Join us LIVE for the 2025 PGA Championship at Quail Hollow Club. Watch all the action from the featured group of Jon Rahm, Patrick Cantlay and Matthew Fitzpatrick.
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Contested each May, the PGA Championship is the second major championship in golf’s annual rotation, and perennially features the strongest field in the men’s game based on the Official World Golf Rankings. Known for dramatic finishes and notable champions, the Wanamaker Trophy—which has been awarded to the winner since 1916—is inscribed with names such as Rory McIlroy, Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Jack Nicklaus, and Gary Player.
The 2025 PGA Championship is set to take place between 8-11 May at Quail Hollow Club. The reigning champion is Xander Schauffele.
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Hideki just under 170 yards. Needs to get up and down to keep the streak alive. Maybe. Maybe. I know one thing. He’ll be taking dead aim at this for certain at plus two. He wants to try and guarantee something. Just right a bit. needs some magic with the putter to make it happen. I think that’s what he needs to do. Watching this Y watching this group today, Colin. Sorry. You know, you look at the, you know, the grind that it has been for these three guys and you look at the top of the leaderboard and some of the scores out there this morning. Matthew Pavone six under on his round. Homer seven under on his round. Uh you know Jonathan Vegas and JJ Spawn three under on their rounds. You’re just wondering how are these guys getting it done when our group has really just been grinding hole by hole trying to scrape by with pars and the occasional occasional birdie we’ve seen. Yeah. I think I think you know when you have days like you know Homer’s had firing seven under you know got off to a terrible start 73 yesterday you know walking Neman 74 67 you know and then you go down to Jordan speed shot 76 yesterday shot 68 today so I think there’s always a a player always has I think a good day in them at the start of the week they have their let’s just say their bad day in them at the start of the week and then they have kind of two days in the middle which could go either way. And I think what we’ve seen, you know, from from the these guys that are firing good rounds is that, you know, they’re having their good day, they’re having their bad day, and then hopefully they can make the cut and then make something happen on the weekend. But our group just it just hasn’t had that mojo to it. It just hasn’t had that flow. I don’t think we’ve seen enough birdies and and those birdies almost encourage more birdies, but they these players, they all take their momentum from hauling putts and we just haven’t seen a lot of putts hold. Yeah, that’s a good point. Windham making that big eagle putt early in the round at the 15th hole was really the only putt of note that we have seen drop today from this group and we’ve got five birdies as a group collectively today and then that one eagle from Windham Clark that you just mentioned back of team, you know, typically, you know, these guys are making on average at least, you know, four birdies, three or four birdies around, you know, so collectively if they seen north of nine or 10 birdies, I think it would have been a different story. I just the lid has been on the the top of this thing and they just haven’t been able to take it off. I agree. Also the approach shots in the middle of the round, you know, we got some wipey ones by Hideki and Tom Kim and then Windham Clark’s had some some tea shots in the woods. So, it’s hard to get it close when you’re in some interesting positions and I think in the middle of that round didn’t they didn’t take advantage of some of those irons. Absolutely. All right, we got Clark here for birdie. Maybe we can get some putts to drop here on our final hole. Downhill right to left. [Applause] Doesn’t have looked much better than that. I think pretty much the entire way. Just about everybody watching it thought it was in. Let’s take another look at this. Right from down low, right from behind. Sends it out a mile to the right hand side as Joanna mentioned. Big swinger from right to left. Right about there. We thought he’d made it and it just sneaks by on the low side. Great effort. Two really good looks in his last two holes. Unable to capitalize on both of them, but he’s in red figures. One under for the day for the tournament and a two under 69 for Windam Clark in his second round. And Hideki Matsyama, we’ve talked about it. The streak of 19 straight majors making the cut. Not only that, but he has never missed the cut at a PGA championship. His 13th appearance here. And we think that the probability is high that he needs this putt to drop in order to give himself a chance at playing the weekend. And this one 32 ft here for Matsyama has not made a putt outside 25 ft. He is 0 for five. Let’s see if he can shift that statistic for us. Downhill right to left. giving it a chance. Oh my goodness. Really good effort. Three over for the championship and more than likely that streak will come to an end. [Applause] Currently we have 72 players at plus one or better and we have actually 62 players at even par or better. Tom Kim just under 30 ft. Slow putt. Not a ton of movement here. did what he needed to do here on this ninth hole. Yeah, great T-shot and even better second shot just skirting the bunker giving himself a good look at it for birdie. Left himself probably just a little more than him and Paul Dori feel comfortable with but continued to go through their complete process. Every shot counts. Tom Kim finishes with a par and we’ll finish with a one over day and one over on the round. We appreciate you joining us once again. Day number two of feature group coverage here on ESPN Plus. And don’t forget plenty more feature group and featured whole coverage as the afternoon rolls on at Quail Hollow Club here in Charlotte, North Carolina. John Rom, Patrick Kentlay, and Matthew Fitzpatrick will be the second featured group of the day on this channel. We will get a chance to give you some bonus coverage before we flip it over to their next broadcasting crew. We’ll stick around and give you the call here at the 10th hole for our second featured group of the day. The ROM teeing off first. Matthew Fitzpatrick. the round of the day amongst this group yesterday. He’s three underpar. Everybody chasing Jonathan Vegas who is leading the championship. Good luck. Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the 107th PGA Championship. This is our 125 starting time. Please welcome from Spain, John Rom. My apologies. At the first hole today, John Ram teing off. Nine of 14 fairways hit yesterday for John Ram. And a T-shot here at the first that really should suit his eye. Likes to move the ball left to right. [Applause] Boy, look at that thing bound down there. Eric, getting a little firmer despite some cloud cover. Now on the team from Florida, please welcome Patrick Kentley. That was one of the things we talked about yesterday, Colin, was a lot of John Ram’s drives. They just did not run out at all and gain any ground. And you can just see the difference in the conditions. That ball rolling out. Not nearly as saturated as it was yesterday. Remember Patrick Canley’s start yesterday. He was in fact three over through his first three holes. Teeing off on the 10th. He needs to get off to a good start today. Claw back try and make a run at making that cut. [Applause] Now on the team from England, please welcome Matthew Fitzpatrick. Very nice round of 68 yesterday for Matt Fitzpatrick. took advantage of some fortuitous bounces that he got. That’s what you got to do in major championship golf. All three of these players safely off on hole number one, getting their second round underway. And we will say goodbye as we transfer it over after the break to Chantel McCabe and the rest of the broadcast crew. For Colin Swatton and Joanna Co. I’m Eric Rothman. We will see you tomorrow. More ESPN Plus featured group coverage coming [Music] up. Sure. Steve Melnick. 1 2 3 4 5 Chantel. Here she is. Yeah, I do. And you got what I sent you, right? I did. Thank you. Thank you. I’m talking online now. Yes. Test, test, test. I’m talking online. I’m watching Bryson Dshambo hit his T-shot at the night. You are [Music] ESPN. plus and the PGA of America proudly present the 2025 PGA Championship. Today it is second round coverage of our featured group live from Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte, North Carolina. Chantel McCabe, Steve Melnik, and Gary Christian, a PGA of America professional with us walking the grounds. We are pleased to be buckled up and ready to go as they are underway in second round action. Matt Fitzpatrick, Patrick Kentlay, and John Rob. Going to be interesting to see who makes the cut. And there is a little bit on the line for Patrick Canley who is overpar at this moment in time. He’s got some work to do to keep his made cut streak at major championships alive. We’ll get into much more of that. It is pretty humid out there in the Queen City. Cloud coverage for now. Just a gentle breeze coming through. Southwesterly wind like we saw yesterday about 5 miles per hour. As we’re getting a visual here of Patrick Kentlay needing some giddy up to make the weekend. Chantel, these players have gotten off to a great start here at the first hole. all hit good drives and sets up an opportunity to maybe make a birdie on the opening hole. That’s the familiar face of Joe Vakaba. Longtime caddy for some pretty good players to say the least. T-shots of our featured group. Look just like this. By the way, as it stands at this moment in time, two over is the cut line. Put that on your bingo card because we’ll be discussing it plenty. John Rom using all of that power and Matt Fitzpatrick showing some encouraging signs with his game after what he has called it rubbish this year. Steve. Yeah, when you’re from Sheffield, England, rubbish is a very uh opportunistic word when things go arai. And now can’t lay set to play his second Gary Christian 150. Patrick tugged it. short side of himself. [Music] That’s Patrick with a new man on the back. That’s Dan Barat. no longer with Billy Foster after so many years as a team. Yesterday was a big round for Matt. He said he has not played his best this year. Off to a great start here. Good round. Put him in the thick of things for the weekend. Very nice. yesterday. A decent job finding those greens, able to gain about a stroke and a half with his approach game. No surprise. Good to see that back intact with Matt’s game. And now John Braum twice a major winner looking for a PGA championship to add to the Masters in US Open. 139 is his number to the flag. Scrambling was a problem yesterday, but you won’t need that here at the first. One under 70 was the score he signed for yesterday. And that was a welcome sight when it comes to what he’s done at PGA Championships in recent history. Couple of birdies and on the back one point he got the round to two under par but settling for one under heading into the second round in decent position. Yesterday Steve you mentioned that that would be a rewarding place even par or better after what we saw yesterday. Even despite the crazy round that we saw as Jonathan Vegas brought everybody in. Could not believe the round he shot. And kudos to him. That’s a very special seven underpar round in your opening first round of the PGA Championship. I don’t think didn’t think Quail would give up a seven underpar. And then we saw Max Homer today with a great round. Yeah. 64 Jonathan Vegas. That’s his lowest ever round at a major championship. the first ever Venezuelan player to hold a lead or at least a share of the lead in a major championship. So that certainly shows some promise and he did make a bogey at his second hole today, but has now cruised up the leaderboard setting the pace at now what is eight under par. At one point he got to 10 under. So uh that is certainly respectable to say the least. And as you mentioned Maxoma, we haven’t heard much about him recently. He’s made some changes too. coaches, caddies, and uh that 64, including an eagle at the drivable 14th. Well, he did it and showed us those stats we like to go back to. Yeah. At 14, he hit a driver 2 feet from the flag stick. It was fabulous play. And now as we watch Kentlay, a lot of weight on the left side. one for four out of the sand yesterday and room for improvement here. You know, that tells me that he couldn’t get a clean strike on the back of the ball. Otherwise, that ball would have some spin on it. Hey, forks up. Clearly an Arizona State University fan in the mix in Charlotte. It’s a long way from home. Have to say not exactly uh the alma mater I was expecting to hear first in our coverage today. No, there bunch of dookies around here, bunch of Tar Hills around here and they’ll let you know during basketball season. They’re pretty quiet the other times of the year, but uh in basketball season they’re kind of loud. Loud and proud. Sure are. Sky, product of UCLA, inducted into their athletics hall of fame. It’s not fun when you’re the man. 25T 9 in here to save par. To your point earlier, Shantel, he’s normally a superb, I mean superb, putter, but not so yesterday. And it’s three over par round of 74. Let’s see if he can do a little bit better today. Maybe he can steal a par here at the first. Conventional putters. They’re far and few between these days. Steve, it’s kind of nice to see. Oo, going the wrong direction. And we mentioned the cut streak at major champions major championships rather. 11 straight for this guy. And that is threatened today. All right. Now, Fitzik, see if he can make a birdie at the opening hole. 20 feet 8 in yesterday. Five birdies on the scorecard. Ah, how about that? All is right with the world. He is a notorious note taker. Every shot, every round, every swing thought, every practice session, he records it all. No doubt. We’ll uh see some scribbling in the yardage book plenty today. John Rom with 17 feet 9 in here. 114 ft worth of made putts in round one. That’s a bunch in case you’re wondering folks back home. A little more speed maybe he makes it. But a good start nevertheless right birdie par and the wrong way for Patrick just over 2 ft. Uh Rombo’s starting to leak a little bit here. Well, quite literally a mixed bag from our featured group. And we’ll charge on to two. Getting a peek at what Matt Pets Patrick did yesterday. Lowest career major championship opening round. This of course scored a par. It’s a par 71 here at Quail Hollow. booted four of the five easiest holes. So getting the job done where you can that is significant and certainly the leader did that as well. Fourth in the field around the green so cross-handed the wizard is back. He’s got a lot of talent. Watched him win the 2013 US Amir at Brooklyn. Of course, he came back and won again the US Open at Brooklyn. What a fairway bunker shot that was. One for the ages, Shantel. Don’t call me corny, but I will never forget the embrace of he and Will’s allurus and that kind of respect paid. Will going up to his Matt Fitzpatrick’s parents and congratulating them was a very humble gesture. Well, these players have so much respect for the work that goes into being successful and it’s no surprise that they acted accordingly. Hold please. In the right rough, not great. If it gets a decent lie, the green should be open from there. Yes. Yep. [Music] So, John Rom has either got to hug the left side or go up over those trees. Looks like he’s going to try to go up and over the trees cuz his natural ball flight is anything but right to left. Well, he caught it all. Oh, please. That’s pretty impressive. He made sure he gave it all. When he gets going, he’s scary good. You feel like he’s turning a corner? We’ll see. I think so. I think honestly the competition at Liv is so different than the competition here. Uh, I think he’s here maybe trying to prove that I still play with these guys. Patrick Kentlay. Similar line. Another good one. Well played. Nine birdies so far at this second hole. May we produce some more as we make our way through this second round coverage. featured groups on ESPN Plus watching ever so closely the cut line on Friday [Music] Where’s your guy at? He’s right there getting a stick. It’s hard for most of us to hit a good golf shot with even a few strangers watching. So, let’s establish that as a baseline. Justin Thomas, he’s got that look. Now we can discuss the madness that is believing you can win a major championship. Sander with victory at Valhalla. It seems so familiar, part of our sporting calendar that the inherent madness of this act has become almost obscured. It’s nearly impossible. You’ve got to defeat the best golfers in the world. the course, the weather, and yourself. Every negative thought or bad memory demanding space in your mind. There’s your champion. Unbelievable. Someone is going to overcome all of that and win this year’s PGA Championship. Taking a look at our featured group and exactly where things shake out in terms of perspective. Birdies indicated by those balls in red. Boogies or worse came from where you see those gray balls. So that Fitzpatrick still a chance to get to that green and produce something albeit on that right side rough. He should be okay over there. I love to hear Wright Thompson do those voiceovers. Makes you want to go sit on the porch and have a three-fingered bourbon with [Music] him. Yes, it doesn’t come out. He’s got a tree in front of him. I can’t tell whether he’s going to need to chase it low or he can go unobstructed high. Come on, man. 172 and he’s talking to it. That is just a big old pull. I really thought that ball would land short of the green, bounce up. That’d be his play. He said he tried to fly it back there at a low trajectory. Gary Christian, our eyes and ears on the grounds and pretty straight away right here for Rom, huh? Yeah, nice to be out here and uh you know, one of those opportunities after a good drive to to be aggressive. It is a tiny little ledge though, isn’t it? That it’s only about 25 ft deep. So, see if you can get it up top. You’re going to have a nice look at Birdie. Spent a lot of time in his short irons and wedges on the range warming up today. 135 for his approach. Well, that’s a surprise. Huh. And now Canley, you got to figure out eventually Patrick’s going to start putting things together. So this is that great opportunity. Pitches right on the bank just short the flag. Boy, that’s got to sit. That’s carrying very deep. Boy, he missed his spot by five or six yards there. Steve, what’s going on? I’m shocked. I am shocked. as are they. Yeah, Rahm even went back and double checked his yardage book looking at the number and a similar reaction here. Only a head scratcher, a head shaker. Well, they’ve left themselves a three very difficult up and downs here for their par. This is the second most difficult hole on property today. There are some hole locations today that have caused players to kind of do a a double take. There are four or five that if you’re not careful, you can roll back off greens. They’re inaccessible. And again, Carrie Hey and his championship committee done a fabulous job not only setting up the golf course but setting the whole locations every day. Amazing too how much rain they had starting last weekend through Wednesday. They had what Chantel over 4 ines of rain I think they recorded. That’s right. It began to dump on Friday and uh obviously throughout the weekend some sprinkles, a lot of saturation on Monday and accumulation of over 4 in. And Gary, you walked through a lot of that uh dispose at least one pair of shoes. So, you can speak to how the course has kind of been able to be managed since then. Well, well, I’m just amazed how well it’s dried out. You know, the talk yesterday morning was of mud balls, but you know, the whole afternoon we covered three players and there wasn’t one mud ball of any significance. There may been just a tiny little bit of debris, but that was it. So, hopefully it was just the morning of the first round that’s been the problem. So, we’ll keep an eye on it, but it’s it’s phenomenal how well it’s drained. So, uh it’s becoming a little bit firmer minute by minute. Now, Matt Fitzpatrick has got a very awkward one here. Everything runs away from him. It was one Steve I don’t think he could have landed it on the green and kept it on there just from the the lie sitting down just enough. Yeah. Out of position cross-handed. Another look here. About a quarter of the players who have come through this hole already have been past this green in the rough. Gary, this fly looks pretty thick for Rom. Yeah, I’m not sure it is. I thought it was going to be Canlay first, but maybe not. Yeah. So, for Rahm, it’s right up against the edge. It’s one I think you take a, you know, a decent size swing and only got to move it seven or eight feet and then just let it roll down to the hole. kind of like that. Well done. Well, this is one you got to be very careful of. Everything runs away past the hole and the tendency will be to do just that. That could have run off the green quite comfortably. That’s actually a pretty good shot from there. Kind of playing defense almost. The mistake was made on the second shot and as a result you had to go pure defense on a hole where you had a wedge in. the soft hands just cut the legs right underneath that. Landed it right in the fringe. Now Fitzpatrick after the birdie one long save here for far just moving downhill to the right. So it’s just been a matter this year. The iron play has been particularly poor for Matt who was way better in round one. So working on a few things. He’s kind of got an interim coach Mark Blackburn. He’s his normal coach is unable to travel. So Mark has taken over and you know just worked on a few things with setup, a few things with how he sets the club and just trying to get a little bit better delivery with a little less hand work at impact and certainly the results came through yesterday. So that’s got to be very encouraging indeed. How’s his attitude like on the range? What you have seen of him throughout the week and so far? It was actually really good. He’s a pretty serious young man, but he was very light-hearted and joking around a bit before the round. Well, earlier this year at the RBC Heritage, he said, quote, “It’s the lowest I’ve ever felt going on a golf course. I don’t even want to be there. Yeah. And sometimes there, you know, a change in something, you know, a change in coach, it’s almost like that new manager bounce in in English soccer where, you know, a new man comes in and then all of a sudden results start to turn around immediately with just a different set of eyes and a different, you know, maybe a different few things of saying potentially the same thing but in a different way. So you can kind of springboard that momentum to some good play and that’s certainly been the case so far. I want to get back to that. But 12 ft here for a save for Canley. Similar p isn’t it? It’s downhill. It’s left to right. It’s almost tough to play it high enough because you got to hit it so soft. That will be a backto back bogey start for Patrick who is about to move to five over Steve. Wrong pace and wrong line. Not a great combination is it? That’s someone who is way off the pace. He is all out of sorts right now. What a horrible way to start your day. Now there are some birdie hills out here but you can’t afford to play many more holes like this. Less than five feet here for John. Anything in this one, Gary? Just a tiny bit of left to right inside the hole. Just keep the pace up. Rahm has to top 10 in every single live event this season. And a player of his caliber as a former world number one, you certainly crave to see more than that. [Music] Well, the difficulty of the second hole is uh certainly being exposed here. Well, Steve, it shouldn’t have been from where they hit the drives. They did the hard work. I know that was truly head scratching those two wedges. Yesterday, Kantley made not a single putt outside of 10 ft. That is very unlike him. Well, we are going to make a very long day on Friday, aren’t we, Steve? Yeah. I mean, honestly, when you become a player of that caliber, you kind of build your schedule around majors. And when you don’t have an early good major, it’s pretty disappointing. That doesn’t mean he can’t bounce back, but he’s digging himself a hole. After the first, he gives it away there at Fitzpatrick. Three bogeies here at two. Just a reminder, you can follow four other featured groups and holes here on ESPN Plus. Watch your favorite players from TE to Green. All 18 holes, plus the Green Mile. There’s action everywhere. It’s the PGA Championship in the 107th edition. Third hole. What do we got here, Steve? Well, it’s a straightaway hole. There are very few of those here at Quail Hollow. 471 yards. Like so many here, you’ve got to worry about the landing area. The deep bunkers to the right. If you go left, those trees come into play. black stick today right in the front part of the green and if you come up short it’s going to roll back 15 to 20 [Music] yards. Beautiful Toma surrounds here at Quail Hollow really are distinctively different than the fairways that are overseed with rye. 11 birdies found at this hole today. But more bogeies and doubles, so danger does lurk. Matt Fitzpatrick with the honor. Good start there from Matt just down the right center. Quiet, please, Shantel. It is humid. It is close. It is kind of hazy. It’s full humidity. It is a sapping day today. Yes. 60% humidity uh last time I checked. What does that do with uh the golf ball? Well, you know what? Could you turn that six upside down cuz it sound it feels like 90%. Wow. It’s just one of those there’s not a mo there’s not a breath of wind and it just sits on top of you. That’s a good sign. See John in good spirits despite bogey on the last yesterday he found only nine fairways but he was 12th best in driving distance so taking advantage of the power smashed I’ll say well his long game is good. We’ve confirmed that. Mhm. Well, he just struggled a little yesterday around the greens, didn’t he? And I I watched his warm up. He until 20 minutes before his round, all he had done was chip puttered in it. wedges. So, obviously feels like the long game’s in really good shape. Little more oomph on this one after the last two holes, maybe. So, that’s perfect there down that left side. Oh, it it’s just drifted left. He’s one bounce right almost. Okay. Well, a lot of power on that, but finding the left rough just barely. Patrick Kentlay, John Rom, and Matt Fitzpatrick in your featured group coverage. [Music] Welcome back. Second round coverage of the PGA Championship at Quail Hollow. And let’s check in with PGA professional Joe Howlet. He’s in Fris, Texas from the PGA of America Coaching Center powered by T-Mobile. to be back with you all again. And I want you to notice something about Matthew Fitzpatrick. Uh after the first round, I believe he was tied for fourth in strokes gained around the green. So if he was missing the green, that wasn’t that big of an issue. But one thing I love that he does that I would love to see a lot of people do, gripping down when you’re around the green on that wedge brings you closer to the ball. kind of stabilizes everything, gets you a little closer to the club head. You have some feel. And I wonder if there’s any coincidence that he also does that on the driver. He seems to be pretty good off of the tea with that today. T-Mobile for business exclusive 5G partner solutions. Thanks to Joe for that insight. Yesterday, he taught us the Hideki pause. why that can be beneficial with your swing, even taking your grip, your left and right hand apart and giving that a few whacks with driver. And now we get some short game here. Look at what we saw Matt Fitzpatrick do at the last. Well, VJ Singh actually sort of started the left hand low. Matthew took a shot at kind of liked it. Typically, it’s when you got get some yips around the greens. I’m not suggesting either player had yips, but they’re just more comfortable with that left hand low. I would suggest Victor Havlin consider that because his short game now is in tatters. We have had quite the terminology use the last couple of days. That’s right. I tried to be nice to uh I watched Victor this morning uh take three to get on the green from 10 yards away over on the the 12th hole. Ouch. Yeah. Ouch is right. Got up and down for double. Only second here for Matt Fitzpatrick from 159. Gary. So Steve, you talked about that force front. There’s zero reason to bring that into play because there’s a lovely back stop about 25 ft past the hole. Good strike. And there’s that back stop. Come on back. There we go. We go there. Very nice. Good call, Gary. Good shot, Maddie. I did the easy thing there, Steve. Matt did the hard work. Never wrong when you’re on course. Right. Exactly. Now, Countly has got a great line in the raft. grass going with him. Just take this up and over the tree in front of him. I’ll be interested to see how quickly this will stop with the good light. It’s just off, isn’t he? Just everything is just that tiny bit off. Played well last week as well. It’s surprising. Yeah, there is some promise at the truest championship which of course last week was played in Philadelphia at the cricket club rather than at this property. All right, John Rob sitting pretty. Okay, so awful wedge on the previous hole. I think the law of averages for a worldass player is to make the alteration right here. Give yourself a look inside 15 ft. [Applause] Thank you, sir. So, what’s going on with Patrick Kentley’s game? Let’s evaluate going back to yesterday in that 74. And they started on the back nine and at the 12th he ran into some trouble, Steve. Yeah, this is very uncannly like to curve the ball that much. Kind of hung back on it, flipped it at the bottom, made a mess of things here. This was his third shot in that wet, moist, thick rough. Got it on the green. But watch this ball just roll and roll and roll. all the way off the green. I hear the second shot at 18 and 18 for as much as we talk about the difficulty. It did give up decent amount of birdies yesterday, but not for him. Well, he did the hard part. He drove it the fairway and then hit it over the green. Now here at the first for 212 yds, his second And another miss green. Yeah. Only found 11 greens yesterday in regulation. Scrambled seven times. So that paints the picture of what was going on in round one as he now sits five overpar for the tournament. Cut right now two over. Would that be fair? What do you think? Still hugging the two over. And by the way, last time we played a major here, the PGA championship in 2017, five over was the cut line with an eight underwinning score. Okay, Kentley’s third shot here, Gary. Very simple shot here. Everything just feeds down to the left. [Applause] These players are such good bunker players, Steve. It It helps when you know where that low point is, doesn’t it? I mean, that’s the thing with amateurs chipping. It’s just It’s so inconsistent. They always want to help it up. They don’t realize you got to hit it down to go up. Yeah, exactly. Sand here at Coil Hollow. the same sand that the players find when they play the Masters. This is called Spruce Pine 55 and it is white. It is angular. It is perfect. Might scoop me up a bucket full. There are some people who elect to do that for their golf man cave. Save pencils, take some sand, keep the yardage books, whatever floats your boat. All right, Rom. Now for Birdie. This is one that it’s that nice imaginative one where it’s it’s right to left the whole way. I think this is just outside a cup outside the right at fairly soft holding speed. So, it’s one there’s no confusion about what it does. I think this is one he makes just because it’s one of those ones you got to let the imagination do the work. 15 feet here. And this guy gained a stroke and a half on the field with a flat stick yesterday. Gosh, John Rom’s press conferences are mustsea TV, aren’t they, Steve? uh very unfiltered I guess is the best way to describe it. Would that be fair? What he was talking about in terms of career grand slam just completed of course by Rory Moy who uh we are watching closely as he is outside of the cut line at this moment in time. But just so insightful, so thoughtful. But John Rom just goes into so much detail because he watches so much old golf. Well done, Matt Fitzpatrick. Not a par on the card yet. Gary, I don’t know about you, but very few PGA Tour players can rattle off history like John Rom can when it comes to the game and specifically major championships. Yeah, it’s impressive, isn’t it? And you know that that’s why he has that special focus on the Grand Slam events and ages. I tell you another one from another era who’s pretty good at that. Krenshaw. Nothing like the old-timers. One thing I thought was pretty fascinating from the press conference this week is he was asked about how he views majors now that he’s been playing them for a decade. He said he used to think he had to play perfect to win. And now he realizes by way of listening to Patrick Harrington, you don’t have to play perfect. You have to put full faith in all aspects and just manage the course. Simplify it. Don’t perfect it. Good self advice. Rahm uh would love to play on the RDER Cup team, European Rder Cup team coming up. It’s a big gray area right now. his best finishes at each major championship. Of course, slipping on the green jacket in 2023. And he did make that announcement going to live later that year. So now a full year playing live under his belt. And so many wonder is that the catalyst in the story for why he hasn’t produced in the last handful of major championships. Currently ranked 82nd in the world is John Rom. Players have made their way to the fourth. The par three today measuring 181 yards. Whole location today back right. It’s accessible if you can play from left to right like Rom can. This is a hole location that will fit his eye. Three bunkers in the front really don’t come into play. It’s a wide shallow green though. And that right hole location on a little knob up there. And this is the easiest playing par three today. 33 birdies just a hair over par. So maybe a chance to get one at this hole. That ace on this hole. Eric Cole first ever hole in one in his PGA Tour career. Yeah, that’s what I’m saying. Don’t have much choice. Like an ES7. I’m just going to go a little [Music] Gary. I always thought information was good. Too much information was not good. I get a sense with Fitzpatrick and Kentley. They’re two very similar players, aren’t they? Very analytical. And I think I wouldn’t be surprised that that would probably throw John Ram a little bit off his rhythm. Obviously likes to get up and at it without too much thought. That’s a great point. I always love watching the dynamic between a threesome. It’s It’s interesting when you think about Matt Fitzpatrick and, you know, Mark Blackburn coaching him. You know, Billy Foster stepped away from the bag. You know, there’s a lot of differences in game. Uh we were trying to land it. Let’s just go off that like 60 number. I think it’s playing just over that number. So, low 60s to there. So, if you hit a 60 shot, should land about that 55. Adam Hayes has held this job for a long time. Wind’s not doing a whole lot. Okay. More direction. Correct. Y. Yeah. What little wind there is is back into the players. As you said, Shantel, this is an ideal shape for John. I think if you look between the right right edge of the camera tower or left edge of the camera tower and the flag and just fit it in there and if it fades great. [Music] Very aggressive line here. Somehow get lucky. Got to be careful. [Music] Lucky storm. Let’s see if Patrick can hit it. A good shot. Turn his fortunes around. I think for Patrick, he needs a little belief early on in this round. He knew what he needed to do to make the cut and obviously get off to a really slow start. It’s very easy to kind of get down yourself, isn’t it? And just just lose a little focus. So he needs something impressive early just to get the belief back. Certainly has the ability. Well, statistically, he’s got no weakness in his game, which is really surprised why he’s playing so poorly. That’s a better shot. This might be the shot. You see, that’s beautiful. Absolutely gorgeous. Good play. shot of the round so far. The Queen City hosting once again for the PGA Championship, most recently 2017 and 2025. The WMaker will be awarded on Sunday. Sunny skies out here in the Queen City. Pop quiz. What is the nickname of Charlotte, North Carolina? I have no idea. I have no clue. I have no idea. What is the nickname of Charlotte, North Carolina? The Queen City. Nailed it. I went to Wake. I know, but not a lot of guys. Took me nine years to graduate, but I think I got that one. [Music] That is perfect. Sadly, Will Zelator will likely not be with us Saturday or Sunday. This is a beautiful city of Charlotte. Here’s John Rom from the Greenside Bunker. And a beautiful shot from Rom. A lot of good golf courses here in town. Charlotte Country Club has hosted a number of USGA championships. I played there on Wednesday. It was very nice. Just about to do a big restoration as well. They like to restore their course often. Just leave well enough alone. I get a sense it’s going to go back to a full-on Donald Ross. So, it’s kind of hybrid version, but it was beautiful to play. A friend of mine, Eric Williamson, is the director of golf there. So, he was kind enough to let me up there. He’s from Birmingham, is he not? Or was he not? He was at Shaw Creek for many years. Ah, there’s the connection. Okay. So, let’s see if Matt can figure this out. Moving left to right about halfway down there and then it almost kind of straightens out right at the end. One of those Steve, I really enjoyed watching Canlay shot there. So, these greens are firm, but if the ball is struck correctly, it will hold. If it’s struck anything less than correctly, it will release. So, that was a great sign there, how softly that came in, landing in a very narrow part of the green. Golf Course Superintendent Keith Wood has done an amazing job with all the early rain we’ve discussed. They got the subair system which basically sucks out the moisture and the green profile, but he has been very attentive and set up and it is just superb. This for Kentley’s first birdie of the day and his first putt made outside of 10 ft for the tournament. Well, I didn’t see any break here. This is a very straight putt. Chantel, you jinxed him. Uh-uh. The trend just continued, Steve. Okay. Well, clearly everyone’s feeling the humidity, yourself included. Huh, Gary? Uh, yes. English people tend to feel it a little bit more than you are. It’s soupy. I tell you, one thing, I’m very happy the cloud covers up here. So, it’s it’s it’s doable. It was, you know, watching someone like John Ram warm up. He just, you know, he was just persspiring and he was just working hard early and and often. And it’s just, you know, these events, these majors mean so much to these players. They will push themselves physically, mentally, and emotionally for his first par of the day. Five feet and in for Matt. 52 weeks as the number one player in the world was John Rom once upon a time. Boy, was it fun when he and Scotty Sheffller were battling back and forth, wasn’t it, Gary? Oh, absolutely. That was some houseian days there, wasn’t it? a big personality and Scottish again more of the humble number one trying to swap places. I hope to see them play many more times coming up in the near future. Next May, the PGA Championship returns to Aronomic Golf Club. That’s in Newton Square, Pennsylvania, right outside of Philadelphia. Register for tickets visiting pga championship.com/register but registration closes soon. Ronomic has some of the greatest bunkering I have ever seen on any golf course. It is just spectacular. Credit BJ of America for going to great golf courses. [Music] Show us how it goes. A fifth hole. Fifth hole is 458 yards. It’s a wide carter out there. There’s room left and right, but the bunkers are in the landing area. Now, some of the longer hitters could carry the bunkers on the right. Uh Rahm maybe can. Not sure Canley can. Today, the whole cut on the very top tier, right in the back of the green. If they miss it left or right, it’ll roll off either side. And some stats to go along with the action of today. Seven birdies at this hole. 23 bogeies and an other Steve. Well, when you think about half the field, a field of 156 is already played through plus some afternoon rounds. That’s not many birdies at seven. He’s looking forward to bunkers here. Bunker bound right there. Yeah, Gary’s just not long enough to carry, is he? I mean, he’s added he’s added a good 10, 15 yards in the last 5 years, but it’s he’s just now above average. Yeah, it’s only the very longest of the long can take it over that right bunker. John Rom perfect finding fairways so far today. Rom is taking on that bucker. He’s aiming right over it. [Music] All speed 185, Gary. That’s pretty good. That was actually a draw there, Steve. Highly unusual, but hammered. Only perfect. Patrick to me has that game that’s tailor made for the majors. Majors will identify any weakness in the game. Patrick has no identifiable weakness. Yet he only has two top fives in his major championship career. It’s so odd, isn’t it? Perplexing. That’s in that right bunker as well. Maybe right of it. Just skirting the right edge of that. PGA Junior League bringing friends, families, and communities together through the game of golf. All with expert PGA and LPGA coaching. Find a team near you. PGA Juniorleague.com has you covered. We’ll be back at the fifth hole. [Music] [Music] WMaker weight challenge. The WMaker trophy weighs 32 lbs. What weighs more? The Waker Trophy or this is a perfect one for you. An average 2-year-old child. Yeah, the the Watermaker Trophy is heavier than an average 2-year-old child. It’s not heavier than my 2-year-old child, but I would say it’s heavier than an average 2-year-old child. Um, that’s a weird one. The W Maker. I’ve held an average 2-year-old. I’ve never held the waker, but like I feel like the wom maker looks more difficult to learn. What weighs more, the waker trophy or an empty keg of beer? I’m going to say an empty keg of beer. That is incorrect. That’s a trap question. You’re still a good guy though. Say waker. That is correct. Felt both those two. So fitting to end on that with Brooks, isn’t it, Steve? Yeah, he’s uh always got a little edge to his answers. I love it. All right, this is a look at where we have seen birdies from, indicated by those balls in red and the splatter of what we have for the platter of T- shots from our group. John Rom just using all that power. Patrick Canlay not quite in that bunker, but off in the right rough. And Matt Fitzpatrick with some work to do from the fairway bunker ahead of us here at the fifth. Yeah, this is service here. They blow the sand off the greens after the previous group. It’s kind of nice, isn’t it? I’d like that service where I play. Well, they only have 135 volunteers and staff helping out this week. 45 full-time on Quail, plus they’ve got 90 volunteers from various clubs around the Carolas and here in Charlotte. So, they should have someone at be a dedicated sand blower. What do you think, Gary? I like it. So, to me, this is a very, very gentle flag indeed, Steve. And a fairly flat part of the green. plenty of green to land it on. Yeah, this is just one I think you could you should be at a feast if you’re in a decent position off the team. We’re getting an up close picture. Sorry, Gary, of what Matt Fitzpatrick is doing, crunching those numbers. But recently, he talked about all that data, how he had to kind of fine-tune it and really sift through it to make sure that he was actually using it to his advantage instead of just having a bunch of information. Well, it’s been the big thing, isn’t it? It’s been so fascinating over the years finding out about charts every shot that trunk. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So yes, the date is there now. Disseminate it and use it for good. So 145 for Matt. Good line and no lip of any significance close enough to him to make a difference. So good opportunity from here. It’s not all bad for that bunker. Just in the fringe. How about the life of Patrick, Gary? Oh, it’s fine. Yeah, it’s it’s really not that thick down there. Up and over the corner of this tree. Another one just an half off line, but good distance [Applause] control. And after that monster drive, what does he have left? Well, just 126 yds. So, it’s going to be a very comfortable gap wedge. Got to dial one in eventually where he gets it inside 10 ft. Gets this round going. Little lower trajectory. That’s better. Much better. I feel like the heat has turned up now. Certainly the humidity is Jonathan Vegas maintaining the lead. A flawless back n so far as he closes out this second round. First ever Venice Mland player to ever have a lead after a round at a major championship after that 64 yesterday. And to follow that up, extremely impressive for a guy unfamiliar in this territory when it comes to majors. Matthew Pavon charging up the leaderboard with the 65 of his own today. Max Homa finding some form again. How about that? Bryson Desambo carding a 68. Same for JJ Spawn. Aaron Ry in a share of 11th with Taylor Pendr, Davis Riley, Nicovaria, Steven Joerger just getting things started after a nice solid start on Thursday. Scotty Sheffller just getting things cooking. And guess who he is playing with? Rory Maroy making a birdie at the second. He is now at the cutline. Believe it or not, the guy who just slam dunked that career grand slam a month ago. Matthew Fitzpatrick and his Rder Cup captain, Mr. Donald, have something in common. Do you know what it is? lay it on us. They both went to Northwestern. Okay. Matt Fitzpatrick was there for not even a full year. A year. Yeah. Well, they went there. I mean, let’s be That’s fair. But this is the best part. In his social media bios, he says former Northwestern student. It’s like, okay, a year technically true, but he got the form report right. Yes, he is. is uh very proud of uh the brief stint at the program and it is very wellrun by that group. I think I think he had an itchy competitive nature. He wanted to get out of school and he turned pro 2014 after having won the uh am the year before. So um uh he did the right thing. So this is interesting. We just saw Matt Fitzpatrick do some housekeeping ripping the microphone uh right out of the ground. And so we talk so much about how amateurs don’t spend enough time assessing the lie and just take out a club that they’re comfortable with. Let’s analyze what’s going on here, Gary. Well, I think there was only one option to be honest. This is just all day. The putter was the only choice. It’s only about 2 feet off the edge of the green. So slow putt from here uphill into the green. See if we can get it all the way up to the hole. As I said, this is a this is a slow one. Big back swing. Good whack. Oh, maybe Craig Perks would have chipped that. That’s the only one I would have known. Patrick Canley staring down 27 ft. Any movement here? Yeah, everything just slopes left to right from the middle of the screen back to this hole again. just a little bit uphill and then just as it loses pace it will break relatively hard. So going to keep that pace up. He’s still loses a little lower and right Okay, so countly just lagging it up there. So hopefully John Ram can open his account here. About as simple put as you can have. This would be his longest putt made so far today at 9 ft. And John plays so much on passion, doesn’t he, Shantel? That you just need something good. You a little fist pump. You use the energy of the crowd of the spectators and then that usually builds for John. And he’s one of those players that can just get on a little run of two or three holes where things start to change very quickly in the right direction. But it all starts right here. It’s a big part for him early on in the round just to kind of write the ship and start turning the direction for his first birdie of the day. each miss. Test your patience, Steve. I’ve always been fascinated with John and just the rhythm of his putt. And it’s it’s very laborious, isn’t it? Very slow to get to from the time he kind of sets the putter down to the time he actually hits it that kind of works opposite to his character and his personality and the way he swings. It it just it just seems like there’s just a little bit more trying on the greens than that that freedom that he has in the swing. Good point. I like that. Kind of like Dustin Johnson. Quick in every other part of his game. He gets to the greens. He really slows down. Very intentional as Patrick Kentley cleans up for par. And plus two still the cut line at this point on Friday. What the Well, the players are approaching the longest par three they will see this week and maybe in many weeks to come. Only playing 252 yards downhill. It is a beast of a par three. Just figure out some way to put it on the green, some way to walk away with par, and you’re very happy. sixth hardest hole today. But you don’t stand on that tea thinking about, hm, can I make birdie here? I’m surprised there are eight birdies thus far. Yeah, it’s actually moved to the eighth hardest. 3.16 the stroke average in round two. Shantel Johnny Vegas who came to the last hole 10 under par may double and never put the ball in a penalty area. So the lead is now eight under. Another victim of the green mile cost Ludvig the cut. He played the last three holes in five over in his morning nine. All right, same day rule. Let’s go, guys. Oh, there’s someone on the green. I apologize. Thank you. Steve, I don’t want to play behind you ever just in case you hit into me. I like to play quickly. As do I. So, go ahead. 250 all the way back to the flag. downhill nine. You’re looking to land this about 235 yds. So the equivalent of about 225 again. Not a breath of wind. And that that green just sits right there below you. So it’s nice. Somehow go somehow go down that left edge. Go go go. Oh, it’s going to be great. Go. How about that? Baking’s okay. Talk to it. 74 players at plus one or better. John Rom inside the number for now, but on par threes yesterday he was two over very close to the left tree line. Working it back, but it’s not coming back. Hey, hey, hey. That’s really good. This is Patrick Canley’s 33rd major championship appearance in his ninth PGA Championship. [Music] Good line. Good shot. [Applause] Patrick Canley needing to make a move fast. Don’t want to say we’re running out of holes, but the day does seem like it’s going to be a long one for him. You’re watching the 107th playing of the PG Championship. Well, just eyeballing ing it. But that seems like it’ll hold about 17,000 213 Miller [Music] highlights, very specific. All right, our group looks like this at the six hole. John Rum just off the green. Patrick Kentlay inside of 20 ft. And that fits Patrick with a 27footer if he wants to tack on another birdie. Honestly, three very good shots at this long par three. Had the pleasure a number of years ago at the Masters. I’m an honorary invitee and for the longest time we got to play practice rounds in par 3es. And so I signed up to play the par three. And who plays with me? this young man in the yellow shirt and his mom cattied for him. We had the best time. Just delightful. Well, you can’t stop there. No. Well, we had a great time. We He unders We won the same amateur tournament, so we talked about that. Uh talked about his home back in Sheffield, and he’s just he’s just a delightful person. He’s got this very impish smile uh when he lets his guard down. I think the person who had the biggest time was his mom being able to put on the caddy bib, carry four or five clubs around in a small bag. Yeah. I think anytime you get to step on the grounds at Augusta, that’s a pretty big deal for everyone, isn’t it? It sure is. And again, watching full swing in one of the earlier seasons, you just to get a a greater understanding of Matt and his family dynamic and his relationship with his brother. I It’s so It was so great to see that up close and see how close they are as a family. So for Matt up this tiny little ridge here, it’s really not that much break to it. Good pace. So Shantel Jong’s about a foot away from him releasing him into that lower area which would have taken another six or seven yards further away from the green. So really punt here left to right. Yeah. 22 feet. This would be his first birdie of the day. Wow. Oh, a lot of speed to me. That screams impatience. Yep. 15 and a half ft for Patrick Kentley. What’s this one going to do? Should just move just a little bit to his left so everything just slopes back off this back fringe. Longest putt made today 3 ft. Well, let’s hope he can quintuple that. I do like the way his arms hang. It really just forms a triangle and that triangle maintains its shape the whole the whole time. Feels like it’s going to be one of those days. He’s got a chance in the next two holes. Seven and eight. Par five reachable at seven, eight. You can drive it pretty close to the green. I think that will determine his interest level as we watch him play the remainder of the day. Thoughtfully set. Patrick Kentley were talking about the fact that he only has two top five finishes in majors, but listen to this. 42 top fives in PGA Tour events, boys. That’s pretty good. That’s why he’s a basically a human tote machine. He makes so much money every year being so consistent. It’s hard, isn’t it? He hasn’t won in three years almost now. It’s He’s such a a great player and puts himself in position so often. Maybe the return isn’t maybe what it should be. leaving himself seven feet here. [Applause] Yeah. Yeah. Speaking of struggling, this guy Matt Fitzpatrick has fallen down to 85th in the world. I had to triple check that number. That is hard to believe. Well, if you’re just joining us, he did call his game recently quote rubbish. Well, let me tell you about something that is quite frankly the opposite of that. Jonathan Bates’s game right now is 64 yesterday and he was just tacking on the birdies today coming one of them at the par [Music] 313. Make it look that simple. The birdies come and the hole looks a lot bigger. So that got him to nine under. The next hole drained a nice one to get to 10 under [Music] par. Setting the pace with some wiggle room, but then came the 18. Steve. Yeah, he drove it beautifully here in the fairway and just put it in the right hand bunker. Just kind of wiped it and then he hit it fat out of there. And watch what happens next. [Music] from there. He played a very nice pit shot right behind the hole. You think, “All right, he’s going to make this for five.” [Music] Oh, it hurts to watch. Man, Naval’s at eight under par. Matthew Pavon with a 65 and a share of second with Rio hits at Sunsune. Max Homer putting on a display with a statement 64. Where has he been on leaderboards? Well, he is here now. Luke Donald, what’s going on with a nice nifty five under through eight holes as it stands in this tournament. And Alex Smallley finding the first page of the leaderboard. Guar group M Fitzpatrick plus Michael Thurbbor and a host of other players. How about at seventh right now at four under par is Ryan Gerard. He had a great showing in the opening round. Just getting things cooking this afternoon for round two. Scotty Sheoffller playing with Rory Maroy and Xander Schoffley. Three under par. Bryson Dambo at the 68 today. Davis Riley finding the first page of the leaderboard. Harry Hall at three under par. Keegan Bradley. You got Ryder Cup captains showing up. I like it. two under par. Plenty of players. See Victor Hofflin there. He had a nice chip in at his last the ninth to close things out with a birdie for an even round day. You know, it’s great. You got both RDER Cup captains playing well today and this week. Love to see Keegan play so well that he had to pick himself to go on the team. Luke sending a message to his team that hey I can still play too you youngsters. Just for some perspective 14 of the first 22 PGA Tour events were won by international players and a good chunk of those European players. So Beth Paige Black will be an interesting situation. Matt Fitzpatrick trying to get on that team. He’s not in a good position now, but Gary, you got some kind of observation about his bag? Oh, yeah. I I love nosing through the players back before they tee off. And yeah, Matt’s got some really good positive vibes. He’s got uh the the country club Brooklyn head covers on his two fairway woods and then his beloved Sheffield United is on his driver and they have they say it’s the biggest uh money game in sports. They play Sunderland next week, next Saturday to get into the Premier League worth about $350 million. So, it’s uh I think we see why Ryan Reynolds and Rob Melhenny bought Rexom. Maybe get a little bit of that Premier League money. Very nice. Well done. Well, what else is in that bag? He had the same irons for a decade and last year he finally swapped those out which I have not had the chance to ask him about myself but for a guy as meticulous and calculated as he is definitely something of note but he’s been on the struggle bus for the last couple of years switching irons switching caddy and now uh by default of a health situation uh using a different coach in Mark Blackburn Gary A lot of adjustments needed to be made. So slightly back into the wind. Good drive here gives you a really good look at an opportunity for Eagle. That’s terrific. Quick T pickup tells it all. Ever so slightly right. You know, Gary, the landing area that you mentioned yesterday is really quite wide, but with that water penalty area right out of bounds, right of it, and that big bunker left, you stand on the tea, it doesn’t look that wide. There’s two trees just right of those bunkers up close to the green. And I think that’s the line that gives you about 20 yards right of that. Oh my man, that was dead left. Holy smokes. That is a double double cross. That may be 70 yards left of the fairway there. [Music] That was one of those shots, Steve, that looked like the club slipped in his hands, but I don’t know if it did. That was just that was a head scratcher. I’ve never seen a player of that caliber hit such a wavered shot in a major championship. Exactly the visual you need before you hit. So see if Clay can get one down the fairway and chip away. Get a little bit close to this gut line. Ram already has the provisional in hand. And that’s left as well. [Music] I might think twice about taking up a spectator seat left to this landing area here at seven. Playing a provisional, but it looked like looked like they had identified his ball over there. I was watching spectators run to where they think the ball came to rest. It’s actually been about seven balls past that fairway bunker to the left. There’s no out of bounds there, though. His concern was that when he lost the ball, now if he finds it and it’s unplayable, uh you can’t play provisional for an unplayable ball. We are following John Rom, Patrick Kentley, and Matt Fitzpatrick. We’ve got some interesting things happening here at the par five 7th. You’re kind of putting more loft on the ball. That’s all. Which is a good thing though. These are the patient warriors who were forced to look at our terrible swings week after week. Good putt. year after year trying hard not to break the course record, which of course they could do every single round because it might offend some local doctor. Every year, the best 20 club professionals get a chance to play on the biggest of stages. [Music] [Applause] Oh, one of those 20 club professionals. Tyler Klette almost had his Michael Block moment that came out the 13th yesterday. Check this out. So close to an ace. Come on. The golf gods just didn’t show up. He actually won the PGA Professional Championship last month by 10 strokes. This guy extremely impressive in his first PGA Championship debut. Did he get it? Yes, he did. The 2025 PGA Professional Champion. This means the world. I have one more goal that I I set for myself in the PGA of America and that’s to win Low Club Pro at the PGA. I mean, it lit a fire in me and honestly, it was one of the reasons why I wanted to win this championship so bad and it’s honestly one of the reasons why I have it now. We’re in the service industry and that’s our main focus, but all of us got into this industry because we love to play. It just kind of means we’re even more well-rounded than people might think. I think that’s that’s a focus we can’t lose. A phenomenal performance. The Walter Hagen Cup is his. So, let’s take a look at the Corbridgeidge Financial Team 20. When it comes to what’s happening in the second round, it’s now Dylan Newman not going to make the cut unless if he makes a lot of birdies today. Only threw one hole, so there’s plenty of time to do it. And of course, Michael Block just a couple years ago at Oak Hill. ridiculous. So, we know it’s possible. These guys have a ton of game. They are literally living two lives. Making sure not just the golf club, but certainly the game of players as their membership are in tip-top shape, getting all of the big and small projects done around the club and then trying to work on their own game. It’s quite impressive. And Gary, I know you were at the PGA of America Professional Championship and what Tyler Colette did was ridiculous. Oh, it was amazing. He he grabbed it by the scruff of its neck and then just kept going. As you say, the balance that they show to to take care of their responsibilities, keep the members happy and then work on the games is amazing. There there really are some talented crop of players and I think what Michael Block did has given them a belief of what’s actually capable. a little better angle off the left just for the shot. So, I mean, it’s a 150 shot. Sir, you mind coming a little bit more? So, I’m glad we’re going to see patience here, Steve. He could have take on the green or does he just chip it out safely? I think he’s going to get it up there to to a scoring position. He could have tried to play some circus shot, but I think this is the the better play. He could have been a lot worse off. He had a great break. Consider himself lucky. I think a similar approach here for Patrick up and over this tree. [Applause] Yeah, we didn’t quite get to see the lie. What did it look like, Gary? It just nestled down enough, but the tree was in the way, which would have meant he would have had to swing it over the water to get up on the green. So paid the penalty for missing the fairway. Matt Fitzpatrick on the other hand will have an iron in for his second shot with a really good opportunity because this flag tucked on the back from 232. You can pitch this in the middle of the green if you get it releasing can get it releasing up that slope and have a really good look. Pat Fitzpatrick almost playing boring golf here. Boring is good in major championships. They know that to be true. So quickly to [Applause] work at 220 is the pitching spot. This is on a great line. A really good line. just off the back theory, but it’s in great shape. Well, we will see what lies ahead for John Rom and Patrick Kentley here at this par 57th. We’re back with more ESPN Plus. What the Oh, what happened? Oo, mudballs enter the chat. It’s a little It’s called a hair trans. the [Music] easiest hole on property. Patrick Kentley hitting his third and you just saw the ball land beyond the green. They nestled down in that second cut. Mudballs quite the hot topic this week, Gary. Yesterday we just did not see any in our afternoon group and yet there was plenty of commentary about it. What did you make of that? I thought it was it was really interesting, wasn’t it? Making such a big deal about it. Without the ability to adjust, it’s the same as saying go in the open championship and just hit hit the ball really high. Got to adjust sometimes. maybe try and take it in a little lower. Gary, I’m with you. I think u sadly these players get a little spoiled. You know, it’s rub of the green. Everybody plays the conditions. You don’t want to go lift cleaning places. It doesn’t look good in the matrix. Quite frankly, I don’t think you need it here. Fairways are perfect. So, you’re going to get up, you get some mud sometimes. The ball we just showed was Patrick Kentlays. And now to John Rom with his third. That landing spot is right on the ridge line. A little short. It’ll come back down into the bowl. And he got it right on top. Beautifully played from John. Ah, a spark here at the [Applause] [Music] seventh. It was quite interesting players weighing in from every direction on this topic. Scotty Sheffller was very pointed with his words where he stood, but Victor Havlin in the past has made some very critical comments about how he feels like the PG tour in general uh plays lift clean and place a little too often. Do you subscribe to that, Steve? I do as well. I think you play the ball as you find it and um I think it sends a great message to all the golfers out there that look, we already are pretty spoiled out here. Yes, we’ve earned a right to play out here, but the conditions are perfect. If we if it’s wet, you get some mud, so be it. Yeah, he was talking about the art of how you have to control your trajectory into greens and off the tea. Yeah, just flight the ball a little lower. Take the take the long shot out of play. I think a lot of it was a coping mechanism, wasn’t it, for poor rounds? these players, they don’t like admitting weakness. And it’s nice, it’s nice to find that, you know, that easy excuse of, okay, this is why I played poorly. You know, it’s not that there’s anything wrong with that. That’s that trying to keep that air of invincibility mentally. But still, it’s after the fact if you make a big deal about it, there’s really not much you can do about it, is there? And Gary, I think it sends the wrong message to the golf fans out there. A little adversity is not bad. Well play there from Campway. Just got a little sprinkler head issue here for Fitzpatrick’s stance. He can play it where it is if he has a decent lie where he takes, you know, a relief and a club head. And I I wonder why players take forever for a basic drop. Stephen, I think we we could remake golf on on TV, couldn’t we? We could do this. Get us on the get us on the players advisory council and we’ll figure this out. Here we ask a rules official to come over here and help with the most basic drop in golf. I’ve heard many players say they would rather just get the confirmation than at all miss something even as simple as this. I mean everybody at home knows what to do here. I think players who go through say the corn ferry qualification get to the tour I think they should have to pass a rules test and I think periodically players on tour should have to pass a basic rules test. Yeah, I think that’s the point, isn’t it? The basic rules, they should be common sense. It should be easy. The other two players should be able to figure this out without bringing in a rules official who may need to drive 5 minutes from another part of the course to to do a simple rule. It’s the only sport that I know of where you can play on TV and not know the rules. He’s elected to play the ball as he’s found. He’s got a good lie. if he drops it, you know, it could roll into maybe a less good lie. So, he’s chosen to play it that from there. And Steve, this is a very simple chip as well. This is one you could very easily chip in. Left it in the absolutely perfect spot. Good line pitching on a nice, very slight ups slope. Good call, Gary. Good birdie for Matt. Pretty sporty. Gary, maybe you can explain to people at home who don’t get to watch a ton of golf, but they’re like, “Oh, maybe I should try the left hand low.” Yeah. I mean, it just quiets the hands down. It It forces you to use the body a little bit more. And, you know, most poor chippers are from incredibly active hands. It’s and and learning a just a semidecent short game is those lowh hanging of lowhanging fruit to get your handicap down quickly. Very hard to transform how you drive the ball, but you can chip and go from poor to above average very very quickly indeed just with technique. John Rom looking at 10 ft here for his first birdie of the day, but we just showed you the putting stats for today. And well, if you’ve been watching this round since the beginning, you are well aware there’s not a lot of magic in this flat stick. Well, needs this. And with a semi-drivable par4 coming up, this is this moment that maybe could transform the round. That’s like stealing where he hit his first T- shot. That’s just a secret. He got most fortunate. Another look at John Rom’s 10 foot birdie putt. Well, Steve commented on the seventh and eighth, the place to take advantage. And halfway there. Patrick Kentlay three feet. You got it. [Applause] Let’s check in with PGA professional Joe Howley. who’s joining us from Frisco, Texas. Shantel, Steve, uh, we hear a lot and we I have always admired John Rom’s swing and we kind of look and go, gosh, his swing is it’s kind of short. You know, the average player out there can start to figure out their own swing. What John Rom did and quite tongue and cheek was find out, you know, I play better shorter backs. And then it turned out with Dave Phillips and TPI, that’s where he was the most physically functional. A good test and a great way to set this up for yourself at home is to kind of practice three back swings. And since we’re in Texas, we’re going to talk barbecue. We’re going to go ribs and shoulder. So, I want you to hit three shots. I’m just going to do two here. I’m going to go that solid. I’ll go to ribs, but I’m gonna reach a point where those shots aren’t as solid anymore. Stick in that area. Little by little, you get a little longer, a little more accurate, and you might just ram one of them. I like the barbecue analogy. Well done. I knew you would. I knew you would. That was clever. He thinks on the fly. Joe Howlet. There’s no flies on him. I don’t know if I will get to that driving distance of 319, but ribs got me thinking. When Davis Love was the Rder Cup captain, you know, the captains always give their teammates uh his teammates rather a gift. Well, Davis one year gave him personalized barbecue smokers. I’m sure that was a hit. Very much a hit. How’s Davis’s health these days? Davis always has some injury. He’s come from some surgery. Uh we spent a lot of time comparing notes. He’s he’s back playing. Um, I don’t know that he’ll ever regain that great form he had before, but uh, he’s always a credit to the game and he’s out there trying to make a start on the championship tour. He’s also hard at work redoing harbor town. Yes, he is. Quite a feather in his cap, too, Gary. Yeah, that is I’m I’m fascinated to see what they’re going to do with that cuz I was out there a couple of months ago and it was as pristine as I’ve ever seen it. I can’t see how much better they can make it. It is it was phenomenal. My understanding is agronomically they have a lot of shade issues and you know people that live at at a resort place like that they hate to take out trees but sometimes you just have to you either have great shade and you have to deal with basically poor condition turf. So I think that’s one of the challenges he has. Gentlemen, start your chainsaws. Yes. Okay. So, the group is looks like they’re waiting on the tea for the group in front to finish. Maybe not to run it on the green, but it can be distracting if you hear a ball land 20 yards from the green as you’re putting. So, little bit of courtesy here. This is the easiest par4 on the front nine. It’s another thing I was noticing on the range. You you know that it’s a major when the top tour coaches in the world are still here on a Friday morning. You know, some of it is players just not there, not quite with it. Others they you’ve made the commitment to their stable of players to be out here all week. You know, to see the likes of Sean Foley and Pete Cowan and Mark Blackburn, Jamie Mulligan’s out here with Patrick Canley. It’s uh it’s that very different feel where the the gravity and the importance is magnified this week. Phil Mickelson at this eighth green and he more than likely will not be playing Saturday and Sunday. Just as I say that he sneaks one in. But plus two is still the cut line and he is well outside of that. Still giving out the thumbs up. You got to respect it. Just a reminder you can watch his group and uh a selection of others. Four different featured group and holes to watch on ESPN plus. Watch your favorite players from Ta Green. All 18 holes. And if you are interested in the Rory Mroy, Scotty Sheffler and Xander Schoffley appearing. Rory Maroy right at the cut line. He is at two over par. So we will be watching that ever so [Music] closely. Show you exactly how this par4 layout looks. The eighth hole today has been pushed back to 353 yards. I say pushed back because it played around 3:15 earlier yesterday. all locations at the top of the green. I don’t think any of these players can reach the putting surface, but they can certainly position themselves well just short of the screen and leave yourself an easy pitch to the flag stick in the upper right hand portion. That fits Patrick ready to go. Starting down that right side and not coming back. It might be just short of the bunker. Uh, yes. And in the deep surf, too. There’s there’s a cool thing on the range, Shantel. There’s a there’s a big screen that has a top trace of numbers. Um, and the longest carry of the day on the range was of all people Padre Harrington, 346 yards. Not bad for a 50some year old. That is awesome. and knowing Podrick, he’ll remind you of it many times. He is such a wealth of knowledge as Ram’s T-shot on the way. He’s only missed one fairway and we know which one. I think so. Directly on Q. Patrick Kentlay couldn’t take advantage of the last hole. It is absolute go time here. It’s just down that left edge of the fairway. That will give a lovely angle to that flag. I’ll say great leave. Well, thanks to Joe Howlet, will you ever see John Rom swing again and not think of some Texas barbecue? There it is. Absolutely not. Right in slow-mo. Letting it rip. We’re back at the par4. [Music] I love looking at the numbers. I’ve said a lot over the years. It’s just that to me that gives me the answer as to what I need to do to get better. You used a word in there. You said you love it. It’s not like homework to you. I love it. Yeah. Absolutely. I find it so interesting, you know, cuz I could make a change in practice, see down the line, what does that do to the data? Does it improve it? Does it make it worse? Do we need to change things? Again, the one thing that I’ve sort of learned over the last couple years is just making sure that there’s more context to the data. I think just I think it’s easy to sort of categorize certain shots or certain things. The wind was different, the lie was different, the stance was different. You know, the more context you can add, the better feedback you’re going to get, then more likely you’re going to be able to improve. That’s terrific. It’s if you can interpolate data is the key when you’ve got as much information as he has and he’s applied it well. All sports today are into data and data analysis. It’s amazing. Even sports like basketball and baseball, but Matt’s the first to take it to the next level here on the tour. Okay. But unlike Bryson, he doesn’t share what he has found in his notes. I want to know what’s written in that yardage book. I think his data complements the way he plays. It’s, you know, it’s so different than say Bryson that you mentioned. Uh Bryson, he’s a little bit of a showoff when it comes to his data because who can hit it as far as he? I figured out that uh peanut butter and strawberry jelly was my best was my data analysis. There you go. I was wondering where you were going with that. There you go. Beautiful. I played my best with that. Peanut butter and banana did not work. I like your data. That’s good. Quite perplexing. Uh, as we’ve mentioned more than once before, but Matt’s called his game quote rubbish. Said that this is the lowest he’s ever felt with his game. And the results show only one top rather two top 25s this season, which is perplexing. and his and his stroke gain approach is 138th on tour and his stroke gain putting is 143rd on tour. I can’t imagine two worst statistics. So this minuscule back section, if you can get it up there, you’re going to have a really good look at birdie. Can it climb up that hill, Steve? It’s like a miniature pinehurst green. It’s just falls off on every side. Less than 10 ft either side. It actually stayed closer than I thought. So Patrick come in from a really nice angle where he can take out a lot of slope and get a fairly flat landing area. So it should skip and then get up on top. Well played. [Applause] That’s only his fourth green today. How’s John Ram’s lie? That was the second gear from John Ram off the tea there. just gave that that little extra to get it all the way up at the bunker has made this shot far far easier. Again, where he wants to pitch it is where that slope is, but because it’s firm, he’s not worried about it digging straight in and coming back down to him. So, really good opportunity to get this up on top with a putt inside seven or eight ft. It’s a total first world problem, but given this humidity, just keeping everything dry, huh? Yes, definitely sweaty paws time. Well, came out heavy. That’s poor. Very poor for John. John Rob yesterday 0 for four out of the sand. That is unusual. He because he’s he’s got great hands. He’s got fast hands. He’s typically a great bunker player. The good news is it’s basically a dead straight path from down there. So everything just falls dead straight back to the front edge. So just disappointed not to get up on top. Well, all three players in this group once upon a time were the number one ranked amitter in the world. Patrick Kentley, though, had the most consecutive weeks as the number one amer, but the longest tenure was stolen away from him by John Rom. It’s a great pedigree for all three of them, isn’t it? And Matt Fitzpatrick to be the first Englishman to win the US amateur in over a hundred years. I think that’s an achievement that doesn’t get talked about enough. Harry Hilton back in 1918 or something, I think. Ah, it takes one to know one and have that stat in your back pocket, huh, Steve? I have no life. It’s a very similar line for John. See what he had learned from Matt. I think Matt had a pretty good line. just didn’t hit it up that hill. 20 ft left here. You just feel like he’s got to just steal something here. Just he stole one on the last hole. You know, maybe you can run one in after a poor bunker shot. It might completely flip the narrative. Kind of like that. Wow. On your queue. Back-to-back birdies for John Rom. We needed something to get a little giddy up. Come on. How about a smile? Just a little one. Come on. Come on. Ah, not going to happen. You turn six into four on the last and make a 20footer here for birdie. We can’t get a smile. Two under still six back of the lead of Jonathan Vegas may maintaining that eight under lead. finally. Believe it or not, that is his first birdie, but his longest putt oft 4 in. Oh, I said yesterday, Steve, outside of 10 ft, he couldn’t make anything. But today, even inside of 10 ft, can’t lay making it look more difficult than it needs to. And ouch. Yikes. I did not see that coming. Well, that’s a painful miss. That one will hurt. He’s standing over it. He’s thinking, “All right, let me just knock this in and go to nine.” But first things first, I’ve just pulled it. Unkind whip. Walk away with five. Ah, the ninth hole where we’ve seen only two birdies in this second round, Steve. Well, no wonder it’s 520 yards slightly uphill. You got to hit a great T- shot to fit it between the right hand bunker and those trees on the left. And then you’ve got a long iron, maybe a hybrid into the screen. Flagstick’s left center, but it’s tucked right up against the little hill. So, it’s uh if you go long with your second, you got a tough two putt. So that bunker certainly is in play for John. So he’s going to have to start this down that left side and work that regular cut. Although he did play a draw down an earlier hole. It’s right down that left edge. Needs a bounce right. [Music] Didn’t quite get it. I guess the good news is there though, Steve. Taking on that dog leg, you certainly shortened the hole. So even though you’re not in the fairway, you’re probably 20 yards closer than if you’d hit a cut there. Yeah, no question. Don’t think there’s anyone that has more room at a dress, does there, than Patrick Camplay between his hands and his thighs. So much space. Beautiful swing there. hit the fairway but well back. Shantel, you you were talking about the comments that Matt made about play rubbish. And that is the hard thing, isn’t it, for players to sort of balance honesty with kind of reminding themselves of where they are. Tiger was always the opposite, wasn’t he? He would always almost fake it until he made it. Never admitted weakness. Well, Phil has always figured out something with the driver, hasn’t he? Yeah, baby. That’s got to sit just a little bit. He hit it so poorly. He’s okay. A lengthy par4 we find ourselves on now. And today’s live odds brought to you by ESPN Bet Sports Book. John Rom has the sixth shortest odds, 18-1. There’s a look at Patrick Hanley. Apparently, nobody had hope even after a good finish at the truest last week. And Matt Fitzpatrick, well, a major champion getting some respect. 21 28 to1 rather. And so, John Braum finding a couple birdies out there, keeping that hope alive, but still a long way from the top of the leaderboard. You can lock in your PGA Championship winner at ESPN Bet Sportsbook. Right now, new customers can get $100 in bonus bets when you make your first $10 wager. Download the ESPN Bet app. Sign up promo code birdie to get started today. [Music] PG of America and our more than 30,000 PGA of America golf professionals. We love this game. Second round coverage well underway here as we’re carefully watching the cutline at the 107th PGA Championship. Quail Hollow Club once again the great host here in Charlotte, North Carolina. We’re tracking the action. John Rom, Patrick Kentlay, and Matt Fitzpatrick. I’m Chantel McCabe alongside a decorated amter and Steve Melnik and a PG of America professional and Gary Christian on the ground yesterday. 20,000 steps and probably about the same today, but the humidity will certainly make it feel like a few more out there, huh, Gary? Yeah, certainly. Well, it’s actually just a little bit of breeze right now that has actually made it fairly pleasant. Long name, may that continue. Jonathan Vegas, the leader at eight under par. It was 10 under until a double at the 18th. A victim of the green mile, Matt Fitzpatrick and our group in a share of seventh. Nico Echavario trying to climb the leaderboard from his position. Scotty Sheoffller playing the eighth right behind us. And he’s in the mix once again. He’s always in the mix. Shel, it’s amazing. I really tip my hat to Scotty. You know, even the best have off weeks. I don’t think Scotty has an off week. There’s been some Tiger comparisons. Do you think it’s a little overzealous at this point when you’re comparing Scotty Sheffller? Repeat that with Tiger Woods and what he did with uh his B or C game. Yeah, I think that’s right. There are few players that can win regular tour events without their best game. And then there’s some who can win majors without their best game. Tiger was one of those. Jack was one. Scotty’s becoming one. We just showed you the ball plots of where the birdies have come from. Very few at this hole and where our group stands in terms of how they’re playing their second. Just over 230. This might be the best swing of the day for Fitzpatrick. Oh, what a shot. Oh, he just got a good bounce forward. That would have been so good. Stay ball. Okay. I don’t think he’s displeased though, Gary. No, no, that was a really solid shot. And that’s the difference between flaring one out right here and taking it down the corner. John Ram a good 50 yards in front of him. Patrick Campley well over 200 himself. Good news is if you miss it, you can get it up and down from basically anywhere apart from long left. So birdie on the previous hole. That’s the conservative play to the middle of the green. And now Rom set to go. Yeah, once again the lie really isn’t too bad. So just off the edge of the fairway up and over this tree in front of him. It’s a big nine iron just around 180. Gave that the full treatment there, Steve. 180 n iron. That’s too much club. [Music] [Music] got your work cut out here at nine. You make par. You’re very happy. I have to say the least. Yesterday scoring average 72.8. Now remember this is a par 71. Today playing a 72.4. Surprised by that, Steve, or about what you expected? About what I expected. We haven’t had any wind, so that hasn’t been an issue. Just the moisture, the fact you don’t get any any role in the fairways has made the 76 26 yard golf course play even longer. I’m surprised honestly that the longest hitters haven’t taken advantage of it. And you look at the leaderboard, there’s not a really long hitter among them. And I know you are surprised by the fact that we’ve had a 64 in round one and a 64 in round two. Where do those come from? I don’t know, but I tip my hat to Homer and before that uh Johnny Vegas. I mean, that’s pretty good. I know you know this property very well, Steve. Time after time, players compliment it. Why? Well, it’s a great piece of property, but the history here is wonderful. This was the old uh Cameron Marson estate and that was Johnny Harris’s grandfather here. He was the largest dairy farmer in North Carolina and he came out here and and they very intently and gracefully developed this property. It was Arnold Palmer who got together with a bunch of Johnny’s friends and uh they talked about could they build a a great golf course here and and the answer of course was yes. Uh Quail started out with George Cobb as the architect back in ‘ 61, but Fazio really made a huge difference. Uh the first and second holes changed dramatically. What we know is the Green Mile today has changed dramatically and it’s a an absolute stunning test of golf. It’s in great condition. Keith Wood, the golf course superintendent, done a fabulous job. Uh the only complaints you’ll get, as they talked about, with a little bit of muddle and ball, but if that’s all you got to complain about, maybe I’d keep my mouth shut. Fitzpatrick on the way. After the best part, the last hole, the last thing you wanted, another one of those little ones. And to follow up on that, if you’ve been to Charlotte, been to the South Park area, that was all part of the Morrison land and uh grandfather Marson lived on the Morcraftoft estate, which is still in existence today. But it’s just a gorgeous area and uh I think the city is well named the Queen City. Fairly set to play. Yeah, nice basic chip here, Steve. Everything feeds down to the left. It’s a lot of breaking. He’s aiming it way out to the right. Yeah, he’ll catch it slow right about there and sling it left. That’s good play. That’s a really good play. Players tend to see curves, don’t they, Steve? So, you see a shot like that, it just sort of it engages the senses. You know, I’ I’ve said about lag lag putting and also about that chip. It’s an art. I don’t know that you can teach feel. I think some players never have it. Some players have an abundance of it. But, uh, it’s a lost art to be able to see the break and then factor into it also the length of the shot. Patrick’s turn. So basically uphill all the way here. Good rhythm on that stroke there. Well done. [Applause] Based on what you see out there, Gary, you feel like two over is where the cut line will remain? It feels like it’s around there. So, you know, the players before they tee off will know instinctively where the cut’s going to fall and they’re usually bang on. Sometimes something freaky happens with, you know, some sort of weather change, but they’ll know instinctively and, you know, they’ll hope to, you know, get off to a good start where they don’t have to worry about it, but obviously as the pressure increases, especially if you’re finishing on 18. Now, all of a sudden, you know, you need as much wiggle room as possible playing the green mile. So, it becomes a little bit fraught. Now this one for just over 7 ft. But Matt needs to make this after the previous hole. Well done. I think all in all John would be pretty pleased with the front nine because he’s hit some poor shots and kind of got away with it and not taking advantage of wedges and yet still is under path for the nine and potentially could build on that. Yeah. Yeah, and in just the last three holes, he took his putting in a completely different direction. He was losing a stroke to the field in that regard. And now he’s gaining a half a stroke so far in this round with the flat stick. And with a par five coming up on the next hole, two birdies and a bogey on the opening nine. The birdie seven was one that turned his round around giving how poor he hit his t-shot. Yeah, it was an unexpected one. It was a gift. in for par. Unfortunately, his putting has been a bugaboo today. Outside of the cutline, plus two is where it sits now. Friday at the 107th PGA Championship is our group makes the turn. PGA Championship here at Quail Hollow Club. John Rom, Patrick Hentley, and Matt Fitzpatrick. We’re tracking the action from start to finish. And Matt Fitzpatrick having a nice round. John Rohm getting some momentum, but Patrick Kentley outside of the cut line and these last nine holes will be really important for him to keep his streak alive. Made cuts at major, Steve. Yeah, here at the 10th hole, you got a chance to make birdie. If you drive it in the fairway, you got two par fives on this incoming nine, 10, and 15. But then you got to deal with the last three. Same drive as the last par five. Well, that is left of left. It runs down that hill. Okay, they they’ve spotted it. Remember what we talked about yesterday, Steve, on these par fives, you know, there’s that tendency to just, you know, there’s not many birdie opportunities to try and hit it too hard, to try and go after it too much. That looked like the same swing as the one on seven where it I think subconsciously just trying to get it down there too far. There was no need for that. could reach comfortably with just a normal drive. Could not agree more. And that one’s the other way. Got right underneath that. That is further right. Almost down there. that cart path. Oh, well that’s going to be tough just to get back to the fairway. All right, Matt, can you put it between those two? There’s about 90 yards of difference between those two drives right there. It’s incredible. Okay, Matt has found four fairways so far today. And this is another missed fairway. And think it just missed the bunker. Just left of the bunker. Oh, we got trouble right here in Queen City for any of you music majors out there. Eight under par. Jonathan Vegas setting the tone here at the PGA Championship. They’re chasing [Music] Pat Fitzpatrick certainly has been fun to follow today for the second round. Kicking it off with a birdie at the first, Steve. Yeah, he got his mind off to a great start and then followed up here the third. Birdie one, bogey two, birdie three. at the seventh taking advantage of a hole. You have to the par five. Beautiful little pitch that set up another birdie. But here at the eighth, this he just fell asleep. Just fell asleep. Test test. Seemingly simple round until Matt just halted the brakes. And the T-shots here at the 10th with our group. And nobody finding the short stuff. But Fitzpatrick did miss the bunker left. He’s got the best shot, maybe the only shot at getting it near this par five and two. Can’t just got to figure out a way to get it back in play. Yeah, seriously. Today at the 10th, three Eagles, 41 birdies. So you hate to see the spot a bother for Patrick and John Rom with work ahead. And Shantel, but Patrick does have an avenue to get it down there. And actually, if you can cut it, he can actually get it down there a fair distance as well. Just high is out of the question. So we just punch it down there. Oh yeah, we’re watching from behind now. is punch it down there 150 yards or try and go a bit more aggressive and punch cut one. The key is the clean hit in the loose pine straw. There you go. So, back in position. And Fitzpatrick going next. He’s he’s got a great lie here. It’s great line and suits his natural shape. Taking it down that left side. It just pulled it just a little bit, but that should be in pretty decent shape. Now Rahm. Now John potentially has the good news is number one he’s got a good lie so he has the ability to control the ball. He could hit a big slinging hook down here. Try and run it somewhere close to the green. He went under that. That was impressive. That was less than 10 ft in the air. So now he’s in a great position. It was hard to tell the obstacles from our camera angle, but I’ll take your word for it, Gary. That went about 8 ft in the air for about 130 yards before it hit the ground. It was great. And one more look. Takes a little bit of talent to play that shot. You got that in the bag, Steve? I don’t know. Gary, play anything like that on Wednesday? Oh, yeah. Well, you mean the trees occasionally. You have to find some way to get out of them. So, not a problem. I’m not a high ball hitter. At the beginning of the week, it was Maroy. Maroy and Maroy. He goes out and shoots 74 yesterday. I’m here to report that he is now three under on his round today and back to even par for the championship. Son of a gun. Three birdies, no bogeies, clean card. Yeah, Steve. It’s the hallmark of the great players, isn’t it? When they have to put a round together, they put it together. And you get a sense that John Ram will probably do something similar today of maybe not have his best game going, but he will find a way to get get it two, three, four in the park. Put himself back in contention. Here’s Patrick Kentley with his third from 156. Gary, let’s see if we can dial something in here. That is pulled. Another poor short iron shot from Patrick. Another scenic view out of par five for John Rom. We’ll call it way off on that left hand side and somehow hitting it low to this position. It’s so rare to see Rahm double cross his T- shots like he has here. And back at seven. Got off to a great start driving the ball and then a little loose. Yeah. Well, 11 time PGA Tour winner, twotime major champion. And yeah, I think you’re 80. Yeah, 84 85 is perfect. not an individual live win. But the most success he’s had today is when he’s not taken the trajectory down a little bit on these wedges. And this flag suits that kind of shape. So 110. Just pitch this a little short, skip it, and then spin. There’s that lower flight again. That should skip forward and now spin. You called it. Well, John Rom announced that he was going to join Liv December 7th, 2023. So now he’s had a year and a quarter under his belt on Liv. And a lot of people will be critical of his resume since then. Scoring average in major 70.3. That’s now almost a stroke and seven or three sevenths at this point. And then that only miscot in major came at this major championship last year. So the results are not there for John Rom who of course is a US Open champion and a mast’s champion. There are a lot of comments that can be made after that statistic, but I’ll refrain. Oh, we got uh 18 holes. Well, nine left now to do it. So, don’t hold back. I wish he played on this tour. Oh, that’s really well managed there from Fitzpatrick. [Music] He’s got a lot of game. He’s got a great short game. Plays this beautifully. This would move him to five under. I believe that it would. Three out of the lead. He was five for six scrambling yesterday, Steve. He’s always had a pretty tidy short game. The stats don’t seem to reflect it, but uh part of that note takingaking, that copious note takingaking has served a short game well. Just we were talking about the cut on the previous hole. Joe Lava has been staring intently at the leader ball, Patrick Anley’s Caddy. So, you know, now is that time you start to take a little look and see how it’s looking. Fortunately, there’s no stat to show what the cut is. We can report that it still is locked at two over par. And when you’re on the wrong side of the cup and you’ve got a scorable par five and you’ve got 40 or 50 feet left, that is not a recipe for success. 40 ft. This would be a miracle. [Music] John Rom with less than six feet for the birdie. He’s played the par five so far this tournament. Two under par. Everything comes off this bunker right at the green. So this will move just a little bit left or right. Outside the hole though. That’s disappointing. Another [Music] couple inches out on the left as opposed to the top edge. Tap in for par for Rom. Last chance at a birdie here coming from the putter of Matt. So, just a little bit of clean up for Patrick. We’re officially running out of holes for Patrick. Yeah, I think in the back of his mind he’s making flight plans. Back to five over. If you’re just joining us, that’s Dan Pat on the bag for Matt Fitzpatrick. Separated with his longtime bagman, Billy Foster earlier this season. Five under par. That’s good for a share of fourth. Matt Fitzpatrick now just three back from the leader Jonathan Vegas. Well, the 11th hole at 464 yd dog leg left par4. If you miss those fairway bunkers on the left, put it up on that slope there. You’ve got a second shot into the screen to a fairly accessible hole location back right. Keith’s putting it in the fairway as it is on so many holes here at [Music] Quail. It is a hole that fits the land. In other words, a lot of dirt didn’t have to be moved to create this hole. Mother nature created it. We’re just playing a tick over par. So, birdies have been found here today. 22 of them. Mhm. And that’s more than yesterday when it was playing more difficult. [Music] So certainly a a shape of hole that suit Matt suits Matt’s eye a little bit better than maybe the other two. Play this just right at that bunker and then just use the natural shape to take it up there. Can get it well down there today. Not a breath of wind. That’s perfect there. He teed it up against the right T marker and hit a fade. Wow. Yeah. That is correct. Yep. So, Rom will need to take this over part of that bunker. Maybe the right third. He’s gone with a threewood. Oh [Music] yeah. Draw. Get lucky. Hit the truck and get out. We lost it. Did you see it, Gary? It’s the fairway, right? We couldn’t quite tell where it sat. That’s similar to where he was yesterday. And he made birdie at this hole. Now, can’t. Well, Patrick’s got to make some birdies quickly just to, as Steve said, regain the interest. I know who’s not having any fun. That’s Joe Labava. Yeah. One thing I noticed when Patrick was down in the trees, I knew Joe was old school enough. He wasn’t going to pull out the laser to get that number. [Laughter] That’s good. I like that. Don’t make it any worse than it has to be. It has been a long day for Patrick Hantley. Five overpar with a plus two cut line. Right now [Music] we’d like to recognize our champion. It is my honor to present to you the player who beat the strongest field in golf the coveted PGA championship. It’s my great pleasure to present to you the watermaker trophy as a PGA champion. golf, it turns out, is really about math. You hear that, kids? Pay attention in class. Who knows? [Music] John Rom. We’re wondering what we would get out of him today at the par five seventh. What a T-shot, but the recovery, Steve. Yeah, he had a wavered shot way left. Pitch it out. Beautiful pitch to get to there. And then it’s ninefooter for birdie. And turn six into four. Well, you said seven and eight. You got to make a move there. Yeah. Made a beautiful putt here at eight up the hill for birdie. So birdie seven and eight. Another par five, the 10th. Looking like three of the last four holes he’s going to make birdie part of the difficult night. This was right in his wheelhouse just left to rider and just got it too wide at the outset at the 11th. This is where the birdies have come from indicated by red and John Rom over now on the right hand side looking to get out of dodge. [Music] You’re shaking your head, Steve? I am shaking my head. I’ I’ve never seen Rahm drive the ball this inconsistently and he got off to such a great start on the first three holes today. Now he can’t find the short stuff. I mean, I told you they can start. All right, buddy. Mainly goes to the wind. No wind. I would just say, you know, just say, you know, just feel like, you know, if anything over it, right? Yeah. That’s certainly known as one of the great drivers in the game. These big misses are highly unusual. So 198 off the pine straw. Got to hit about a 15 20 yardd cup. Good news, it’s a straight face club, so it’s easier to do, but it’s a little harder to compress the ball, get that sid spin. He’s trying everything he can and he’s done it, but it’s going to come up short. He was fortunate to have a shot from there. Now Patrick Kentley just a little overhanging branch just over 170 for Patrick. Just got to work it under it. All opens up short of this green so you can run it on. See if you can run it up that big slope short of the green. Managed it well if it stays there. Okay. You could feel the stick. I like I like it. Yes. If you if I feel it, I’m okay with it. Yeah. All right. You’re on the edge of the town. Perfect. So 161 for Fitzpatrick. It’s another one of those greens. Front half slopes of the front edge, back half slopes of the back edge. Flags right on the crest of that dividing ridge. It’s a really good looking line here, Steve. Oh, stay. Well, he’s only missed three greens today, and the score would indicate such. Five under par for the tournament. Only three back from the lead. I know he’s played a tidy round. Hasn’t really made anything of of great length. He did birdie the first and the third, but relatively short putts. So, it’s been a good good playing round. Boring golf. Boring golf is really good. Majors. Matthew Pavon in the mix. Alex Smallley on the course now. Ryan Gerard or Carolina ties. I’m seeing Rio hits atune getting to five under. Scotty Sheffller in a share of eighth with Michael Thorbjornson, Christian Bizenhoot, Alex Norin on the course, Ben Griffin. Boy, these North Carolina boys trying to make some noise, huh, Steve? It’s kind of nice to see. Yeah, I’m sure they’ve got a great following here. Charlotte area. You get adopted by all North Carolinians if you live in the state. John Robin a share of 22nd with Keegan Bradley. Adam Scott. Adam Scott playing his 95th major. I think I saw. That’s amazing. He never ages and his swing only gets better. It’s not fair to the rest of us. Tell me about it. and a nice guy to boot what he’s done with the international team and the passion that he has what he’s done my goodness with negotiations no matter where you stand with live in the PGA tour I mean his mind is something to marvel along with the game I mean quit hogging everything dude you know it all starts I think Shantel with his respect for the game and that shaped his value system in a good good way. All right, Gary, what are we looking at here with John? Yeah, nice simple chip here. It’s in that step cut, so the ball sits up beautifully. Landing on a slight ups slope. So, very basic pitch here. Oh, and he undercut it. Put spin on it. That was highly unusual. I didn’t see any reason to to undercut that. Did you, Steve? Why would you? No, I thought he low skipper up there. Yeah, could have caught it high on the club face. That also accounts for something like that. Now Patrick pretty slow put for Can they uphill all the way? That’s got to go. That was a miship. You know, a lot of talk, Steve, about what John Rom has or hasn’t done in the last couple of years, but this guy has not won at all since 2022. Um, again, I think that speaks to the competition against whom he is playing. Patrick Canley hasn’t won since 2022. That surprises me far more. Jordan Spe up until a couple weeks ago, Justin Thomas hadn’t won since 2022. The es and flows of the top players in the game. And I know you can put John Ram in a separate category when it comes to the extra gear. Sometimes it takes just being a shade off and then you there’s a confidence uh into what’s going on that uh there’s always that seed of doubt I call it. You don’t have your best stuff. Still 16 ft to the hole here. Gary not the hill. Got to keep that speed up. Looked like a good roll. What a roll. And there’s that fist pump. There’s that harness and a little bit of energy of the crowd there. That’s what he needed desperately. Okay. No smile yet, but a fist pump for a little emotional kick here. What a save. in trouble off the tea on 10. In trouble off the tea on 11. Doesn’t hurt him. He just wanted to get Gary’s step count up today. I got little legs as well. So 20,000. It’s probably only 15,000 for normal humans. Oh my goodness. Back to back for Matt. Yeah, Fitz. get pulled within two of the lead here and go into a tie for second. As you said, just walking up the fairway, he’s done nothing outstanding, has he? He’s just done what you need to do. Take care of the par fives, minimize your mistakes, and you he’s just put himself where he needs to be. And you when you’ve had a poor year, sometimes world class players such as Matt, their focus narrows when they finally get in contention, which is where they expect to be. and all of a sudden you you kind of throw out the record books from earlier on this season. Great opportunity here. Yeah. And speaking of Oh, too bad. missed opportunity there. Speaking of recent form, really good to see encouraging signs from Matt because he only has one top 10 finish in 10 major starts since winning the US Open outside of Boston. I guarantee you that might be in his notes. [Music] Oh, well played. What’s interesting about 50 yards short of the green, all three of the players coaches are huddled together. Oh, really? Be fascinating to overhear that conversation. Yes. You got extra mics out there. We’ll keep seeing it until we’re done. The cut here still at two overpar. 2017 it was five overpar. That’s when Justin Thomas was victorious. This went by a little longer than uh we thought here. He’s got some work. [Applause] Those consecutive cuts made in majors. Hideki Matsyama takes the cake. 19 in a row. That is a strong showing. thinking about where the weather all kinds of styles of golf different grass. Xander Schoffé cut streak alive for him. 12 in a row in terms of majors and no surprise Scotty on this list, but Patrick Canley in uhoh territory and seems quite impossible at this point. Steve, show us how it’s done at the 12th. I’ve always felt the 12th hole is one of the most difficult fairways to hit because the it doesn’t sit to your eye very well. It’s fairway goes left to right. You got those two trees that guard the landing area and you’ve got to be very very careful here at 12. Do not come up short. It’ll roll back some 20 yards. There’s room behind the flag stick sort of like a little back stop. So you put it in play, you got a chance to make birdie from the fairway. [Music] This was the hardest fairway to hit in 2017. Last time the PGA Championship was hosted here. And one of the reasons, Steve, that landing area is the narrowest by far on the golf course. It’s only about 25 yds wide. Boy, he has just smashed this one. That’s only perfect. Matt Fitzpatrick, the shortest of this group, 305 on average his drives today. John Rob next. Gary, he’s got the two-way miss going right now, hasn’t he? So, need to get that straightened out. And that’s left. Come on. [Music] This guy is an escape artist today. And sometimes you just need luck. Living dangerously this guy. Two under par. Chalk that down for another fairway hit. Driving distance may suffer a little. Patrick’s found only four fur in this round. That’s edging down the left side. [Music] Oh, this is the mood. Patrick Canley not finding anything. And that made cut streak at majors looks like it’s coming to an end. Five over par. [Music] [Music] When you hit the fairway, I feel like you should always be rewarded, not be penalized with mud balls. And I understand it’s golf, but you almost feel like you have to get lucky all the time to be able to hit good shots. It’s a lot of luck involved and it’s kind of sad when you have such an amazing golf course and and you know these mud balls are playing a big part. You can kind of guess if there’s mud on the right side of the ball, it usually goes left. If there’s mud on the left side of the ball, it usually goes right. Sometimes it’s a bad break. Everyone gets them. It’s quite hard to get used to the greens being firm and the fairways being so soft with how much rain we’ve had. That really shocked me. I think it was the right decision to play the ball down. It’s part of the game. is part of what we have to deal with as golfers and you know it’s the luck of the draw. It’s going to get worse. The mud balls are going to get worse. So, um just have to find a way to start accepting it before it’s too [Music] late. Why are we playing that? Well, right here at the 12, this is a look live at at Fitzpatrick’s T-shot. Well, two things. One, I think it’s Rev of the Green. Two, here at 12. It’s the lowest part of the golf course, so it’s naturally going to be damp. It doesn’t get a lot of morning sun with a shade to the right of the fairway. So, it’s just it is what it is. It’s like driving in a divot out there. We don’t uh get relief from a divot. Why should we get any relief from mud on a ball? What about those who lobby for relief from a divot and live clean place? Then they need to take their clubs and go home. I’m sorry, Steve is not opinionated whatsoever. These the guys have it so good out here. They and they just if they just keep their mouth shut. I mean, goodness gracious. You don’t think those cornfairy tour players or Latin American tour players wouldn’t give you know what to come out here and have a chance to have a mudball? Gary, you want to weigh in? Uh, it is rather the green and and it’s all about the mental strength, isn’t it? Of of just standing over there and number one, accepting it. Number two, just not letting it distract from what you’re trying to do. Now Patrick’s got a little bit of mud on his ball, but not a not enough to make it really curve. And there you go. Right attitude. Great shot. Exactly. Thank you. And so the [Applause] difference is the look that Matt had in terms of contrasting attitudes as Matt saw what he was facing ahead. The best players embrace adversity. [Applause] Okay. So, 125 for Matt. Can use that back stop. [Music] So, there you go. It didn’t curve. It’s perfect. [Applause] Yeah, I’d complain too if I had it 8 ft from there. Well, Steve, what I’ve noticed is there’s there’s mud that gets on the ball, but it’s a smear. It’s not a big lump, so it it it barely makes a difference. Couldn’t agree more. Well said. Check out this close-up view. Now you see it, now you don’t. Make him play another one. on. John Brown will be the away man from 36 ft. And his putting has taken a big turnaround from the first five or so holes where he was losing strokes to the field, now gaining a half a stroke. Yesterday he made 114 feet worth of putts. Well, Shantel John was absolutely flammoxed there. He hit what he thought was a perfect wedge shot. He went with actually one less club and absolutely ripped it expecting it to hit into the back stop and roll back and he flew the black stop. Little perspective here at this 12th green for our group. John of course Arizona State University product. We even heard a little Sunundevil shout out earlier. A who doesn’t love the little ones? Go back there. What a trooper out in this humidity. Well, Steve, this will be one of the quickest breaking putts he’ll play all day. Look at this. He’s going to hit it out to the right fringe. Just get it tiptoe it along the top of this terrace and then it’ll come straight down to the left. So, it’s basically a 45° angle. I watched Terrell Hatton this morning with much the same putt. It turns his back completely to the flag stick and he point he’ll putt up toward the uh the fringe there, but gravity is such that you can’t possibly stop it short of the hole. So to hit this about 40 ft, he’s going to move it about 6 ft. This is fun. We’ll get behind him and watch her go by. [Applause] I think you had to play that into the fringe, didn’t you? Yeah. It’s just been a little bit of feast off famine for Rahm in the wedges. Here’s some phenomenal wedges and just some really poor wedges to miss his spots by a good 10 yards. 16 ft for Patrick Kentlay. Swings right to left the whole way. Take out the hat, daddy. What’s all that commotion out there, Gary? I was wondering much the same. It’s a lot of banging going on there. It’s not me. They building your new chateau. Might be Steve’s weekend place. Who knows? So, a similar pot here for Matt. I remember he made a 20 footer at the first. This would be his next best. Should he make it? To make this put, it’s got to go in at 3:00 on the dial. I would agree. 12 1/2 ft. Did he get it to three? [Applause] Under par. Tap for second. Jonathan Vegas, watch out. Matthew Pavon, Alex Smallley, Ryan Gerard, and now Matt Fitzpatrick climbing to six under. Miss an easy one, make a hard one. 7 and 1/2 ft for par for Rom. Pretty straight from here. Boy, [Laughter] Gary, what’s the most clever thing you’ve ever heard from the gallery? I’ve got a great one. So, we’re all very sick and tired of mashed potatoes and stuff like that. Yes. There was a young lady in Canada. Now, Canadians have a lovely sense of humor and knew I was English. I got steak and kidney pie as I hit it. It was a good one. Love that. I’m all about clever. That is well done. [Applause] Our humor is performed with a scalpel, not a sledgehammer. Yes. Clever. Well, thank goodness we’ve got Matt Fitzpatrick giving us some juice because we were a little worried what might happen. Patrick Kentley certainly not feeling like he’s making the weekend, but climbing to his share with second and only two bag from that leader Jonathan Vegas. We’ll see if anyone can sniff even seven or get to eight under par. Max Homa with that 64 puts him in solo six. Scotty Sheffler, first page of the leaderboard. Steve, yeah, the early players seem to have the advantage. The low scores thus far were early. Conditions don’t seem dramatically different though from this morning to now, but scores don’t reflect that. Here at the 13th, the par three today measuring 214 yards. This is a very difficult pole location to access at the top right part of the screen. But the good news, Steve, is it’s around the hole. Unless you go long, you can get it up and down. So if the club suits you and the flag suits your eye, I think maybe you know talking predominantly about Ram, I think you can take it on. That bunker is not terrible. Shortsided right is not terrible. It’s just long is the place you cannot miss it. 10 birdies here today and the longest of those came from 41 ft. That by Eric Vanroyan is on the left side of the green. We’ve seen a lot of long putts made thus far here at Quail. I know. Greens are absolutely perfect though. Again, Keith Wood and his staff have done a fabulous job. They double cut the greens in the morning and then roll them. And in the evening, they single cut the greens and roll them. Yes. So, what little breeze there is is downwind. 214 today. Just waiting to see if I can get that number thrown over there. Looks like a six iron. That’s the sign I’ve been getting. Good looking shot just left of the flag. [Applause] He’s starting to play some golf shots, Gary. Not just hit shots, but play shots. Here he is. That was a lower trajectory. Yeah. I mean, he had two clubs, so he he figured out that, you know, the in between shot. This is the club, and I’ll have to hit this type of shot to make it work. He didn’t hit it out full. He just kind of he shaped his shot. And I really am impressed with what he’s doing right now. This is a seven iron for Ram. I think this is one where I think he might go at this less club. He’s going to swing at it a little bit harder. Bring in a lot higher than Fitzpatrick. Trying to work it back to the right. A good looking shot. Excellent. The decision the decision to be aggressive on a shot is all always predicated by what happens if I miss mish hit it a little bit and the penalty for a short side isn’t terrible. So good point. I would imagine you know Camplay has to start making birdies. I think this will probably be a little bit more aggressive than he normally would be. He’s just got to He’s got to hang in there. He’s got to hang in there, doesn’t he? Cuz you got a driveable par four. You got a reachable par five coming up. If you can somehow steal one right here, all of a sudden you’ve got a chance to make this cut. That’s very aggressive, but I don’t know if he’s got it [Music] all. Couple of T-shot swings that paint the picture of this championship for Patrick Kentley on the outside looking in. You are watching second round coverage here at Quail Hollow. [Music] Good lord, the Womaker trophy is huge. The winner’s wife is going to kill him when he brings this thing home. [Music] [Music] You just love that man, Steve. I do. I love his voice. I want that gramly voice. Oh, having some fun here in the second round. We’re at the 13th hole of par three. Patrick Canley running out of some holes and once again not finding a green. But Matt Fitzpatrick, it has been fun to have a front row seat to this one. Now Patrick, I always think has this wonderful ability to add loft as he takes it back. Slide it under there. He does a great job from shortsided bunkers. Great shot there from Gway. Yesterday he was one for four with sand saves. Today two for three. Miscut at majors. So third lowest for players with 20 major starts over the last 40 years. And even though he hasn’t been in contention for some headscratching reason, at least he’s consistently played four rounds. Yeah. You look at his record and you look at how well he’s consistently played and then you say, “Why not in majors?” And who knows? John Rom’s only missed cut at a major in his last 20 starts was at this PGA championship last year. So just takes this little soft hump in the middle of the green, moves it right all the way. Jerry, what I’m impressed with is he hasn’t had his best stuff today, but he’s hung in there and he’s one under on his round. And you you figure that you know the weekend everything will tighten up and you know he’s 168 away from throwing himself right back into the mix, isn’t he? So it’s important these next five holes finish strong, get under par, you know, one maybe two under par from here and all of a sudden you’re going to be in a great shape come the weekend because you are going to be one of the blockbuster names on the leaderboard and people will see that name and and they will pay attention. This is 30 feet for Matt. A similar spot from where the longest putt came from for birdie. And so far through 12 holes, he’s made 70 ft worth of putts for perspective. It was a quick one, so he had to be defensive there. It’s a good pop. Heat. Heat. [Applause] kind of a cool story. Joe Lacava, obviously his bagman, who famously cattied for, of course, Tiger Woods as well, but Joe Lacava Jr., his son, on the bag for Joe Highmith in this field as well. So, Joe Squared, part of the PGA Championship this year. Plenty of fun talk about the 14th hole. Everybody’s got something to say about this drivable par4. Feels like 14 through 18 is the best stretch on this golf course. So, and it starts with a cold park for if the wind sort of pumping into left to right with that water over there on the left, it gets a little intimidating. I start with the pin position and then I kind of base my strategy off that. It really is just position and getting it in the right spot. The analytics would say that you would go for the green on 14 pretty much every time. Well, I still think it’s the right play and I feel like I’ve played the 14th hole pretty well over the course of my career here. Oh, yeah. Keep going. Nowadays, we get so much help from stats guys and the play is to bang it up there. It’s a good golf and if you want to win this tournament, you better pull up and hit some golf [Music] shots. I think this is my favorite hole here at Quail. It’s the true riskreward drivable par4. You heard the players just describe how they might play it. Flagstick today at the very top part of the green. If you miss it right, you may not be able to put it on the putting surface because everything slopes toward the lake behind the green. You’ll see as many players I think lay up today as they take a shot at Max Homer earlier today. I happened to watch it. Not only did he drive the green, he hit it two feet away. A bird tap in birdie. He do that though. Here’s the stats for this hole today. That one eagle courtesy of Max’s great play. Although yesterday our group was defying the odds. Yeah. And what little wind there is out here is helping just a little bit slightly left or right as well. It’s nowhere nowhere close to 6 or 7 miles. It’s about 2 or 3 miles an hour. So just a very gentle breeze. All right, Gary, you’re Mattie Fitzpatrick. Do you take driver or do you lay back and play for sure wedge to, you know, 10 or 12 feet at worst? Yeah, I think you hit driver. I mean, it suits his shape. He’s playing well. You know, the the last two drives have been pure. I I think you just you just keep going to the well here and if you hit in the water, you drop it out and try and make four the hard way. But, uh, I just get a sense that, you know, he’s starting to feel it and and you you know, you want to continue that that aggressive play and that positive play. He’s got driver in hand. So, we’ll see. Is there a group on the green? Yes, there is. Okay. Well, we talked earlier about Max Home. This is a player who has not been hitting the ball well and particularly not driving the ball well. He takes driver here and it never leaves the flag stick. You saw me posing on the tea with good reason. Watch the result. One for the ages. Yeah, Max has won at this campus, so to speak, before and his game has fallen off quite significantly. Made all kinds of changes, including with his longtime Caddy and he is performing today with that 64, I say. And he plays big ballparks well, doesn’t he? when you think the success at the farmers the genesis and here as well. So this is a golf course that really suits his eye. He had five miscuts in a row this season. Tell me that didn’t wear on you yet. T12 at the Masters and now in the conversation here. Scratch your head. [Music] We’re ready to go, Gary. Okay, so for faders, it looks like you got to take it right over the trees down this left side. For Matt, I think you’ll see this start about 10, 15 yards right at them and just play his shape. just steered away at the last minute there. So that is going to be up on the hill. That’s going to be tough to get it close. Looks like less than driver for Ram. Maybe set up from the drive-in today. I think normally would take driver over those [Music] trees instead of three went over the trees. I missed it enough. Should be fine. Okay, perfect. Now further down the hill it goes, the easier the second shot. Good play. Whether by design or accident. Well, Shantel, with the green mile looming, this is a mustie. And the next hole is a mustie as well. Needs to just move left just a little bit in the bunker. [Applause] Well, always some excitement at this 14th hole with the water water everywhere coming into the clubhouse. We’re following John Rom, Matt Fitzpatrick, and Patrick Hantley on ESPN Plus. our featured group coverage rolls on in the second round. [Music] This is where our group landed their drives compared to Well, you you’re getting nowhere if you’re gray in that water. But that one lonely yellow ball, of course, Max the lowest round today with a 64. Plenty of birdies out there. No surprise. 41 to count. [Music] Ryan Gerard hanging in there. Jonathan Vegas, the man at the top, eight under par. By the way, halfway through the last time we played a PG championship here in 2017, the 36 hole co-leaders were Kevin Kisner and Hideki Matsuyama. That co-lead was eight under par. And the winning score of course by Justin Thomas was eight under. And Kizner played well on this course, which you would suspect is not a great course for him. He’s not not even among the the mid-length player. He’s one of the shortest players on tour. Make it make sense. Matthew Pavon not necessarily top 20 in driving distance on tour. Not Alex Smallley either. No, that’s not Fitzpatrick. There’s not a prepoundonderance of long hitters. Now Johnny Vegas, he’s got power. He got power. He’s not known for being straight, but he’s straight enough this week. Gary, can you help us out with this equation here? I I would add add a caveat. Not yet the long hitters at the top of the leaderboard. Okay. And I still think over the course of four rounds it will equalize itself out because of that advantage. So it looks like one of those long hitters, John Ron first to go. Really nice angle here. So it’s just trying to pick the trajectory in the landing spot. So a low spinner. So check release. Oh, almost. Gary, is Fitzpatrick far enough back on that hillside that he can kind of go at that target or does he have to be very mindful of the fact that the ball could get away from him? Well, he he went all the way down to the flag. Look past the flag just to see the tilt past the hole. Yeah. The good news is you’re begging for a good lie from here. He’s got a good lie. It’s a relatively flat lie as well. So, the number one thing you need here is loft. You need to get the natural height just to soften it on that first bounce. And actually, where the ball will land is it’s pitched a little bit away from him, but not it’s not a huge slope that’s gonna, you know, just bounce and immediately release because the lie is actually pretty good. So, this is all going to be about height on the on the shot. If you can get the ball up in the air and just cushion it with that first bounce. He’s having what I call one of these what if conversations with his caddy. I think they’re certainly looking a little bit left. Gary, when’s the last time these players saw a leaderboard? They’re they’re dotted quite liberally around here. So, there was one, I believe, on the previous hole. So, the Caddies are always they’re always paying attention. Some players do, some don’t. So it looks like Matt, I think, is trying to hit it into that bowl and run it up onto the green. Yeah, that’s where he’s looking. So this one’s going to be left of the hole and just trying to take out any very bad result. Given how he stands at 6 under, I think that’s a good play and a smart play. It’s all about acceptance, isn’t it? You play aggressively. You got to accept the results and then deal with it from there. Live to fight another day. He didn’t get greedy here. I think a less experienced player would have played it entirely differently and with different results, too. All right, second shot here from the Greenside Bunker, Patrick Hanley. Pretty simple shot here. Just let the slope take it down. Okay, so there’s a good opportunity to make one birdie. A little close to that cut line. Go I go back to that shot, Steve, and I wonder being cross-handed if it’s just a little bit harder to naturally loft the ball up because you don’t have the hand action. I think that’s a lot of it there. That that lie to me looked like I think you could confidently hit a shot, I know, seven times out of 10 to a pretty scorable position just through height. And I I just wonder, you know, I was just trying to kind of replicate cross-handed trying to get the ball straight up in the air. It’ll be a lot more tricky, a lot more difficult. Good point. So now with that choice, now all of a sudden you bring three putt into play here. This is not an easy two putt by any stretch of the imagination. It goes uphill, downhill, then kind of flattens, then it comes downhill to the left at the end. So it’s a busy pup. Not sure. They may wave the group behind through. Yeah, there comes the wave from Matt. While he’s doing that, he’s going to pace out his pup just to kind of put a number to what he’s seeing. Cory Connors. We’ll start this hole. [Music] We’re about to go here. Minu is going to give this one a go. Shantel actually watched Minwise round take it right down that left tree line and just pitch it right on the front edge. It was quite fun to watch. He buried this hole yesterday after finding the right side greenside bunker and he made eagle at 15. Must be nice. Hold on. Ah, 5 m. Sit. It’s safe. Rasmus Hygard. [Applause] Well, it must be nice to fly at 340. I know it’s a little downhill. That was impressive. Right. You see all kinds of shots here at this little devilish hole. Devilish. Perfect word. yesterday. 12 water balls. Today so far, seven. Back to our group at the green. So, a little time for Matt to kind of just collect his thoughts. I think inside 4 here will be an exceptional putt. Steve, I’ll say 73 ft to the pin. That’s pretty darn good. John Braum now with 11 and 1/2 ft. This would be his first birdie on the back nine. Just gently moving to the left. Just I think it’s just on that right lip. Shantel a hot putter today would have made a big difference for John. He’s put himself in good spots, hasn’t he? Had some very, very makeable parts. But he also got away with some. He did indeed. They say it all evens out. It never seems to even out for me. Bill Barber used to say, “If it wasn’t for bad brakes, I’d have no brakes at all.” [Laughter] Eight feet for Patrick Kentley to somehow climb closer to the weekend. It’s 8 ft of must make footage here. booking that flight now. Gary, I believe. So, mentally that is difficult now knowing what you’ve got coming up and you just your game’s just not there. It’s you. It’s so frustrating for a world-class player such as Patrick to be searching and trying to find something the week of a major, especially after playing pretty decently last week. It’s a surprising performance this week. So, just inside four feet for Matt. Smart par. Smart par. Could have been a lot worse. Nothing like two putting from 75 ft. Played it safe. Got out of dodge. Two bogeies on the day. Five birdies for Matt Fitzpatrick who’s only two shots off the lead. And now he move on to the par five 15th. This is your last reasonable chance to make birdie come into the house. So you’ve got 16, 17, 18 coming up. None of which offer an easy birdie opportunity. But here, if you drive in the fairway, you can at least knock it up around the green. Some players today have knocked it on the green. Just put it in play off the tea and then go from there. Five Eagles makes this the second easiest hole. truck. They always say to pick apart the par fives. And here’s your evidence. The last truck is 285 cover on that line. I mean, that’s the line, isn’t it? That’s what I gang it up, right? So, just listening to the conversation there, I think they’re talking about just taking it down this left side. It’s 285 to cover the overhanging branch of the left trees. Once you get it past there, you get a good look at the green. You just want to keep it out of those bunkers to give yourself an opportunity to reach into that is found the bunker and you can only hope for a clean lie so you can advance it down the fairway. Gary, a little breeze picking up just enough. It’s gusting to 5 miles an hour now. So, it’s actually quite pleasant. I’m down right by the lake and it actually feels pretty nice coming off the water. Now, John, you didn’t hop in, did you? No, it would would be nice right now. Exactly. Now John is hoping for a better effort off the tea than the last two par fives. Left both times. It starts down the left. I think he’s done it again. That is a very very steep bank over there too, Gary. He took it over the trees, over the hump, and so he’s he’s foreshorted this par five. It all depends on the line now. He’s found only six fairways today. John Rom. Now Patrick. Eagle gives him hope. How about the live odds for Matt Fitzpatrick who is now on the first page of the leaderboard. two strokes off the pace to enter the tournament. Man, you had to feel pretty confident for this guy. 200 to1. He is now 12-1 to win the PGA Championship. Hit the green at the PGA Championship with ESPN Bet Sports Book. Start off the tournament with $100 in bonus bets when you make your first $10 wager. Download the ESPN Bet app and sign up with our promo code birdie to get started today. [Music] He’s about to hit one. If it’s Patrick, is it the 15 pole in a fairway trap? Okay. 5 4 3 2 one go. Welcome back to the 107th PGA that’s going on at Quail Hollow. I’m Joe Howlet. I’m over here at Frisco at the PGA bunker here inside. We see that Matthew Fitzpatrick is going to be he’s 280 yards out. He is going to probably hit a very standard or normal fairway bunker shot. This is a very difficult shot for most people because they try and become so exquisite and they just want to pick it perfectly and it just doesn’t work that way. But I tell you what, I’m going to let you take a divot in the bunker. You just got to take it on this side of the ball. Couple of things in your setup will help. We’re going to put the ball back. We’re going to get the handle forward. We’re gonna get the buttons forward and we’re gonna lean a little on our left. That’s how you get a ball out of a fairway bunker and take a divot. It’s not as tough as it sounds. Give it a try. Yes, sir. I am absolutely loving every minute of Joe Howlet action. He makes it look easy, doesn’t he? Oh, yeah. We’ll just separate these shots nice and simple and then you go do it on your own. Well, he did that demonstration because over here we’ve got Matt Fitzpatrick on the right side. Patrick Kentlay absolutely needs some magic coming in. He’s at five over par with the cut at plus two. And John Rom just hanging out literally on that left hand side in the rough. [Applause] I still want to want to make sure we have enough coverage. I still want to make [Applause] sure you know what I mean. Yeah, I think eight’s going to go. I [Applause] mean, if it’s going to there’s no if it’s going to go. That’s what That’s what I’m saying. Play out there and then that’s what I’m saying. I don’t like you know he’s going to go through. Exactly. Yeah. Okay. On that tree. Yeah. Yes. Steve, I think it’s certainly something to watch for Matt over the weekend. You notice that when there’s trouble left, he’s bailed out right. And for a draw of the ball, that’s quite unusual, isn’t it? Yeah, good point. This is smart here. Take plenty of loft. Find the fairway. Take your medicine. We couldn’t see where that ended up. Gary lost it as well there. He didn’t seem overly excited by it. I think he missed the fairway. Right. That’s not good. It appears so from the camera angle we did have. All right. Patrick Kentley needs a gem here from 257. Gary, the flag’s in a good spot for it. Flag back so you can pitch it on that front part, but that’s left. Not good there. Now I’m looking forward to this shot from John. Now John is immensely strong and I think you’re going to see some speed through the ball here because the ball is a spongy line. So you have to generate so much speed. 150 over the bunker in front of him. If it gets it over that it will run a long way. That’s well done. That’s a really good lead. Good shot. Well, I think I think Fitzpatrick’s going to be very frustrated to have not no legitimate look at birdie on the previous hole and now 130 yards away in some pretty thick rough and if he you know it’s another hole that he doesn’t And a good look at Birdie. It’s going to be I feel like a a couple of opportunities lost here. I’ll be interested to see what he can conjure up again. At least the flag’s in a good spot for something in the rough that you can release it back there. So, two shots back and based on the play we’ve seen this afternoon, doesn’t really feel like anyone’s going to sniff a 64. If he somehow manufactures par here and pars the rest of the way in, do you guys think six under will hold for share of second? Uh yes, absolutely. I can’t see any of the names below them that might scare me to think that they’ve got a chance to go low. Another look at the mucker shot. Thought he was playing it safe, but we will find out. It looked like a good third. Mhm. Steve, that that layup way right. Yeah, that layup is so hard because that water really pinches in right about the landing zone. So, at the last minute, you steer away from that. And we saw it yesterday, didn’t we? Where we saw a bunker shot off the tea, we saw the next shot in the right rough. So, it’s a really well-designed hole. If you hit a good shot, you can go for it in two. If you hit a poor shot, all of a sudden, that layup becomes difficult. Yeah. If you take on the water with anything less than a good lie, to your point, you know, if you catch a little bit heavy, you slip, you’re going to find the water. So Matt has walked up a good 60 or 70 yards because you’re semi- blind from down where he is. So just trying to get a picture. But as said the good news is he’s got, you know, a good 20 yards over the bunker up to the flag. So if you can just sort of just assume it’s going to release a little bit, you’ve got plenty of room to land it in. So the tree is no issue. He can go under those limbs and uh have a shot at the middle of the green maybe. That’s correct. Yes. It’s just that the nature of the lie. It’s just sort of nestled down and there’s grass wrapped around the ball. So, he’s going to need some speed through the ball here. Well, now the caddy’s going to have a look. That was usually the sign I was going to fire a caddy. Okay. Run up there. Run up that hill. Walk around in the bunker a bit more. Rake that a little bit more. Okay. It’s just not going to work out. Yeah. Which I want to be anyway. Now for me, 42. You want to pitch it 30? Yeah. I think it’s going to come out heavy. But you’ve got another one past it. Yeah, but anything anything over. No, but it’s going to stay right. This is going to stay right here. That’s what I’m saying. Yeah. I just don’t think that tower so much behind him. Yeah, but that might be my fault. I might not cover the front. That’s what I’m thinking. Yeah. Let’s do it. Smash. I’m just going to hit that in between shot. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Thanks. On that line we said. Yeah. I can almost feel the steam rising from John Ram waiting and waiting for his next pitch shot. It’s been a while. This has been far longer than 40 seconds. Let’s go Northwestern. What a shot. It was worth the wait. It was a good shot from there. I’ll say [Applause] [Music] not for nothing, but the LPGA has cracked out on slow play, boys. Good on them, you know, but it starts at the junior level, goes to the high school level, goes to the college level. College coaches are the worst. They slow down play all the time, trying to hang around with their player, trying to walk them through shots. Just let them go play. College golf is a doozy. Well, Tom Kim was saying that playing TGO actually helped him. He was really struggling earlier in the year, but to play on a shot clock absolutely helped him get back into the routine that he needed. Yeah. Baseball now has a pitch clock. It’s all fall the same. I think it’s good. Okay. Self-inforcing. And we’ve seen John hit a few of these shots and just maybe over spin it. Another shot. Bring it in low. Get it. Skip in twice and then put on the brakes. Overspun it again. It’s all about making those adjustments, isn’t it, Steve? Where you just It’s a pattern emerging now. Absolutely. Now, Patrick Haitley. It’s about all he had from there. Well, we began this second round with this group at 25 boys. Oh man, I know how Steve feels about that. And he’s not walking the course. It’s all right. We’ve just got 7/10 of a mile left by yardage. That is It just sends the wrong message. 28 ft from Matt Fitzpatrick. So when all said and done to get it to a spot you could take a birdie from was a really good result from the drive and the second shot and breaking left all the way. See if we can nick one here. Good pace. [Applause] Well, credit Matt uh Gary got out of position on the last two holes and walked away with two pars. So, no damage other than uh ticking off your playing partners. That’s another discussion for another time. Right. Let’s see if Can find a little something here. Maybe it’ll carry over to the next tournament. 25 ft. This would be something. I did not look at when we started playing this hole, but I should have. Door Dash should have gotten there quicker, says the guy who ate raisins out of the container with a spoon yesterday. Didn’t have time to prepare it. Took a shortcut. And you saw me on the spy cam. I sure did. And Giru is out there enjoying enjoying an uncrustable strawberry flavor. That’s a slam dunk right there. Let’s see if this birdie goes in for John Rom who I could feel the steam from here. 17 ft. Need a similar pardon on 11 and up and out of that early. Ah, frustration from Ram. [Applause] And now the fun begins as they go to 16. It’s time for the green mile and this is a notable three closing holes. They call it the green mile and it’s justified. I think it’s the toughest stretch of holes in the world. You have to hit perfect shots or you’re going to make bogeier much worse. You’re trying to sign for three pars. You know, if you get to sneak a birdie in, that’s an advantage. There’s nothing hidden. It’s right in front of you and you got to go execute. hit some golf shots. That’s for sure. When people come off this golf course, the last thing they remember is the last three holes and they think that green mile that keeps getting longer somehow. Even in perfectly calm conditions, every single shot is a test. [Music] It certainly lives up to its reputation, Steve. Yeah, JT Naylor. You just It lays in front of you. No tricks. Just boy, strap it on, hit five good full shots, and you can get through this gauntlet. They’ve changed the hole several times over the years, and usually when it gets longer and harder, I don’t like it. But boy, I like this. This screen just sits out on that lake. This infinity backdrop and you got to play a good drive to put it in play. If you hit it in the rough, chances are you can’t even put it on the green. Just a stunningly hard and pretty par4. Yesterday, a collective 64 overpar just at the 16th hole. Combined 171 over par throughout 16,7 and 18. [Music] Matt Fitzpatrick ready to go, Gary. Okay, good drive needed here. Let’s see if we can get something out of this. Play the last three. Great. Good start. I I do. Yeah, I think the hard draw. Yeah, I think it is. 288 covers that little tongue that comes out and just rid of the TV tire there. [Music] So, okay, right. Yeah, basically just straight regular. And a reminder, he’s only found six fairways today, John Rom, with this driver that Well, you could probably find some word to describe it. What would yours be, Steve? I can’t get a read. I really can’t. It’s taking on that bunker. All right. Actually hooked it back in play. Great shot. Maybe the best ride of the day, I’d say, Patrick Kentley. [Applause] [Music] You’ve gotten a front row seat to one of the best charges today. Matt Fitzpatrick has climbed up the leaderboard in a share of second. Six under par, but Jonathan Vegas at the top, eight under at the PGA Championship. [Music] [Music] The greens are green. The fairways are green. The jacket for a few of them is green. The mile is green. 16, 17, and 18 at Coil Hollow. The money they win for hitting a tiny white ball is green. The losers will be green with envy. And the winners will leave the green expanse of grass behind the gates of this place, reflecting in the mirrored sterling silver of a trophy, strapped into the front seat like a friend. Well, when you’re talking about slow play, lots of reasons to blame, Steve. Yeah, it’s a hard golf course. You drive it out of play and rough. It’s going to take a while. But gosh, you can still I had a guy that used to work for me. He nailed it. He said, “I can play poorly quickly. I thought you’d catch on to the turtle we’ve got here crossing the way. Oh, our green. My brain’s fried. Okay, apologies. It left me hanging. Gary, you out there doing turtle rescues today or is that uh your weekend job? I think the turtles moving about as slow as John Mcinness and I today out on this group. Come on, off you go. Yeah, at least you’re in for some good wine after this round. Yeah, quite potentially. Okay, that So, that’s obviously a soft shell turtle. One of them got in a bunker yesterday and they had to bring a ground crew in because the tur the turtle burrowed into the face of the bunker. I could see how that would be a problem. Mhm. Now back to the golf. Although we love the wildlife and so does little Serena watching at home. Our producers’s little one Patrick Canlay. So thick line. This is going to knuckle and run. Oh, it’s so close to being perfect. It needed one bounce left. Really good from there. I think I think if you’re Patrick, you just set yourself a little goal. Let’s see if we can play the green mile even par. I think that’ll be something just to, you know, show you still got some fight and you’re still trying as hard as you can. You play those three even par, you can be proud of yourself. 211 here for Fitzy. So beautiful view down the hill. Just saw Patrick lead his back swing, so had him move. Just look. I think 15 ft left of this flag. Pitch a little short. That’s tugged left, Gary. Uh, needs a soft bounce. Soft. It runs off the edge here. Okay. This is awesome. Is a turtle a tio? Gary, huh? I’ll have to ask one of our PGA of America officials here. [Music] All right. Ovation for the turtle who’s left the dance floor. And now John Ram. So after the big drive, John with an opportunity to be aggressive here down the hill from 178. Be a nine I think for John. Oh, that was one of the freest swings of the day there. This is a great looking shot. Oh, too good. He was holding that pose. 50 ft. That’s his proximity number today. And that is not good. There’s the reaction. How did I hit it that good? Pass the flag. So 161 17 18 we can’t talk about it enough. Yesterday, Patrick Canley had a mess of a day, but that included a bogey at the closing hole and so did it for Matt Fitzpatrick. But John Rob managed his way through the green mile. All pars [Applause] really. I’m on this feature group. I like that pretty good. Hope he’s the way to go. This is where things stand. Yeah, Kenny got lucky. Just missed the bunker on the right. Ron right over the flag stick. disappointed with the outcome. Bitsy pulled or tugged is second, missed the turtle. He’s okay. [Music] Chantel, I go back to we’re talking about the proximity for John Rama. I’d certainly notice every time he’s gone after it, the distance control has been difficult. every time he’s taken a little bit off it, it’s been pretty much spot on. And it’s just sometimes you get caught in between yardages. You just have those rounds where you just have awkward numbers and you’re just trying to figure it out. And maybe tomorrow it will be a little bit few more comfortable ones. Keley going first. Well managed. [Applause] But he has hit some absolutely predigious distances, hasn’t he? With his short irons. That one on 12. I still can’t believe how far that went. Hey, you know what? What’s going on? Thanks for being time efficient here. We showed you the leaderboard. Scotty Sheffller, four under par. He’s made three bogeies or excuse me, three birdies today. One bogey, most recently coming at the 14th as he begins the par five 15th. And so four under is good for a share of seventh right now. Cut looks like one over. Maroy paired with Sheffller is even for the championship playing the par five 15. They’re right behind our group. Now it looks like the cut has moved to two. Yeah, I’m seeing two over. Yeah, there are 68 players at plus one. So, we could go either way. They played that discipline. Well, he had a great lag putt on 14. That’s pretty good from down there on set 16. [Applause] crazy to think Matt Fitzpatrick 85th in the world and John Rom 82nd in the world for a former number one player player in the world. Spent 52 weeks there. John’s got one of those parts from right behind the hole about 6 ft right would have been a dead straight putt. He’s just going to catch the side of this little spine and runs down the middle. So this moves moves left the whole way. His wife standing right there. All right, knock it in. Bogey free on the back nine and five ft to keep that intact. That one certainly got away from him, didn’t it? I didn’t see that one have that much pace to it. So, it should be a pretty straight part from here. [Applause] He’s had to grind on some holes. Only the long bog get two. Otherwise, a very clean card. Well, Steve, I get a sense that John will look at this round and say, you know, assuming you finish half decently, I didn’t get anything really out of this round and I’m still within touch in distance. So I think he knows that his game is very very close. There wasn’t much of a difference between shooting just under par and maybe four or five under par. Well [Applause] said. We showed you where Scotty Sheffller sits on the leaderboard. Let’s show you how he got there. Third hole, some distance to the cup. He kept it going. Man, he gets a lot of B for the putter. But when you’re inside of 15 ft on a regular basis, you can’t make them all. But he was making plenty today. [Music] [Applause] Great bucker shot there. Playing alongside Rory Moy who needed to make a run. Second hole, he picked up his first birdie of the day from right here. Seventh hole, another birdie. Tada. Huh. Interesting color he’s got on. Steve burn orange. [Applause] Birdied seven, birdied eight and the 10th from off the green. Play two great shots there. Two put birdie. [Music] He bogeied the 11th and the 12th. 14th hole though, another one. So yesterday he shot a 74. He began today three over par for the tournament. He now sits at even. And Shantel he has a kick in birdie at the 15th awaiting him. Got to eat up those par fives. He loves this place. Rory’s Playground. And man, what a roller coaster ride. Everybody going crazy on the Rory train coming in. Maybe some fell off yesterday, but they’re back. All right, last par three of the day. Move the T markers left and up. Flag sticks front left. Only 185 yards. That doesn’t mean it’s easier. It just may be a little bit more accessible. Second hardest hole of the day. The green mile taking names. And another lag part needed for Fitzpatrick. You like less than the number? No, I think it’s very similar to the shot you hit on the last hole, honestly. Rombo. Okay. Yep. I think it’s the same thing. So I was talking to a Marshall that common club today has been on a time might be squeezing that nine again. 175 carries the water downhill just about 5 yards. Ball is traveling a long way today. getting very lucky. He’s left in the flight. That’s what he’s concerned about. Stayed up. Yeah, Ru is right. One hand finish for Patrick Hley. [Music] work to do, but man, this green mile certainly living up to the hype. Second hardest hole. That’s where we’re at now to take you into the clubhouse with our featured group on ESPN Plus. [Music] Welcome back to the 107th PGA Championship at Quail Hollow. I’m Joe Howlet here in Fris to talk a little about something you’re going to see in that green mile. You’re gonna see a lot of chip shots. There’s one common characteristic you see with the best short game people in the world, coaches and players alike. The swing tends to go from high to low. If you’re struggling with your chipping, you may be going low to high, which brings out all kinds of interesting shots. Will almost always allow you to try chipping again on the next one. Watch what you see out of the heavy rough John Rom who’s going to be in there. High to low. Keep the club head below the hands. Keep it low and your score will stay low. Helpful tips. So good to have Joe Howlet with us the whole way. PGA of America teaching professional Patrick Kentlay. Man, it’s just been one of those rounds, Steve. Yeah, he’s ready to get to the house, get home, spend the weekend trying to figure out what’s going on with his game. All of these guys are very prideful. They don’t like to play like this. They’re a little bit embarrassed, honestly. And the trend continues. Not in terms of the major cuts made for this guy, but just not in the mix at majors. We mentioned earlier 42 top fives on the PGA Tour. 42. Only two top fives in major championships. Scary. I don’t believe this. Really hard to wrap your head around that. Well, it it is because he’s such a complete player. That’s uh that’s the hard thing. So, you know, now you you start to think it it’s it’s a mental thing that you that’s just a hump you got to get over. And I get a sense when he does. He’s been in contention a few times in major. You know, he had a a good finish at the US Open last year. So, he understands what it’s all about. He’s just got to get himself in position. Now, this is a really difficult chip for John Ram. Grass going back into him. So, watch how steep and long the back swing is. So just like Joe said, short the follow through is just dump it up onto the surface. That was pretty good from that grass growing into him. Such a difficult shot. Glad to be there in two after that T- shot. Matt Fitzpatrick. Two strokes off the lead. Long way here for birdie, but he’s only had one top 10 since winning that US Open. Brookline. It’s another tough one, isn’t it? You know, a lot of the time you you win that first major and your expectations go through the roof and it’s so hard and you’re not getting the results and your expectations are not matching what you’re getting. So hopefully this will be the start of good things again this weekend. So another similar part to the one he had on 14. Long long way away for the first half and then slightly downhill to the right. And once again, he has accomplished it beautifully. Well done. That’s fabulous. Gary, to your point, I’ve worked for years with Ian Baker fans, we became great friends. And he said after he won the 91 Open, he thought he had to get longer. So, he tried to get longer. And the result speaks for itself. Matt Fitzpatrick. I’ve seen great putting today gaining almost two strokes on the field with a putter and so far in this tournament almost two and a half strokes. Now Kentlay I always think it’s fascinating. So, Patrick Hentley just way out of the story line and from bad to worse, the dynamic of a group, these are all world class players. But for John Rom, the kind of personality he has, the pace of play that he likes along with Matt Fitzpatrick who’s two off of the lead. I mean, how does that all sync up personalitywise out there, Gary? Well, I think right now it’s all just they’re so focused on just one shot at a time. You just kind of throw everything out. And this is this especially these last three holes, you got to just execute shot after shot after shot and it’s just keep digging deep. So up the hill here from just over 7 ft for John. This should be a heck of an up and down. Well done. [Applause] And another look and a tap in bogey for Patrick. Well, Shantel, as with St. Alabama with Matt Fitzpatrick’s leg pattern, his yonder has been just about perfect today. I’m picking it up after 35 years. The corary to that Gary is his distance was good but his tors were off. Exactly. [Music] Well, if you’re just joining us, let’s show you the magic of Matt Fitzpatrick. It didn’t feel like anything super sexy, Steve, but the boring golf works. kicking it off at the first. Yeah, he made Birdie the first, Bogey the second. And here’s the third. Another shortage putt for Birdie, which he converts. [Applause] [Music] And here’s the seventh. Yeah, a beautiful second shot to there. Almost over for Eagle. [Applause] Bunker work on display at the 10. Two good shots found the green side bunker and excellent bunker shot led to another bird. Well, he did not like seeing this ball, but he didn’t have a problem with it. No, he didn’t. So much for mud balls being an issue. Another birdie there. And that was once this went in at the 12th. Toughest read he had today. Read it beautifully. Stuck it even better. At 3:00 like you called. Five birdies on the scorecard today for Matt Fitzpatrick. Climbing a six under par. Matthew Pavone posting a 65. Scotty Sheffller at five under with Max. See Wu Kim just made an ace. Michael Torbjornson in a share of seventh. Four under includes Christian Badenho and Ryan Fox. the last man in the field winning at Myrtle Beach last week on a tear, my man. All right, hold your breath. It’s the 18th. If you have not been driving the ball well and come to this 18th hole, you’ve got double trouble. Penalty area, that creek to the left, bunker and woods to the right. You can have a two-way miss here. You can hit a pretty good T-OT and not find the fairway. Hang on. Just drifted down that right side. That bunker’s not bad. Oh, that’s a great bounce. It looked like to me just in the Can’t tell whether it made the second cut or not. Looked like he got that little kick left into the slope, didn’t it? It might just be over that slope in decent position. It’s a fearsome final hole, isn’t it? Is it ever? There is no place to miss. That’s the way it should be in a major. If you’re going to earn something, you’re going to have to earn it by hitting two great shots. That’s drifting as well. He overcut that one. 18th hole today. Playing a half a stroke overpar. Gary only 10 birdies found today. 38 bogeies, 21 doubles, one other. It’s very very easy to do because you can be out of position on the first shot and you can very easily get out of position on the second shot as well. That’s hugging the left side. That might be ideal there. When you’re not going to make the cut, this is an easy T- shot. I think you might be right there. No sweat. [Music] They’re coming into the clubhouse. Turtles, birds, birdies. Well, Matt Fitzpatrick found enough to get his name into contention. We’ve got our featured group coverage wrapping up soon, but stick with us for the closing hole in the green mile. [Music] Oh, look. [Music] the players are doing math now. Trying to figure out the cut line. Teetering on the edge. God, that’s so bad. Pride on the line. He’s putting his weekend on the line with his shot. And lots of money, too. That’s going to end up wet. This is the second round of the PGA [Music] Championship. Current cut line now at plus one. 73 players right there. Sweating it out. Patrick Kentley, he won’t be here. Xander Schoffé doing his absolute best to stay on this list. 12 consecutive made cuts and right now he is right at that number after making birdie at the par 515th. That brought him to plus one. So it is crazy to follow these storylines. Teddki Matsyama unfortunately on the outside of this equation, Steve. And for the best players in the world, no guarantees, weakness is exposed. That’s true. You got to bring your best here. I think when we have a minute, a real shout out to Johnny Harris and all the folks at Quail Holler for allowing this major championship to be hosted here. They’ve done a great job. They’ve opened their arms, done a fabulous job. Keith Wood, his superintendent, and all of his staff have done a fabulous job of presenting a golf course that early in the week looked like we might have some major issues, but that has not been the case. It has held up to the test. It has been more than a fair test. No, it’s been all like a 50 shot. Yeah. 53 hole coming. The key is just keeping it right of it, right? See, seeing it land in the middle of that hard 109. Yeah. Yeah. One. All right, buddy. Let’s see. Two basically identical T- shots for Fitzpatrick and Ram. Ram got the slightly heavier light. Got that back stop behind this hole he can use to slow it down. Just want to take the force run out of play. 161 hit as hard as he could to hit it as high as he could. Really good shot from there. Saw a lot of speed through that ball, didn’t you, for Ram? And that was because of the line. Now Fitzpatrick has got a a less heavy line. The grass is going with him a little bit. So he might be able to be a little bit more aggressive from 160. Let’s go. Yeah. Yeah. [Music] What a wonderful shot there. It’s exactly what he was trying to do there. Just use that back slope to slow it down. It’s really, really well played, guys. He’s missed only three greens this round. Yeah, he’s played well. And when he’s got out of position, remember 14, number 15 here. He’s played in the middle of the green, he’s played safe. Uh, I think he’s played a very mature round of golf. Now, what’s the bet in after such a poor day that Countly makes birdie on the last hole? There we go. Pin high. Roll that in and say, why didn’t we do that a few holes earlier? We’ll go back to 2017, the last time we saw Quail Hollow at a major. And this one lives on YouTube, the viral clips, social media. I mean, effortless beauty right there. Got a young looking ROM coming up here. I’m twotime major champion reached world number one in 2020 and maybe just maybe he’ll make a charge this weekend. I have to admit, I miss watching him play. You can watch him on live. I miss watching him play on the PGA Tour. Well, for as much criticism as he’s received last year, he did miss the cut at this major. He did not play in the US Open because of an injury at the open at top 10 and this year at the Masters T14. He’s got a lot of game. Anytime you win two majors, you got to tip your hat to the quality of the play. He likes to compete. He’s fun to watch. He’s exciting. And he does it his way. You’d never teach that kind of swing again. And yet it works very well for him and he hadn’t made any effort to change it. That’s what I admire about him. So just breaking left all the way here. A little bit downhill that second half. All in all, a solid round of golf and not too far off the top of the leaderboard. Certainly within touching distance. Well done. made the most out of his round today. Didn’t have his best stuff off the tea, but he held it together. That’s what the good ones, the great ones, I should say, do hard fault round of 70. Yeah, mixed bag. Driver going both ways. Couple of nice birdies there right when you need them at seven and eight. and some par saves to really help him hang in there. Actually had a little smile for his caddy. So I think that sort of reinforces what we’re talking about. He knows that that’s about as good as he could play today. So this not just for birdie, but to get to seven under that would be solo second and just one off the pace of Jonathan Vegas at eight under. Last group tomorrow too. It’s a speedy one here, Steve. Downhill. It starts to move right. I don’t like And finally, Patrick Canley can’t wait to finish this up. [Applause] back to back rounds of 74. Yeah, that uh will be his first mis cut in a major since the PGA Championship in 2022 at Southern Hills. So Matt Fitzpatrick, just two feet here. And that would be his best round carded at a major since all the way back to the 2023 Open Championship, a 68 today. Well, for a guy who’s called his game quote rubbish and said it’s the worst he’s ever played, the lowest he’s ever felt, he has found something on the biggest stage here at Quail Hollow. Extremely impressive round from Matt Fitzpatrick, a 68. And he is in a share of second place heading into the weekend with a few groups left on the golf course at Quill Hollow. Thanks for watching ESPN Plus feature group coverage of the 2025 PGA Championship for Steve Melnik, Gary Christian. I’m Chantel McCabe. A big thanks to our crew for all their hard work from start to finish. Thanks for joining us. Catch our coverage tomorrow for round [Music] three. It’s the PGA Championship, a tournament where legends and long shots both have shined. Can it be? Yes. Add that one to PGA Championship lore. Oh, he’s done it. Coverage continues on ESPN and ESPN Plus. [Music] [Music]
