Lucas Herbert remains Australia’s strongest contender at the PGA Championship, shooting a 67 in the second round to move to six-under and in a share of 16th place.
Herbert, who received a special invitation to the event and had a two-under 69 in the opening round, recorded a hat-trick of birdies along with another that was immediately cancelled out by a bogey on the front nine on Saturday.
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“I felt like I got off to a solid start through the front nine. Obviously, a good finish there with birdie in the last three holes,” Herbert, who sits six shots behind leader Xander Schauffele, said.
“Sort of put me in some good momentum for the back nine where you weren’t really scrambling to make cut anymore. You were trying to work your way up the leaderboard heading into the weekend.
“I didn’t think I hit my three-wood and five-wood too well today so heading to the range right now to figure that out but predominantly for the rest of the bag I was pretty happy with things.
“Scrambled really nicely, holed out really nicely from sort of three to eight feet again. So yeah, that’s given me the opportunity to be in the position I’m in now.”
Scheffler on “stretching in a jail cell” | 02:54
Herbert holds a three-shot lead over Australian trio Cameron Smith, Jason Day and Min Woo Lee, who are all tied for 29th at four-under.
Lee delivered plenty of highlights on Saturday, chipping in three shots including one from the long rough left of green on the 16th, although he said he would prefer not to find himself in that sort of position.
“I think my iron play needs to be a bit better,” Lee said.
“Again, the chip-ins were great. Iron play wasn’t that good. Made up for it with the chipping.
“Just got to lock in with the irons a bit more. I’ll go to the range later and try to figure it out.
I think to win or play well at these events, you’ve got to hit it good.
“You’ve got to hit it in the right spots, which I did better than yesterday. I’ve been driving it really well and putting well. Hopefully the irons co-operate, and low scores.”
Unfortunately Australian duo Adam Scott and Cam Davis did not make the halfway cut, having finished the day three-over and seven-over respectively.
Everyone is chasing Schauffele though, with the third-ranked America chasing his first major title and backing up his historic 62 on Friday with 68 on Saturday to sit at 12-under.
He has a one-stroke lead over Collin Morikawa, who shot 65, with Sahith Theegala third on 132 after a 67.
There are four players tied for fourth including Bryson DeChambeau and world number one Scottie Scheffler, who put a dramatic morning behind him to hit a five-under par 66.
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Scottie Scheffler led away in HANDCUFFS | 01:21
TEE TIMES AS FOG DELAYS PLAY
A handful of players still need to finish their second rounds, after the action was halted the previous evening due to darkness. They were set to restart their rounds at 9.15pm AEST, but heavy fog delayed the resumption of play.
The third round is now scheduled to begin at 1.17am AEST, with tee times and pairings only finalised once the final groups finish their second rounds (and the cut is made).
PGA CHAMPIONSHIP: TOP OF THE LEADERBOARD
1: Xander Schauffele -12
2: Collin Morikawa -11
3. Sahith Theegala -10
T4: Bryson DeChambeau -9
T4: Thomas Detry -9
T4: Scottie Scheffler -9
T4: Mark Hubbard -9
AUSTRALIANS IN ACTION
T16: Lucas Herbert -6
T29: Cameron Smith -4
T29: Jason Day -4
T29: Min Woo Lee -4
T108: Adam Scott +3 — cut
T133: Cam Davis +7 — cut
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