THE Guardian’s sports pages led this morning with the headline “The unusual suspect” above a mug shot of Scottie Scheffler in his orange jailbird uniform. Three words and one image that get right to the heart of a bewildering Friday at the PGA Championship.
A day that began with a tragedy – the death of a worker at the championship in a traffic accident – lurched into farce as the World No. 1, a man so apparently wholesome his run of four wins in five starts coming into this week was celebrated but also deemed responsible for waning viewing figures, was, in a separate incident, pulled from his car, handcuffed, sent to jail and handed four charges.
Some 90 minutes later he was released (pending a court appearance on Tuesday), returned to the course, carded a 66, and heads into the weekend second favourite to win the tournament. How was your Friday?!?!
We know Scheffler, for all his millions in the bank, still drives a 2012 GMC Yukon. We know how he chuckles that his success on the course “doesn’t get me brownie points at home.” We know that his grounded nature helps his performance. “Golf is a tremendously huge part of my life,” he said. “But it doesn’t define me as a person. It’s just something that I do.”
We knew all of this but didn’t expect it to be tested as it was ahead of the second round and yet, in coping with the madness as well as he did, he was reminding us what we knew all along.
In his post-round press conference, he opened with typically kind words about the man who was killed, stressing that in contrast to his family’s pain, “my situation will get handled.” He then explained just how extraordinary his day had been. “I’m a big routine man,” he said, little knowing how his fondness for the familiar was about to be cross-examined in a way no major championship contender ever has been.
“I feel like my head is still spinning,” he said. “I did spend some time stretching in a jail cell. That was a first for me.” He then went full Scottie: “The officer that took me to the jail was very kind. He was great. We had a nice chat in the car, that kind of helped calm me down. I was never angry. I was just in shock. The officers inside the jail were tremendous.”
Would he rate the 66 among his best rounds he was asked? “I would say it was pretty good,” he said. “I definitely never imagined going to jail the morning before one of my tee times for sure.”
A truly astounding day and while the second round was not quite finished last night, enough was completed to know how things stand. Xander Schauffele backed up his sensational opening round of 62 with a 68 to retain the lead on 12-under but in playing the final eight holes of round two in 1-over he spurned the opportunity to put space between himself and the chasers.
He leads by one from Collin Morikawa, by two from Sahith Theegala and by three from Scheffler, Bryson DeChambeau, Mark Hubbard and Thomas Detry. A revived Viktor Hovland lurks four strokes back of the leader, defending champion Brooks Koepka is five back alongside Hideki Matsuyama, and Kentucky born and bred Justin Thomas is six back – he will be hoping the home fans are cheering for a charge this weekend and he has form. He surged from seven shots back with 18 holes to play in this championship two years ago. He’ll be thinking that he’s now closer and has twice as many holes to overcome his deficit.
It can be done but recent history demonstrates how difficult it is. In all, 22 of the last 30 winners were tied third or better at this stage and 27 were tied seventh or better. The three exceptions, who were all six strokes back after 36 holes, were Padraig Harrington in 2008 (T26th), Martin Kaymer in 2010 (T15th) and Collin Morikawa (T25th).
There have been three PGA Championships at Valhalla and two of the winners (Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods) were leading by one at halfway. The other (Mark Brooks) was four back and third. It’s a very small sample but it’s not been a passing course.
Schauffele is favourite. Has he learned from failing to convert leads at the Players and Wells Fargo Championship this year? Scheffler not only has ridiculous form figures (1-1-2-1-1) he’s also not failed to break 69 in a final round in his last nine tries. Delayed shock and a drop in his emotional energy would appear to be his biggest threat. The column has DeChambeau and Koepka on side. Here are two further picks for the weekend.
Collin Morikawa
The preview mentioned that I am on 2020 PGA Champion Morikawa ante-post because he has wins on three different Jack Nicklaus courses, but the wet/long conditions were a concern. In fact, he’s not been unduly bothered by them and his stellar long game has been as suited to the Valhalla Nicklaus test as expected. In addition, he has the hottest putter of the leaders. After his second round, he also reiterated how much the experience of contending at the Masters, and playing alongside the winner Scheffler, has fuelled him. “It sucked to finish like that and it sucked to lose to Scottie,” he said. “But at the end of the day, I knew I had three more majors coming up. I had to prep for that, get as sharp as possible and just come out strong.”
Lucas Herbert
The Aussie Lucas Herbert is a two-time winner on Jack Nicklaus layouts, in the 2021 Irish Open at Mount Juliet and the 2023 ISPS Handa Championship at Ishioka. He was also ninth on defence of the Irish title and landed a top 20 on his Muirfield Village debut. Golden Bear tests suit him and he heads into the weekend on 6-under in T16th. He’s 15/8 to maintain that position but he can push on into the top 10.
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