Fierce winds in Oklahoma subsided on Friday afternoon, giving players a chance to give their stamp to the 104th PGA Championship. Will Zalatoris was the man to take on the challenge as the PGA Tour’s new rookie of the year threw arrow after arrow in the Southern Hills, raising his name to the top of the rankings in the second major of the year.
Card rounds of 66-65, Zalatoris turned out to be 9 less and again played with himself in a dispute in major. Still in search of his first career victory, the 25-year-old will have a job for him as many big names, big champions and cunning veterans wait in the shallows for the moment he slips away. The good news? All seven big winners in the Southern Hills held the lead or joint after 36 holes, just like Zalatoris this year.
Among those who want to beat him is Justin Thomas, who put together a performance in the morning in the second round. One of the two names in the top 10 who have played out the harder time split for teenagers, the 2017 PGA Championship winner seems to be lifting a trophy for the first time in more than a year. Thomas’ game has been on trend for most of the three months, and the same can be said for first-round leader Rory McIlroy. Unable to trace his first 5 under-65s, the 33-year-old is now five strokes away from Zalatoris, but not without a chance to grab his fifth major career title.
There are many more actions to be taken, and that is exactly what we plan to do. Below is a presentation of the ranking after the 2nd round.
1. Will Zalatoris (-9): Peas and carrots. Peanut butter and jelly. Will Zalatoris and the main conditions of the championship. The Wake Forest product was great on the biggest golf stage of his young career, boasting four places in the top 10 in just seven starts. It seems that he is about to add to this sum and is doing it in a serious way. Zalatoris always hits the ball, well and this week the passer decided to cooperate as he leads the field in the shots won. He is 18 to 18 on 10-foot shots so far in this tournament. Weekends in specialties are completely different animals, so if your nerves creep in, it will probably appear on the greens.
2. Mito Pereira (-8): There are a number of parallels between Zalatoris and Pereira. Their stats are ominously similar, and none of them have won the PGA Tour despite a number of close calls to name a couple. The Chilean was promoted to Battlefield from the Korn Ferry Tour last summer and seems calm in his PGA Championship debut. In his second big start to the league, Pereira shot 6-under 64 and will have his last team on Saturday with Zalatoris.
3. Justin Thomas (-6): The first two days were impressive for Thomas, who scored nine birds for just three tapas. His second round of 67 will get all the hype right, but I can’t help but go back to his 18th hole on Thursday. Stealing a blow to the field with a bird on the hard pair 4, Thomas rode this late impulse in one of the rounds on Friday morning. Over the past half-decade, he has been outspoken about wanting to add another major championship to his autobiography, and now he is working on his own within the scope of his second Wanamaker Trophy.
4. Bubba Watson (-5): The championship round belongs to the two-time Masters champion, as Watson came out on Friday afternoon with the best in his career nine birds in a big circle. Signing for 7-under 63, Watson not only equaled the track record held by Tiger Woods and Raymond Floyd, but more importantly, he returned to the dispute after a disappointing first round of 2 over. In a course that requires creativity and shooting, should we really be surprised that Watson finds his name on the first page of the rankings?
T5. Rory McIlroy, Abraham Anser and Davis Riley (-4): McIlroy was at the better end of the time draw, so his second round of 1 is much more disappointing. Still, the four-time grand champion is in the midst of everything despite his problems on Friday. He continued to drive the ball like a stallion, but the iron game and the pater abandoned him as he failed to gain momentum.
T8. Matt Fitzpatrick and Stuart Zinc (-3): Zinc shamefully missed a short shot on the 72nd hole of the 2001 US Open to drop out of the playoffs with Retief Goosen and Mark Brooks. Now, 21 years later, the 49-year-old is back on the hunt in the Southern Hills and is the most likely candidate to follow in the unlikely footsteps of Phil Mickelson a year ago.
T10. Cameron Smith, Sam Burns and five others (-2): This is probably the farthest I would go to find a potential winner, as this is a group that has a lot of firepower. Burns made a strong push in the standings on Friday with a round of 3 less along with Cameron Young, who turned in identical rounds of 71-67.
T30. Jordan Spiet and 10 more (+1): The Grand Slam dream is technically still alive, no matter how weak the pulse. Spieth will look back on his first round with contempt, as he just couldn’t do anything to the Greens. He responded bravely on Friday, but unless something catastrophic happens to the leaders, he will have to wait until next year’s PGA Championship for another chance to join the golf elite.
T53. Tiger Woods and 10 others (+3): There’s something about the 46-year-old 15-time big champion trying to make a cut late Friday that is enjoyable to watch. Outside of Par-3 11th, Woods looked strong on the way to his 1-under 69 and even managed to beat his rival McIlroy. His body must hurt, but I like to think he will do better this weekend than he did at Masters 2022.
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