Woodland sets PGA record; leads by just one stroke
ST. LOUIS, MO. — Gary Woodland followed up a great start with a round good enough to get him in the record book Friday at the PGA Championship.
On a record day of scoring, it only gave him a one-shot lead.
And with more rain that pounded Bellerive and wiped out golf for the rest of the afternoon, Woodland wasn’t even sure he would be leading.
Woodland had a 4-under 66 and set the PGA Championship record with a 36hole score of 130. That was barely enough for a one-shot lead over Kevin Kisner, one of three players who came to the final hole with a shot at becoming the first to post a 62 in the PGA.
Kisner, playing in the same group as Woodland, came up short of the green at No. 9 and made bogey for a 64.
“The golf course is gettable,” Woodland said. “If you drive the golf ball in play, the greens were rolling a little bit better today. I think we’ll see some putts go in.”
They were going in for just about everybody.
Woodland’s 36-hole score broke the PGA record by one shot, most recently set by Jimmy Walker and Robert Streb at Baltusrol. It also tied the 36-hole record for all majors, matching Jordan Spieth at the 2015 Masters, Martin Kaymer at the 2014 U.S. Open at Pinehurst No. 2 and Brandt Snedeker (Royal Lytham & St. Annes in 2012) and Nick Faldo (Muirfield in 1992) at the British Open.
Woodland and Kisner played in the same group, and they offered a great example that Bellerive is accommodating to just about any game. Woodland is among the most powerful players in golf. Kisner is not. He relies more on a clean hit with his irons and a great short game.
The course is so soft — not so much from Tuesday’s rain, but the extreme heat that requires more water on the turf — that every flag is accessible provided players find the ample fairways.
“Greens are receptive, so my 4-iron stops as quick as his 7-iron,” Kisner said. “If they were firm, I don’t think I would have a chance with the way the greens are situated and the places they’re putting the flags. But being receptive, that’s my only hope.”
Woodland, even with the lowest 36hole score in 60 years of stroke play at the PGA Championship, still had a long way to go. In conditions like Bellerive, no lead was safe.
“I feel safe because I feel safe where my game is,” Woodland said. “I’m not too worried with what anyone else is doing out there.”