US PGA hit by violent storms
There was one lonely Swede at the top of the US PGA Championship leader-board at the end of day one at Whistling Straits, Wisconsin. Sitting pretty in second place on 5-under par, David Lingmerth was completely surrounded by Aussies and Americans. The 28-year old was just one stroke behind leader Dustin Johnson (USA) and one ahead of the chasing 8-man pack. The stage looked set for an exciting second round. It was certainly interesting, although “frustrating” would sum it up better for many.
Just as the US PGA’s own weatherman had predicted, violent storms hit the course in Kohler on the edge of lake Michigan on Friday and play was suspended. But not before the Aussies had made their move.
Aussies on the rise
Jason Day, who played so admirably in The Open narrowly missing the play-off at St Andrews, and fellow countryman Matt Jones, now lead the 97th US PGA Championship on 9-under par with respectively four and six holes to play. While Lingmerth managed to complete his second round shooting a 2-under par, 70 to become leader in the clubhouse on 7-under.
Spieth strikes back
Justin Rose, who enjoyed his first Major victory in 2013 when he won the US Open, is also right there in the mix adding some English flavour to the top-10 in third spot. With still one hole to play, he is 5-under for the day and 8-under for the tournament. For the rest at this mid-way stage of round two the leader-board is highly glossed with stars and stripes. World number two Jordan Spieth is among them. The 21-year old US Masters champion is safely in the clubhouse on 6-under par after a holed bunker shot at the 18th hole (his 9th) kick-started his round of 67 on Friday.
A rather frustrating deja-vu for the world’s best golfers in the last Major of the year. The same players had to be very patient in Scotland last month when the Open Championship was blighted with great deluges of rain on day two and then hurricane-like winds on the Saturday. Play was suspended on the Old Course at St Andrews several times for several hours resulting in a rare Monday finish to The Open. Indeed, last year in the US PGA at Villahalla GC in Kentucky won by Rory McIlroy, there was also a rain delay of nearly two hours hampering the final day of play.
Sleep like a rose …
When second round play resumes at seven o’clock this morning in Wisconsin (14.00 hours Amsterdam time), English fans will be hoping that Justin slept like a rose. He’ll certainly be needing the shut-eye as it could be a very long day on Saturday. Rose needs to play just one hole (the 18th) to finish his second round, then he will have to wait until the rest of the field have completed their second rounds. After a break of thirty minutes round three will commence. It will be a nail-biting day with the cut now predicted a little higher at two over par.
Wendy Hoad
Photograph: Jason Day.