A 63- PEAT!
After an overnight rain turned Baltusrol into a soggy sponge, the second round of the 98th PGA Championship might as well have been the Indy 500. It was time for the best golfers in the world to start their engines and race to post as many birdies as possible.
Defensive golf is the norm at a major championship, especially during the early rounds when making the cut and not doing too much damage to the scorecard are the priorities. But on Friday, the objective was to take dead aim and go as low possible or risk being left behind.
The result was red numbers throughout. Robert Streb, a virtual unknown, matched a major championship record by shooting a 63 to share the secondround lead with Jimmy Walker at 9-under for the tournament. Walker, the f irst-round leader with a 65, played to a 66 on Friday. Two strokes back at 7-under is Emiliano Grillo of Argentina (67) and defending champion Jason Day, who fired a 5-under 65.
“It was a great round,” Streb said. “Happy to be part of that 63 club, I guess.”
In all, 47 players are at under par heading into Saturday’s third round. Blame the weather.
“I saw what the weather was going to do and knew that it was going to be out there to play good,” Walker said. “If you hit the shots, you knew it was going to be there for you to make some birdies.”
A determined effort by the ground crews at Baltusrol kept the course playable despite an overnight rain that lasted into the morning. It caused a 41-minute delay after play had started. But after the greens were squeegeed and the bunkers raked, play resumed without any further interruption. There was some standing water on the course early on and balls that had rolled out earlier in the week landed with a thud. As a result, Baltusrol played a lot longer than it did in the opening round on Thursday.
“[Thursday] you’d hit a poor tee shot and it would go 310, 315 [yards] because it’s so firm,” said Patrick Reed, who shot 65 and is 5-under. “Today you hit a great tee shot and it will go 290, 295 because it’s just hitting and stopping.”
Walker stayed in contention for his first major. He made a 25-footer for birdie at the 12th to tie Grillo for a share of the lead at 8-under. He then drained a 20-footer at the par-4 13th to take the lead at 9-under. At the 14th hole, his pitching wedge landed about 2-feet from the cup. The easy birdie gave Walker a twoshot lead at 10-under.
“I feel like I’m striking my irons well, and I’ve been chipping and putting nice, too,” said Walker, who would bogey the 18th.
Streb, who hasn’t f inished in the top 10 of any of the 23 events he has played, came out of nowhere to earn a share of the lead. The 29-year-old from Oklahoma posted eight birdies against one bogey, and joined Phil Mickelson at t he Bri tish Open this year to become the 27th player to post a 63 at a major.
Henrik Stenson, the British Open champ, is at 6-under after shooting 67. He began his morning under rain drops off the 10th tee, and quickly dropped two strokes with bogeys at the par-3 12th and the par-4 13th when the course was still soggy.
“It wasn’t the ideal start to the morning and the golf course was very wet,” Stenson said. “There was a lot of water on the f irst couple of fairways. I was just trying to hang in there and do the best I could.”
Day began at 2-under but followed a birdie at the third with a bogey at the fourth and a threeputt double-bogey at the difficult par-4 7th. But just when it looked like Day was about to be a nonfactor, he made three straight birdies to get back on the leaderboard. At 3-under, he still trailed Walker by seven strokes at the time. But when he drained a 5-footer at the par-3 12th, he was just getting started. He followed with birdies at 13, 14 and 15.
“I really had things going on the backside,” Day said in stating the obvious.