A combination of strong winds, cool temperatures, and extremely difficult hole locations means it is still anybody’s game going into Saturday.

The Americans, McNealy and Smalley, share the halfway lead at 4-under-par 136. That’s the highest leading 36-hole total in a PGA Championship since JB Holmes led at one under in 2008 at Oak Hill.

Hot on their heels, however, there are 28 players within five shots. That includes Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama, the USA’s Chris Gotterup, Potgieter, Germany’s Stephan Jaeger, Australia’s Min Woo Lee, and the American Max Geyserman, who are all just one shot back.

‘Didn't play my best’

Lurking two shots back at two under is defending champion Scottie Scheffler. Jason Day, Patrick Cantlay, and Jon Rahm are all three behind at one under.

After the end of Friday’s play, McNealy said he was satisfied with his efforts so far.

“Didn’t play my best coming in, but there are always good stretches and bad stretches. Had a lot of things go my way today, I think. I had a good tee time, which helped. This afternoon played a lot easier than the morning, I think.

“Didn’t take advantage of it as much as I would have liked, but that went my way. Had a couple of short game shots go my way.” 

PGA Championship Leaderboard. Photo: X/Sky Sports Golf

Potgieter hit a couple of late bogeys to drop out of the lead, but said he is still incredibly positive about the round:

“Yeah, it was great. I think looking at those last two holes was kind of unfortunate, but, yeah, I felt like I was in control most of the round and had some really nice par saves that kind of kept the momentum going. So I was quite happy with it.” 

He shot a second round of 70 to be T4 heading into the weekend of the PGA Championship. But after a couple of late bogeys to drop out of the lead, he is still incredibly positive about the round.

Rory McIlroy

Eighty-two players made the cut, which fell at four over. Among the notables who won’t be around for the weekend are Tommy Fleetwood (+5), Keegan Bradley (+6), Bryson DeChambeau (+7), and Adam Scott (+8).

Masters’ Championship Rory McIlroy shot up 75 spots in Round 2 with a bogey-free, 3-under 67 to get to one over and just five shots out of the lead.

OFM Sport/Ilse Smalberger dg