SPRINGFIELD, New Jersey Early second-round play in the PGA Championship resumed after a delay of 41 minutes at Baltusrol on Friday with weather threatening to cause further interruptions in the year’s final major championship.
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Streb, the world’s No. 74 ranked player, sank eight birdies opposite a bogey on No. 16.
A day after matching the tournament record and falling a stroke short of the major championship mark, the 25-year-old South Korean player had three birdies and two bogeys to reach 11-under 133.
Phil Mickelson, the British Open runner-up to Henrik Stenson two weeks ago, made the cut on the number despite troubles of his own.
First-round leader Jimmy Walker birdied the par-3 12th to move to 8 under for a share of the lead in the second round of the PGA Championship at Baltusrol Golf Club.
Walker was unaware of the record possibilities as he stood on the 18th tee and promptly drove into the water to the left of the fairway and compounded the error by three-putting from long range.
Lahiri said, “Putting has been the area that I need to work on”.
“So it’s good. It’s really cool”.
Hooksett’s Rich Berberian Jr. had his run at the PGA Championship come to a close on Friday. It’s what you are here to do. “Fortunately, I had a great back side”.
“I’m sure I’ll be excited, nervous”, said Walker about starting the third round in the lead. “They obviously knew what was going on. I’m pretty sure I’m going to fall right asleep and be just fine”.
Stenson finished third or better in five of his last seven starts on the PGA Tour, including second in the British Open, third in the PGA and victories in the Deutsche Bank Championship and Tour Championship to claim the FedExCup before winning the European Tour’s end-of-season Race to Dubai final.
“Happy to join the club that seems to be ever-growing”, Streb said.
After a 1-over 71 on Thursday, the PGA victor when the tournament last was held at Baltusrol in 2005 hit his drive so far left on No. 1 that its first bounce was on Shunpike Road.
However, coming into this week, Streb said he tweaked his golf swing to where “it kind of feels normal again”. There was some damage control and I did not get my first birdie till the 10th on the back nine.
A trip to the hospital after his wife suffered an allergic reaction the night before kept him out until 2 a.m. Day, the world’s top-ranked golfer, already lacked energy because of a packed, condensed schedule. “Right now he’s just so tentative through impact”, Mickelson said.
It was what Mickelson would call later “the worst start by any player in the history of the PGA Championship”. A few swear words inside my head, like what are you doing. Why are you giving shots to the field when you don’t need to do that? It would be nice to get my second major and get that under the belt. It’s when I get on the greens that it’s a different story.
Stenson only had a week to drink “champagne, champagne and champagne” out of the Claret Jug due to a condensed schedule to accommodate golf’s return to the Olympics. “Trying to I guess do my best to stay positive and put the frustration aside, which sometimes isn’t the easiest thing to do”.
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“I expect to be exhausted at some point, whether it be after this week or after the Olympics”. I know I’m going to sleep for a week after the Ryder Cup, there’s no two ways about that.
