Former world No.1s and fierce rivals Tiger Woods and Vijay Singh have weathered the wild winds to push into a tie for the lead after the second round of the US PGA Championship in South Carolina.
And Australians Adam Scott and Aaron Baddeley are just three shots off the pace in a tie for seventh and well within striking range of breaking the country’s six-year major drought.
Par for the Ocean Course on Kiawah Island is supposed to be 72 but the strongest-ever field in major championship golf, with 102 of the top 103 golfers in the world amongst the 156 starters, averaged over 78 on Friday.
Woods shot a one-under par 71; one of just four under par rounds on the day, to move to four-under for the tournament.
He joined overnight leader Carl Pettersson who fell back after a 74, and Singh, who’s three under 69 gem was easily the round of the day.
Englishman Ian Poulter was fourth alone at three-under with Welshman Jamie Donaldson and Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy a shot back.
Scott and Baddeley shot 75 but their chances weren’t harmed.
“It’s very tough. I think I played pretty well. I could have saved a couple shots but it’s very easy to let shots slip out on this golf course,” Scott said.
“So I consider 75 kind of a par round of golf out there today.
“There’s some severe spots, and I made a couple errors, but it’s going to happen on a day like today.
“You’ve just got to stick with it, keep grinding… I’m not disappointed with 75.”
Scott is primed to make a move despite the big names ahead of him on the leaderboard.
“Under par for two rounds is great right now,” he said. “At the end of the day you just have to be there don’t you and I’m not that far away so I’ll remain confident.”
Woods’ quest to reclaim the world No.1 ranking and grab a 15th major championship is on the cards but he’s trying not to get ahead of himself.
“I thought going out today, anything even par or better was going to be a good score,” Woods said.
“That was my goal. So I went out today and I accomplished that.
“I’m right there with a chance, and I like that.
“We have got a long way to go and I don’t know what the forecast is for tomorrow, if it’s going to blow like this or not blow like this, but if it’s anything like this over the weekend, with no rain, it’s going to be tough.
“At times, it is a little bit brutal out there.”
Marc Leishman (+2), Greg Chalmers (+2), Geoff Ogilvy (+2), John Senden (+3) and Marcus Fraser (+5) all made it to the weekend while Robert Allenby (+7), Jason Day (+8) and Brendan Jones (+10) joined big names Rickie Fowler, Lee Westwood, Webb Simpson, Sergio Garcia and world no.1 Luke Donald in missing the cut.
