Another blow up over the controversial decision to not allow preferred lies has attracted plenty of attention as several big names straddle the cut line during the second round of the PGA Championship.
Overnight leader Jhonattan Vegas is still out in front at Quail Hollow in North Carolina after he moved to -8 overall with a one-under par round of 70.
Unfortunately for Australian golf fans, Cam Davis slipped back to -2 for the tournament, the same score as Adam Scott, with a round of 74 after his hot start.
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Rory McIlroy has bounced back with three birdies in his first eight holes lifting him to even par overall, one shot clear of the cut line at +1, where Australian PGA champion Elvis Smylie sits, poised to make the weekend at a major for the first time.
Defending champion and one of McIlroy’s playing partners Xander Schauffele (+3 after nine holes) has some work to do while the third member of the superstar group Scottie Scheffler is tracking nicely at -4 halfway through the second round.
The issue of mud balls raised its head again.
After Scheffler’s press conference rant yesterday, it was Shane Lowry who expressed his frustration, albeit on the course and a little more vehemently.
LEADERBOARD: All the scores from Round 2
The Irishman hit an excellent tee shot at the short par 4 eighth, but when he got to his ball on the fairway, he found his ball partially plugged in an old pitch mark.
The 2019 Open champion, who was on the cut line at the time, was denied relief due to the absence of preferred lies, and he proceeded to hit his shot roughly 25 metres into the greenside bunker.
Lowry whacked his club into the turf, and then went onto make bogey after failing to get up-and-down.
Walking off the green, he was caught flipping the middle finger.
It was a move out of Englishman Tyrell Hatton’s playbook, whose colourful language once again was picked up by the microphones.
The LIV Golf star, who is -1 for the tournament after a round of 73, was -5 overall and pushing towards the lead when his tee shot on the 18th, his ninth hole of the day, found the creek that runs up the left hand side of the fairway.
“Piece of s***. C***!” was the cry from Hatton before he went onto make a triple bogey on the par 4.
The round of the day so far belongs to the resurgent Max Homa.
He fired the lowest round of his major career with a seven-under par 64, including a near-ace on the 340-yard par 4 14th, to jump up to -5.
“That was great,” Homa said of his almost hole-in-one. “It was not the best shot I ever hit. I was aiming one yard inside the right bunker. I looked up, slightly scared of it going left, but it was still a good drive.
“The (spectator) claps from the green were helpful to know I was probably putting. But that was one of the rare occasions in golf where as the further you walk up to the green, the closer it got.”
Homa has battled swing issues in recent times, and shed light on his struggles post-round.
“I’ve hit a lot of golf balls in the last seven months, like an absurd amount of golf balls,” Homa said.
“I’ve realized that, as bad as it has been, I’m quite good at golf to play decent from some of the positions I’ve been in.”
Australia’s Cameron Smith is one of the big names in the field confirmed to have missed the cut.
The 2022 Open champion responded from his awful round of 78 yesterday with an even par effort to finish +7.
Countryman Min Woo Lee will need a barnstorming finish as he is +5 overall after ten holes, while PGA Tour rookie Karl Vilips has bounced back to be one-under for the day halfway through his round but he is +6.
Jordan Spieth (+2), Hideki Matsuyama, Ludvig Aberg and Justin Thomas (+3) are also all set to miss unless the afternoon groups’ scores blow out.
Japanese star Matsuyama was seemingly so frustrated with himself that he took to the range post-round to swing out his anger.
Masters runner-up Justin Rose (+9) had a tournament to forget, while Brooks Koepka is at the same number with five holes remaining as his poor major form continues.
Worse though is fellow LIV star Dustin Johnson, who is done at +12.
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