Scheuffele holds on to PGA C’ship lead as Scheffler scripts a bounce-back

Tokyo Olympic champion Xander Scheuffele kept his nose ahead of the field on a chaotic day for golf at the 106th PGA Championship in Louisville, Kentucky, with event favourite Scottie Scheffler beginning his day in handcuffs and ending it three strokes behind the leader.

As reported on Friday, Scheffler’s arrest by Louisville Metropolitan Police saw him briefly behind bars before being released, by which time the world number one had spent time in his holding cell going through a warm-up routine. He would come back to Valhalla Golf Club in time to catch a delayed tee-off and promptly put the focus back on his golf.

“I did spend some time stretching in a jail cell. That was a first for me,” Scheffler said after signing off on a remarkable 6 under par 66, given the circumstances.

“I was just sitting there waiting and I started going through my warmup. I felt like there was a chance I may be able to still come out here and play. I started going through my routine and I tried to get my heart rate down as much as I could today. I was fortunate to be able to make it back out and play some golf today.

“I feel like my head is still spinning. I can't really explain what happened this morning. I did spend some time stretching in a jail cell. That was a first for me.”

Scheuffele shot a 3 under 68 on Friday to hold the clubhouse lead with 17 players still to complete their second rounds after a start delayed by the accident outside the event venue that took the life of security volunteer John Mills. By the time play was suspended, though, past winners Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson had been eliminated, finishing well below the projected cut line of 1 under par 141 along with former Masters winner Jon Rahm.

If the cut is applied at 141, it will be the lowest number in the PGA Championship, below the level par line in 1995 at Riviera, in 2006 at Medinah and 2018 at Bellerive.

Second-placed Collin Morikawa (66-65) was a stroke behind Schauffele (62-68) on 11 under 131, while Indian-American Sahith Theegala (65-67) was third on 10 under 132 with five birdies and one bogey marking his second round card. Scheffler (67-66) was tied for fourth with Bryson DeChambeau (68-65), Thomas Detry (66-67) and Mark Hubbard (65-68) on 9 under 133s while defending champion Brooks Koepka (67-68) shared 12th place on 7 under 135.

DeChambeau is the best-placed from a strong LIV Golf contingent that started with 16 entrants at the PGA Championship, and will see at least 11 of them go through to the money rounds. Last month, he shared the second day lead at the Masters before finishing tied for sixth place.

Defending champion Koepka was on 8 under while Lucas Herbert shot a 67 to finish on 6 under alongside Dean Burmester who had two holes left to play in a bogey-free second round. The other LIV players are Cameron Smith (4 under), Patrick Reed (3 under), Tyrrell Hatton and Martin Kaymer (2 under), and Dustin Johnson, Joaquin Niemann and Talor Gooch, each making the cut on the number at 1 under.

Japanese superstar Hideki Matsuyama was the leading Asian in the field on 7 under 135 (70-65), while Joohyung Kim lost his overnight top-five placing and drop to tied 22nd with a second-round level par after opening with a 5 under 66 on Thursday.

With his remarkable 66 on Friday, Scheffler now has 42 consecutive rounds at par-or-better starting with his level par 70 at the 2023 Tour Championship, but as he put it, “My sympathies go out to the family of Mr. Mills. I can't imagine what they're going through this morning. My situation will get handled. It (Mills’ death) truly puts everything into perspective.”