Rd. 2 notebook: LIV Golf stars lurking after 36 holes at PGA

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Eight LIV Golf players have reached the weekend at the PGA Championship, each one seeking his first Wanamaker Trophy. Rallies will be necessary to make up deficits, but given the unlikely leaderboard that has developed after the first two rounds at Quail Hollow, Saturday’s moving day promises to be interesting for any player making the cut.

LIV Golf’s two reigning “major” champions are the highest-placed players among the eight left standing, with U.S. Open champion Bryson DeChambeau and Senior PGA/U.S. Senior Open champion Richard Bland each at 3 under, leaving them in a tie for 17th, five shots off the lead held by Jhonattan Vegas.

DeChambeau shot a 68 on Friday to climb into the mix, but he’s eyeing an even lower score Saturday.

“I think a 65, 64 is out there,” said the Crushers GC captain. “I almost shot it out there today and I definitely saw it out there. I just didn’t accomplish it.”

Legion XIII captain Jon Rahm shot his second consecutive 1-under 70 and is at 2 under and tied for 27th. After two workmanlike rounds, he likes the position he’s in. He just hopes to play the first six holes at Quail Hollow better than he has the first two days, in which he’s a collective 3 over.

“Hopeful going into the weekend,” he said. “Only six shots back. If I can start the first six holes a little bit better than I’ve played them thus far, make a few birdies, get the round going and post something around 3-, 4-under … I don’t think that’s too much to ask.”

His Legion XIII teammates Tom McKibbin and Tyrrell Hatton are each at 1 under, along with Torque GC Captain Joaquin Niemann, the current LIV Golf points leader.

Said Hatton after his 2-over 73 on Friday: “I need to have two very good rounds without putting a foot wrong. I've had some decent scores around this course in the past, so yes, I can go out and play a decent round of golf and ultimately that's what I'm hoping that I'll be able to do this weekend.”

Fireballs GC teammates Sergio Garcia and David Puig are each at 1 over and tied for 62nd. Garcia bounced back from his opening 75 to shoot a 3-under 68.

Of the top 35 players on the leaderboard, just six have won majors, including DeChambeau and Rahm. The only two major winners in the top 16 are Matthew Fitzpatrick and Scottie Scheffler.

“Obviously the usual suspects are not right there right now,” Bland said.

Added Rahm: “I don't really ever think about how many major champions are out there, so I couldn't tell you if this is normal or not.”

No matter what, the door seems wide open entering the weekend.

SCORES AFTER TWO ROUNDS

''WEIRD BREAKDS" FOR DECHAMBEAU: Bryson DeChambeau calls them “weird breaks.” Most have not gone his way through the first 36 holes of this week’s PGA Championship. In fact, when asked to come up with breaks that have benefitted him at Quail Hollow Club, DeChambeau struggled to provide an example.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “I wish I could say there was.”

Fortunately for the Crushers GC captain, the negative breaks have thus far not proved fatal. His 3-under 68 in Friday’s second round leaves him at 3 under entering the weekend, just outside the top 10.

It’s the first time in the last five majors played on U.S. soil that he hasn’t been inside the top 4 after 36 holes. Even so, he’s in excellent lurking position to attack a leaderboard that’s not exactly overflowing with big names.

In fact, when DeChambeau finished his round in the early afternoon, he was the highest-placed major winner on the leaderboard. He’s hoping that pedigree and experience will come into play this weekend as he chases his third career major and first PGA Championship title.

But he’ll need to go lower than he has the first two rounds.

“I've just got to have my putting a little more on and keep playing the way I am,” he said. “It easily could be 7-, 8-under right now, or I could be even par. So just keep moving along. I think a 65, 64 is out there. I almost shot it out there today and I definitely saw it out there. I just didn't accomplish it.”

The weird breaks played a factor.

After opening his round with a birdie at the par-5 10th, DeChambeau was hoping to add another at the drivable par-4 14th. His tee shot ended up in the greenside bunker, but the lie made getting up-and-down nearly impossible.

“A weird bunker lie,” he explained. “It was on a little bit of a downslope in the front of the bunker.”

At the par-4 second, he suffered his first bogey of the day after his tee shot finished in the pine straw. “Thought I hit a perfect drive,” he said. “Just aimed it too far left and caught the trees.”

Then on his final hole, the ninth, his tee shot bounced into the rough on the left-hand side, pushed just enough by the wind. The time the lie was OK with the ball sitting up, but DeChambeau hit too far underneath and came up short of the green.

“I just went under it a fraction and it hit the top of the face and came out dead,” he said. “Really regret not just spending 10 more seconds to look at it and go, OK, I need to choke down a little bit on that second shot.”

But if there’s such a thing as making your own luck, DeChambeau is hoping to change this weekend.

“Just weird golf stuff,” he said. “It happens all the time. Hopefully I get a couple more breaks tomorrow.”

BRYSON’S DISTANCE: DeChambeau not only is leading the field in driving distance with a 345.6 yard average, he’s more than 18 yards longer than the second-rated player on the list, Xander Schauffele. DeChambeau’s longest drive is 362 yards, tying for second on the list behing Nicolai Hojgaard’s 366-yarder.

RAHM’S PAR STREAK: Legion XIII Captain Jon Rahm bogeyed his second hole Friday, produced consecutive birdies at the seventh and eighth holes, and then … 10 consecutive pars to end his round of 70.

That’s not necessarily a bad thing, and it certainly kept Rahm within striking distance entering the weekend.

“If you play the last 10 holes like that at even par, you're not losing strokes in the field,” he said. “The way I played them, I had enough birdie opportunities to maybe play them under par. You can never be disappointed by just shooting under par in general.”

BLAND HANGING IN: Bryson DeChambeau leads the field in driving distance through two rounds with a 345.6 yard average. His fellow LIV Golf competitor Richard Bland ranks in the bottom 10 in that category with a 276.3 yard average.

Yet both are at 3 under after two rounds, which says a lot about how the 52-year-old Englishman is managing his game on a long golf course.

“I knew the length that it’s playing, I’ve got to bring my best stuff,” said Bland, in the field this week as the reigning Senior PGA Champion. “Haven’t quite done that, but it’s trending in the right direction.”

The Cleeks GC star bounced back from two early bogeys on Friday to shoot a 2-under 69, playing the last 14 holes in a bogey-free 3 under. He’s made the cut for the sixth time in nine career major starts.

Asked whether it’s the tee shot or his second shot that is most difficult at Quail Hollow, Bland replied: “I’ve got to drive the s--- out of it around here and then still be good with my medium irons. “A lot of guys are probably hitting into par 4s maybe 8- or 9-irons and I’m hitting 7- and 6-irons. If the flags get a little tucked, it makes it difficult to play really aggressive. So I’ve got to kind of pick my moments really.”

This week he’s using a 9-wood for the first time in his career, replacing his 4-iron. It’s a club he can use for shots around the 225-yard range. Thus far, it’s served him well.

“It’s not a club that we’ll have in the bag every single week,” he said. “… It’s just a good club to have that you can switch in and out whenever you need it.”

Next week he’ll defend his Senior PGA title at Congressional. Having a chance to defend the first of his two senior major wins has him fired up but for the next 48 hours, he’ll focus his attention on making as much noise this weekend.

McKIBBIN’S MAJOR PREP: Northern Ireland’s Tom McKibbin is playing his first major since joining LIV Golf as a member of Jon Rahm’s Legion XIII team. The 22-year-old has put together two solid rounds, shooting 70-71 to go into the weekend at 1 under.

McKibbin had a fairly stress-free round Friday and was a bogey-free 1 under through his first 17 holes before ending the day with a bogey at his final hole, the par-4 ninth.

McKibbin’s more experienced teammates Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton also made the cut. McKibbin said joining LIV Golf has helped improved preparations for playing majors.

“I think it’s prepared me quite well,” he said. “I’ve got to play with a lot of great players and when I came here, I felt much more comfortable.

“I think that especially the last couple of weeks, the pins ouit there have been very difficult, which when I came here this week they haven’t felt actually too bad. So yeah, I think it’s prepared me quite nicely.”

McKibbin was asked about Crushers GC Captain Bryson DeChambeau. “He’s a good guy. Played with him a few times,” he said. “He’s obviously a phenomenal golfer. Hits the ball a mile, obviously attracts a lot of people. It seems like he’s the cool dude in golf at the moment.”

AVOID THE TRIPLES: McKibbin’s teammate Tyrrell Hatton had moved inside the top five of the leaderboard after playing his first eight holes in 2 under. But then his tee shot at the par-4 18th found the water, ultimately leading to a triple bogey.

It knocked him down the leaderboard but Hatton still has some life left at 1 under for the tournament. What does he need to do this weekend to move into contention?

“Stop making triples,” he replied. “That’d be nice.”

He also wants to straighten out his tee shots. He struck them well in his opening round of 68 but hit a few that drifted left into trouble on Friday.

“The tee shots that just went left on me cost me four or five shots,” he said. “If you take those five shots away, you’re in a nice position going into the weekend, whereas now I need to have two very good rounds without putting a foot wrong."

NIEMANN RALLIES: Torque GC Captain Joaquin Niemann was in danger of missing the cut after an opening 74, but he quickly bounced back Friday with four birdies in his first six holes. He then cancelled out his two bogeys by making an eagle late in his round at the par-5 seventh.

“It was frustrating,” Niemann said of his opening round. “Felt like it is probably the worst I’ve hit it off the tee for a long time. … But I felt like if I could have a good start, I’d be able to get a good round in and make a run early. Kind of cool to do that and then make that eagle.”

Niemann is now 1 under for the tournament.