 31 appearances in the other majors.
He’s made two birdies at 4 and 6 in the last hour, both from inside six feet, to get to -2 for the week. He has 16 feet for another birdie at 7, but can’t convert.
Chris Gotterup has joined him on -2 for the week after par breakers at 7 and 8. But Scottie Scheffler has fallen back to -1. He had 85-yards fro his second shot at the par-four 6th and needed four shots to find the bottom of the hole.
Yikes. Patrick Reed has missed from four feet for bogey at the par-five 16th. It follows another bogey at the 15th. A nice halfway position is on the brink of slipping away. He’s now level-par for the championship.
Wonderful shot from Cameron Young on 7. He’s not in A1 position on the par-four, close by a tree, in scraggly grass, but his approach gives him a decent look at birdie from 16 feet. He’s back to level par and has a par-five to end his round.
