Three times, the two-time defending champion was on his back receiving treatment on his left hip. Three times, he got up. He was not knocked out. He birdied his last hole. The two-time defending champion will not go down without a fight. Here are three things you should know after Friday’s second round of the PGA Championship at TPC Harding Park in San Francisco.
Haotong Li leads
Haotong Li took 65 shots on Friday and 67 shots on Thursday, and he is the leader by two shots after two rounds with an 8-under total.
He then took a few hours worth of shots on the practice green and practice range. Li, presumably, has worked hard prior to the tournament. Li is going to work hard during the tournament, too.
He had looked like he was hardly working at all during his round on Friday. Five birdies. No bogies.
“Yeah, the last couple days I’ve been pretty much all hit in the right spot,” he said.
Brooks Koepka contending
Two-time defending champion Brooks Koepka was 2-under for his round and 6-under for the tournament after his tee shot on the 12th hole. He went to the ground three times after that for treatment on his left hip.
He battled the course. He battled his body. He beat both. Koepka would birdie his last hole and is among six golfers two shots behind Li.
“It will be fine. It’s something I’m not worried about,” said Koepka, who added the treatment was not for his surgically repaired left knee.
Five other players were at 6-under with Koepka – Tommy Fleetwood, Jason Day, Daniel Berger, Justin Rose and Mike Lorenzo-Vera. Three players were at 5-under.
Tiger Woods barely makes the cut
Tiger Woods battled his putter.
The 15-time major champion had made two putts longer than 4 feet standing over a 12-footer for birdie on 16. He was 1-over for the tournament, one stroke from the expected cut line.
He dropped it. The putter did not drop him. Woods shot a 2-over 72 and is at even-par for the tournament.
“I really struggled with getting the speed of the greens today,” Woods said. “They looked faster than what they were putting. They were firm coming into the greens, but they weren’t putting as fast as they looked, and then as the day wore on, they got a little more fuzzy and got even slower, and I struggled even a little bit more hitting the putts hard enough.”
