Xander Schauffele shrugs off Collin Morikawa’s charge to maintain PGA Championship lead as he fights to FINALLY end his major drought

Xander Schauffele said he played the best golf of his life after his opening 62 at the PGA Championship on Thursday. Even if Friday’s round was not quite of the same caliber, the leader will have no qualms.

While he cruised the field with his opening game of nine birdies and no bogeys, Schauffele was faced with the task of chasing on Friday.

While Schauffele waited to finally take to the course, Collin Morikawa had started the gauntlet with a flurry of five consecutive birdies.

And it was a challenge Schauffele accepted. If there had been any questions about whether he could finally hold on and close out a major takedown, he quickly answered them with his tenth birdie of the tournament on the second Friday.

Two more followed on the front nine to reach the turn at 12 under for the tournament and sank another at the 10th. He didn’t crack under pressure. Not yet anyway.

Xander Schauffele watched Collin Morikawa make a charge Friday in Kentucky

But Schauffele returned to the course he had dismantled on Thursday and maintained his lead

The first crack began to appear at the par-three 11th when he left his birdie-putt attempt on the short par three and failed to convert to save par. His first unforced error and his first bogey of the week.

But he stuck with it with steady pars for the rest of his round, to post a three-under 68 for the wire-to-wire lead at the halfway point at 12 under.

It wasn’t quite the nine birdies of the first round before but it was still enough to protect his lead and stave off the threat from Morikawa.

“When you play one of the easiest nine-unders you’ve ever seen, you feel like you’re shooting a million,” Schauffele’s playing partner, Justin Thomas, said after his opening 62 on Thursday.

Morikawa, watching from the clubhouse, reportedly sympathized with the Louisville native when his 65, with a solitary birdie, was not enough to knock Schauffele off the top.

The 2020 champion birdied five straight holes before finishing with a bogey on his final six holes to post a six-under 65 and move within one shot of Schauffele at 11 under.

“Look, the little five-point birdie, that was me just playing solid golf, and sometimes when putts fall, that’s what happens,” Morikawa said.

Morikawa rose to the challenge thanks to a flurry of five consecutive birdies

After missing out on Scottie Scheffler at Masters, Morikawa aims for another major title

“But for the most part, that’s the kind of golf I’m going to ask myself over the next couple of days and 36 holes, it’s just staying present, hitting your shots, executing them, and if the putts fall, the putts fall.”

“But really, don’t force anything. I didn’t force anything, especially throughout the day.

Morikawa was somewhat of a stranger at the top of a major championship rankings since his victory at the 2021 Open. Until he called up a familiar face.

After a rough patch earlier this year, the 27-year-old reunited with Rick Sessinghaus, the coach who helped him win two major championships.

He then competed at the Masters in April and now finds himself Schauffele’s biggest challenger. He tamed the tougher conditions at Valhalla on Friday to prove he can perform at his best again on golf’s major stage.

“I know I still have it in me, and that’s the exciting thing is, after Augusta, it sucked to end up like that and it sucked to lose to Scottie, but at the “At the end of the day, I knew I had three more major tournaments coming up and to prepare for that and make things as sharp as possible and come out strong,” he said. “It’s obviously nice to get this start.”