Streb on fire, Lee makes cut at PGA
The Kiwi No 1 is well off the lead in the last major of the year after a bad start to his second round, reports Clay Wilson.
‘ Lee got off to a bad start in his second round when he made bogey five on the first hole to slip back to even par.’
DANNY Lee made the cut but slid down the leaderboard on day two of the PGA Championship.
The No 1 Kiwi men’s golfer shot an even-par 70 in the second round yesterday (NZ time), mixing two birdies with two bogeys to be tied 34th in Springfield, New Jersey.
Lee, who had a one-under 69 to sit tied for 21st after round one, was nine shots adrift of leaders Robert Streb and Jimmy Walker.
Streb made a birdie putt on 18 during a TV commercial break, making him the 28th player to shoot 63 in a major, and the third in the last 16 days.
A second round that began in rain with one group given the wrong hole location on No 10 ended with Streb and Walker sharing the lead and becoming the eighth and ninth players to match the 36-hole record in the PGA Championship at 131.
Walker had to settle for a fourunder 66, right when he had the 36-hole record for all majors (130) within his reach with two par fives remaining. But he hit into the hospitality area well left of the 17th and scrambled for par, and then his tee shot narrowly missed its mark and found the water on the 18th, leading to bogey.
Even so, he was tied at the halfway point of a major.
‘‘It’s going to be a new experience, and it will be fun,’’ Walker said. ``You still have to go perform. Doesn’t matter what tournament it is.’’
Australian Jason Day dropped to even par with a double bogey on No 7, and that appeared to wake up the world’s No 1 player. Day went on a tear with seven birdies over his next eight holes, two of them from 18 feet, one of them from 35 feet. Suddenly, he was on the verge of a shot at 63 until he hooked his tee shot to the base of the hospitality area on the 17th, and pushed a driving iron into the right rough on the 18th. He settled for pars at both for a 65.
Day was right where he wanted to be, three shots behind going into the weekend, his name high on the leaderboard for everyone to see. At stake is a chance to join Tiger Woods as the only backto-back PGA champions since the stroke-play era began in 1958.
One of three New Zealand golfers playing at the Rio Olympic Games, Lee got off to a bad start in his second round when he made bogey five on the first hole to slip back to even par.
However, the world No 41 was able to steady the ship with eight straight pars to turn in one-over 35 and quickly got back into red figures with a birdie on the par five 10th.
Bogey at the par four 15th looked to have Lee on track to complete a one-over round, but for the second consecutive day he made the most of the par five closing hole to collect a birdie.
There was better news for his Olympic partner Ryan Fox, the Aucklander sitting in a tie for second after two rounds of the Northern Ireland Open on the European Challenge Tour.
Only able to complete three holes of his first round before GETTY IMAGES darkness suspended play, Fox came out yesterday (NZT) and immediately put himself into contention by closing out a five-under par 66.
Wil Besseling of the Netherlands was the overall leader at nine-under, one ahead of a group featuring Fox and English duo Paul Maddy and Ben Stow. Go to for the latest on Danny Lee and Lydia Ko.
Elsewhere, Lydia Ko snuck inside the cut line with two late birdies at the Women’s British Open.
Two-over par with four holes to play in her second round at Milton Keynes on Friday, the Kiwi world No 1 potted birdies at the 15th and 16th holes to ensure she just made it through to the weekend at Woburn.
Ko’s two-under round of 70 left her at even par for the tournament, one shot above where the eventual cut was made and in a tie for 56th.
‘‘Those birdies really gave me some breathing room going down the last two holes,’’ she said.
‘‘I didn’t hit the ball very well today ... not many putts were falling ... but I tried to stay positive until the end. I just tried to keep chipping away.
‘‘Going into today my goal was to play all four days so I think goal number one is accomplished.’’
Searching for her second major victory this year, Ko is 11 shots behind South Korean leader Mirim Lee.
‘‘I don’t know what course she is playing right now but I think it’s all about the putting here.
‘‘It’s really undulating and if you put yourself on the wrong slope you could end up having a putt that almost breaks 90 degrees.
‘‘If they fall it’s almost like a two-shot swing.’’
The Kiwi teen was uncharacteristically wayward off the tee, hitting just 8-of-14 fairways, but did find 15-of-18 greens in regulation on approach and tee shots, and needing 31 putts.
Ko was well aware of her position as she battled to make the weekend.
‘‘Normally they don’t say what the cut is, but on the leaderboards here, they say what’s going to make it.
‘‘So I knew that even was just – all day, I said, hey, I’ve got to make two more birdies, two more birdies.
‘‘I would make a birdie and bogey the next one, so I’m back to two more birdies again. I just tried to just keep chipping away.
‘‘Two good putts on 15, 16, I think that definitely helped.’’
China’s Shanshan Feng and Ariya Jutanugarn are in a tie for second at 10-under.
``I like this style so much,’’ Jutanugarn said about the course. ``I think it fits my game. I like the course. I like everything here.’’