Overcoming conditions
Hideki Matsuyama didn’t let a rain delay keep him from the lead with Kevin Kisner.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Hideki Matsuyama never looks satisfied with his shots or his score, no matter how good they look.
Perhaps it will take winning a major to change that.
Five days after the 25-year-old Japanese star closed with a 61 to win his second World Golf Championship, Matsuyama motored through a dampened Quail Hollow with a 7-under 64 that gave him a share of the lead with Kevin Kisner (67) in the PGA Championship.
They were at 8-under 134. Heavy rain suspended play for almost two hours Friday. The second round was halted by darkness, leaving 26 players who had to return Saturday morning. That included Chris Stroud, who was 5 under and had five holes remaining.
Kisner faced tougher, faster conditions in the morning and holed a 50foot eagle putt from short of the green on the par-5 seventh hole. When his round was over, Kisner had a five-shot lead over the players from his side of the draw.
It didn’t look as though anyone would get close.
“These guys going out this afternoon, they break 70, they’ve done a hell of a job,” Rory McIlroy said after a 73 that put him 10 shots back.
A light rain began falling not long after McIlroy’s prediction.
Then, the storms rolled in with heavy rain that drenched the course and forced the rain delay. When the second round resumed, it felt like an entirely different golf course.
Jason Day, who played a four-hole stretch in 5 under around the turn and before the storms, began smashing driver without regard that it might run through the fairways and into the rough. He shot 66 and was two shots behind.
There were pitch marks on the putting surfaces. There were splotches of mud of the sides of golf balls. But the biggest difference was the rain took the fear out of putting on the fast, frightening greens and sent scores tumbling.
Francesco Molinari also shot a 64 and was at 5-under 137, along with Louis Oosthuizen, who had a 67.
Matsuyama, finishing his swing with one hand as tee shots found the fairway, already was playing great and putting even better. The storm delay did not stop him.
He ran off four straight birdies, starting on No. 12 when he hit his approach into 12 feet. That was the longest of his seven birdie putts, though he also made a 20-foot par putt on the ninth hole. When the round resumed, Matsuyama got up-and-down for birdie on the 15th, saved par from a bunker on the 16th and then drilled a 7-iron over the bunker to 7 feet for birdie on the par-3 17th.
He had a putt just over 12 feet for birdie on the 18th that would have tied the PGA Championship record of 63, but it missed to the left.
No matter. He was tied going into the weekend, raising Japanese hopes of its first major championship.
“The greens here at Quail Hollow, as you know, are really fast. And there’s a lot of putts that honestly, I’m not trying to make,” Matsuyama said. “I’m just trying to get it up near the hole, and a lot of them are going in.”
Mickelson to miss cut
Phil Mickelson managed a quick smile and a tip of the cap to the crowd after his second round at the PGA Championship. There was no denying the frustration on his face.
“Atrocious,” Mickelson said a few minutes later, describing his play this week and at the British Open last month, where he failed to make the cut.
The 47-year-old Hall of Famer finished 11 over through 36 holes and is expected to miss the cut for the first time since 1995.
The realization the streak was ending set in after an opening-round 79 — his worst round at the PGA Championship. It took Mickelson 31 holes to make a birdie.
“I’m having a tough time visualizing the shot,” he said. “I’m having a tough time controlling my thoughts and not letting it wander to what I don’t want to happen.”
The big question now: Where does he go from here?
The President’s Cup is in September and for perhaps the first time, Mickelson might be watching from home. U.S. team captain Steve Stricker spoke with Mickelson recently. He would love to see him on the team, but his play must improve.
“I told him I would like to see him play well here on out to show me something basically, and that doesn’t sound right coming from a guy like me talking to Phil,” Stricker said. “Hey, show me something — that doesn’t sound right. (But) that’s basically what I said. Show me that you are playing good at the end of the year.”
Stricker keeps streak alive
Steve Stricker had to clean out his locker and head home early after missing the cut in the PGA Championship at Hazeltine. That was in 2009. And it was on his mind Friday at Quail Hollow when he was outside the cut line and running out of holes.
“It was on my mind today to play this weekend,” he said. “I wanted to be around this weekend.”
He followed with two 3-woods that led to easy birdies, and Stricker shot a 1-under 70 that will allow him to make the cut. That means the 50-year-old Stricker has now gone eight consecutive years without missing a cut in the majors.
His 3-wood off the 14th tee reached the green about 18 feet away. He missed the eagle putt. On the par-5 15th hole, Stricker drilled a 3-wood up the hill and onto the green about 20 feet away. He missed that eagle putt, too.
Stricker had another birdie with a 7-iron into the par-3 17th, and then dropped a shot on the 18th from the bunker.