LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Friday was a second straight day for scoring at the PGA Championship at Valhalla.
Many players took advantage of the wet and windless conditions and had sub-par rounds with red numbers.
Tiger Woods, winner of the 2000 PGA at Valhalla, was not among them.
Tiger Woods plans his putt on the second green during the second day of the PGA Championship. Clare Grant/Courier Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK
Woods, who started the second round at 1 over par after his opening round 72, blew his start to the second round on Friday and eliminated any suspense over whether he would qualify.
He missed the cut which, when play was suspended due to darkness, was 1 mile under par. Woods finished with an over-par 77 to leave at 7-over.
After a par at the par-5 first hole, Woods made a triple bogey at No. 2 and then, after a bogey at No. 3, he tripled at No. 4.
So, the 7 over par on these three holes doomed him.
Collin Morikawa, who is 11 under par and one stroke ahead of leader Xander Schauffele, had been in the top five after 36 holes of a major championship four times before this week.
This happened at the 2021 British Open at Royal St. George’s, where he finished second after 36 holes and won. This happened at the 2022 US Open in Brookline, Massachusetts, where he tied for first and finished tied for fifth.
This happened at the 2023 Masters, where he was tied for fourth after 36 and finished tied for 10th. And that happened at last month’s Masters, where he tied for fifth and finished tied for third.
Braden Shattuck, one of 21 PGA of America club professionals competing this week, made the cut.
He had two holes to play Friday and figured he needed to birdie one, if not both, of them to start the weekend.
He made a 35-foot birdie on the par-3 8th hole (his 17th of the round). And, on his 36th hole, he recovered as best he could from a bad drive into a bunker, hit his second into a greenside bunker and faced a 4-footer for par.
Once again, he buried it, finishing a round of 1-under 70 to arrive in the clubhouse at 1-under 141.
“The cut looked like the size of a thimble on that last 4 feet,” Shattuck said. “But luckily he found his way to the middle.”
Shattuck, 29, entered last year’s PGA Championship at Oak Hill after winning the PGA Professional Championship but failed to qualify.
Michael Block, the California club professional who captivated the golf world at last year’s PGA at Oak Hill with a tie for 15th place, missed the cut this week, shooting 7 over par. … Matt Dobyns, the club professional at Meadow Brook on Long Island, finished 14-over through two rounds and missed the cut in his fifth career PGA… Among the big players who missed the cut were Jon Rahm, reigning U.S. Open champion Wyndham Clark and Phil Mickelson…Jersey Shore native and former Rutgers player Chris Gotterup finished 3-over and missed the cut a week after winning his first PGA Tour event at Myrtle Beach.
New York Post
