PGA Championship at a glance
SPRINGFIELD, N.J. — A brief look at the second round Friday of the PGA Championship:
■ Leading: Robert Streb shot the 30th round of 63 in a major to tie Jimmy Walker at 9-under-par 131.
■ Chasing: Emiliano Grillo and Jason Day were at 133, with Henrik Stenson at 134.
■ Looming: Two-time major champion Martin Kaymer, Patrick Reed and Brooks Koepka were at minus 5, with Reed shooting 65 Friday.
■ On the Beem: Rich Beem, the 2002 PGA winner now working for Sky Sports, made the cut in his only tournament this season, shooting 69-72-141.
■ Shot of the day: Streb sank a 20-foot putt on No. 9, his final hole of the day, to finish off his 63.
■ Surprise of the day: Phil Mickelson opened with a triple-bogey 7, then proceeded to chip away, including a birdie on the final hole, and made the cut at 1 over.
■ Going home: Rory McIlroy, a four-time major champion, bogeyed the relatively easy par-5 18th to miss the cut. Dustin Johnson, who won the U.S. Open in June, also failed to advance.
■ Club pros: All 25 club pros failed to make the cut.
■ Nine of the top 12 players, including the co-leaders, have never won a major. Only Stenson, Day and Kaymer have done it in that group.
■ Quoteworthy: “I think in the history of the PGA Championship, that’s the worst start of any player’s round. I’d have to look that up.” — Phil Mickelson after opening with a 7 on the par-4 1st hole that included one shot into the street outside Baltusrol
■ Saturday, 8-11 a.m., TNT Sports; 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., KLAS-8 out there,” Streb said.
No matter where anyone was at Baltusrol, there was no shortage of entertainment.
Mickelson hit his opening tee shot off the property and onto a side street and made triple bogey, only to rally to make the cut. Rickie Fowler finished birdie-eagle to get back into the picture. Rory McIlroy only needed to birdie the par-5 18th, the easiest hole on the course, to make the cut. From the fairway, he made bogey and was headed home to figure out what was wrong with his putting.
A second round that began in rain with one group given the wrong hole location on No. 10 ended with Streb and Jimmy Walker sharing the lead and becoming the eighth and ninth players to match the 36hole record in the PGA Championship at 131.
Walker had to settle for a 4-under 66, right when he had the 36-hole record for all majors (130) within his reach with two par 5s 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.”
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.