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US PGA Championship 2026 golf: day two – live updates | US PGA
Key events
The two-time winner Justin Thomas played the front nine in 32 strokes yesterday. The back nine wasn’t so kind – two bogeys on the way home – and he’s not enjoying this stretch today, either. From the centre of 11, wedge in hand, he lands his ball on the false front of the green, and it’s dispatched back into a bunker. His splash out finds the same false front, and this time the ball u-turns back into greenside rough. He does very well to chip to six feet and make the bogey putt, but he’s back to level par for the tournament now, having yesterday reached the giddy heights of -3.
Scottie Scheffler’s third at 10, from 44 yards, is no good. It’s 20 feet shy of the flag. He can’t make the par saver, and that’s an immediate backwards step for the world number one and tournament favourite. Matt Fitzpatrick bogeys too, and it’s a double for Justin Rose. They’re -2, +1 and +2 respectively. Meanwhile on Sky, Laura Davies asks Wayne Riley what he thinks the leader will be on at the end of the day. Five under, he answers, without a beat of hesitation. In other words, good luck trying to go low, gentlemen. It’s going to be another hugely entertaining day!
Rose gathers himself and sends a decent wedge into 10, from 77 yards to 16 feet. He’ll have a look at a damage-limiting bogey. Meanwhile Scottie’s lie in the rough on the left isn’t great, and he’s forced to take his medicine, punching back out onto the fairway. Even the strongest hitters in the business aren’t of a mind to take liberties with this rough. To think everyone was talking about bringing Aronimink to its knees with some bomb and gouge at the start of the week! A textbook study in hubris, and that’s before we get around to the subjects of Rory and Bryson.
“Aww-wwwah!” Justin Rose yelps in anguish. He’s found a big fairway bunker down the right of 10. There’s a huge face which rises to the right, and water on the left, so he tries to bite off more than he can chew. The ball slaps apologetically into that face, nowhere near clearing it. He escapes with his second attempt but from 77 yards out, will now be doing well to limit the damage to bogey. Rose walked off 18 last night with a huge smile on his face, rolling in a long par saver; he’ll need to draw from those street-fighting reserves again now.
Scottie Scheffler barely missed a fairway yesterday, arguably the main reason he’s started this tournament fast, a rare feat for him this season on the PGA Tour. (On average, he’s been nearly three shots worse for his first round when compared to his cards on days two, three and four.) So the rest of the field can be forgiven for taking a collective gulp. However, golf being golf, he sends his opening tee shot today into the rough down the left of 10. That only just crept in, so it probably won’t stop him taking a shy for the green, but let’s assume nothing until he gets to the ball and discovers the lie he’s copped. Meanwhile up ahead, Robert MacIntyre bogeys the hole after finding a fairway bunker with his tee shot. He’s immediately back to +1.
It’s another dropped shot for Martin Kaymer, the result of a wayward drive. It was a bit of a surprise to see Kaymer, now 41, at the top of the leaderboard yesterday evening. The German reached number one in the world for a wee while back in 2011, won the 2010 PGA and the 2014 US Open, the 2014 Players, and sunk the decisive putt at the Miracle of Medinah. It’s a hell of a CV. But he’s done absolutely nothing in the majors since a tie for seventh at the 2016 PGA, an absolutely dismal record for a player so good, and has since disappeared on the LIV tour. Injuries have taken their toll, to be fair, so you can perhaps understand how he bristled at the champion’s dinner earlier this week when a PGA official asked him if he was still playing. “I’m not flying from Europe to here to have a New York strip with you guys,” he fumed, and that righteous anger fuelled yesterday’s excellent 67. But that’ll only propel you around Aronimink for so long, and he’s started out struggling today. He’s back to -1 in short order.
Shane Lowry duked out a steely 68 yesterday. Birdie at the 18th sent him away with a cheery look on his face. But he’s handed that shot back immediately with a careless three-putt on his first hole of the day, the 10th. Back to -1 for the 2019 Open winner. Also heading in the wrong direction early doors: the 2010 champion Martin Kaymer, who bogeys 2 to fall out of the big leading group. Speaking of which, Scottie Scheffler will be on the scene in less than ten minutes.
-3: Scheffler, Smalley, Potgieter, Jaeger, Lee, Hisatsune
-2: Kaymer (3), Reed (1), Brown, Theegala, Greyserman, Schauffele
Only one player went bogey-free yesterday: Patrick Reed. The 2018 Masters champion has already won twice on the DP World Tour this year, as well as contending a play-off in another tournament. And he competed hard at Augusta last month. He’s in form, and with his talent for and enjoyment of battling through things, might be a good shout this week. His opening drive today is wayward, and he’s forced to chop out from the cabbage, but he wedges his third from 50 yards to eight feet and calmly tidies up to keep his blemish-free record in tact. A 68 yesterday, and he’s -2 overall.
Block party. It’s happening again. He’s happening again. Michael Block, the club pro who lit up the 2023 tournament with three rounds of 70 and a 71 that included an ace with Rory McIlroy in attendance, is doing it again. A round of 70 yesterday, and now a 20-foot putt for birdie at the par-three 5th. He’s -1 overall and already beginning to dream of making the cut. It’d be an early birthday present: he’s 50 next month. Good luck finding a single punter at Aronimink who won’t be cheering him on.
About the weather. It shouldn’t be too different to the first day. A little bit warmer, but with the wind expected to occasionally pick up again. It’s blowing pretty briskly right now. There’s not much chance of rain, and the course didn’t get a soaking tonight, so it’ll be a little bit firmer and the ball should scuttle further. Which, given so many of the fairways at Aronimink tilt towards penal rough, may not necessarily be a good thing. But it’s a great day for golf!
Preamble
There are seven players tied for the lead, and another 42 within three shots of them. The day before Moving Day is going to feature a lot of jostling for position.
Here’s what the top of the leaderboard looked like at the end of the first day …
-3: Potgieter, Jaeger, Lee, Hisatsune, Kaymer, Scheffler, Smalley
-2: Brown, Theegala, Greyserman, Schauffele, Conners, Reed, Lowry
… and here are today’s tee times (BST). Starting on the 1st …
1145 Michael Block, Rasmus Højgaard, Dustin Johnson
1156 Mark Geddes, Steven Fisk, David Lipsky
1207 Sungjae Im, Austin Hurt, Casey Jarvis
1218 Andrew Putnam, Michael Kartrude, Matt Wallace
1229 Martin Kaymer, Elvis Smylie, Davis Riley
1240 Jason Dufner, Haotong Li, Jimmy Walker
1251 Nick Taylor, Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen, Jordan Smith
1302 Emiliano Grillo, Patrick Reed, Pierceson Coody
1313 Brian Campbell, Adam Schenk, Christiaan Bezuidenhout
1324 Marco Penge, Sepp Straka, Patrick Rodgers
1335 Aaron Rai, Travis Smyth, Sami Valimaki
1346 Sam Stevens, Jayden Schaper, Garrett Sapp
1357 Timothy Wiseman, Matti Schmid, Austin Smotherman
1715 Aldrich Potgieter, David Puig, Denny McCarthy
1726 William Mouw, Chris Gabriele, Taylor Pendrith
1737 Tom Hoge, Bryce Fisher, Joaquin Niemann
1748 Keith Mitchell, Billy Horschel, Ian Holt
1759 Gary Woodland, Jason Day, Sam Burns
1810 Wyndham Clark, Cameron Smith, Brian Harman
1821 Patrick Cantlay, Min Woo Lee, Sahith Theegala
1832 Si Woo Kim, Derek Berg, Joe Highsmith
1843 Bryson DeChambeau, Ludvig Aberg, Rickie Fowler
1854 Xander Schauffele, Brooks Koepka, Tyrrell Hatton
1905 Rory McIlroy, Jordan Spieth, Jon Rahm
1916 Daniel Hillier, Ryan Vermeer, Max McGreevy
1927 Paul McClure, Mikael Lindberg, Angel Ayora
… and starting on the 10th …
1150 Andrew Novak, John Parry, Jordan Gumberg
1201 Ben Polland, Kurt Kitayama, Nico Echavarria
1212 Akshay Bhatia, Ricky Castillo, Michael Thorbjornsen
1223 Luke Donald, Jesse Droemer, Stewart Cink
1234 Hideki Matsuyama, J.J. Spaun, Max Homa
1245 Ben Kern, J.T. Poston, Russell Henley
1256 Adam Scott, Corey Conners, Daniel Berger
1307 Viktor Hovland, Collin Morikawa, Shane Lowry
1318 Chris Gotterup, Robert MacIntyre, Tommy Fleetwood
1329 Cameron Young, Keegan Bradley, Justin Thomas
1340 Scottie Scheffler, Matt Fitzpatrick, Justin Rose
1351 Zach Haynes, Alex Smalley, Chandler Blanchet
1402 Bernd Wiesberger, Sudarshan Yellamaraju, Andy Sullivan
1710 Braden Shattuck, Alex Fitzpatrick, Ben Griffin
1721 Francisco Bide, Harry Hall, Ryan Gerard
1732 Johnny Keefer, Rico Hoey, Nicolai Højgaard
1743 Shaun Micheel, Michael Brennan, Garrick Higgo
1754 YE Yang, Jhonattan Vegas, Matt McCarty
1805 Lucas Glover, Tom McKibbin, Stephan Jaeger
1816 Daniel Brown, Adrien Saddier, Harris English
1827 Jacob Bridgeman, Bud Cauley, Alex Noren
1838 Chris Kirk, Max Greyserman, Kristoffer Reitan
1849 Maverick McNealy, Thomas Detry, Padraig Harrington
1900 Ryan Lenahan, Ryan Fox, Kazuki Higa
1911 Jared Jones, Michael Kim, Ryo Hisatsune
1922 Tyler Collet, Kota Kaneko, Brandt Snedeker
The family of Shaun Burton, say they are “devastated” by the loss.
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Key events
In the opening half an hour against Cape Verde, Mikel Oyarzabal, the centre-forward, did not get a single touch.
Kyle Green gets in touch: “Your highlighting of Lalas and his absurdity is something that has prevented me from wanting to watch the coverage on Fox. While every channel has its pros and cons I just can’t.
“I’m 45 and probably the youngest of anyone who remembers him as a player instead of an opinionated insert insult here. As for the match this could be more competitive than it looks on paper Spain need a win the pressure is on them. Saudi Arabia could hold out for a draw and see what happens in their last match. “
News from the England camp, and it seems to be good news on Declan Rice.
“I’m ready and fit, raring to go. I was feeling a little bit of neural pain in my hamstring, which I was managing from after Christmas with Arsenal for a very long time. Obviously, not a lot of people would have known that. It was all behind-the-scenes stuff but it was a smart decision.
“In the end, that last 20 minutes is probably where you pick up the most, and it’s where you play a 70-minute match. But that last 20 is where you really feel your body going for it. And I think it was a smart decision because the last few days I felt really, really good.”
Alex Reid has penned today’s weekend special Football Daily.
Portugal v Uzbekistan on Tuesday enticingly pits the incredibly nice, incredibly 41-year-old-superstar-tolerant Roberto Martínez against Fabio Cannavaro, who’s won a Ballon d’Or as a player and the Chinese Super League as a coach. While the fixture following that game really does see the dream of Thomas Tuchel – in his first international job with England – taking on Queiroz, who is in charge of his ninth national side with Ghana.
The expected formations are 4-2-3-1 for Spain, and 5-3-2 for the Saudi Arabians.
The Saudi team features two Donis changes: Ali Lajami, a defender, and Nasser Al Dawsari, a midfielder, are preferred to Mohammed Abu Al Shamat and Mohamed Kanno. You may recall Salem Al Dawsari, the Saudi captain, as the man who scored the winner against Argentina.
An entertaining read, even for those of us who have just seen the clips.
In a conversation where his co-panelist is casually reminiscing about his days playing alongside Messi or exchanging shirts with Ronaldo Nazário at the World Cup, what exactly is Lalas going to talk about – coming on as a second-half substitute for Earnie Stewart in a friendly against Scotland in 1998? Helping the Kansas City Wizards finish last in the 1999 MLS Western Conference? Did Lalas enjoy an elite playing career? No. But does he do the background reading that could compensate for his relative lack of standing in a conversation with titans like Henry and Zlatan? Also no. But is he charming or funny or charismatic or otherwise magnetic on screen? Eh, no.
For the record, I once interviewed Alexi Lalas on the challenge of playing against Romario in the 1994 World Cup. He had this to say:
“He could kill you in so many different ways. If you remember from that World Cup, he scored so many types of goals. That ranged from solo adventures to an outside-of-the-right-foot half-volley off a corner kick. Romario was both the most difficult to play against and the best that I have faced.
“Roberto Baggio was doing his thing, but in terms of consistency and living up to the hype, he [Romario] was the best. As with all stars, there was a moment when the fans sit up in their seats, and that was a feeling I got with Romario. When it got close to him and the potential for his involvement in a play was there, everybody sat up in their seat. They knew that something spectacular would be happening.”
Saturday’s match reports here.
The Saudi Arabia coach, and Blackburn legend, Georgios Donis, spoke about the challenges facing his team: “Spain is not the same team when Yamal or Williams are on the bench.
“While they still have plenty of possession, they lack the individual one-on-one penetration when these two are missing. I’m not saying it’s a problem for Spain, but when those players are missing, they play in a different way. We saw this very clearly against Cape Verde.
“We are playing against one of the best teams in the world, and it’s very important that when you play against these kinds of teams, you should enjoy the experience and respect the opponent, but not too much.
“It is very hard for any team playing against Spain to have any time in possession. So what we must do is to be more in control of our movement and compact, and when the ball goes through the lines, be able to defend dynamically.
“It’s nice to see miracles in football, and we’ve seen favourites losing against underdogs. Of course, it’s great for Saudi football to have a great memory of the result against Argentina, but we aren’t drawing anything from that.
“I think we’ll feel more pressure in that [Cape Verde] game than we will against Spain.”
The Spain coach, Luis De La Fuente had this to say in his Saturday press conference: “This generation of footballers is highly competitive and really fired up… It’s going to be a completely different story,” he said at his pre-match press conference on Saturday. There is no drama or crisis. The bottom line is simply that we need to win tomorrow.”
Four changes for Spain: Lamine Yamal, Pedro Porro, Dani Olmo and Alex Baena also come into the side with Marcos Llorente, Fabian Ruiz, Ferran Torres and Gavi dropping out.
The teams – Lamine Yamal starts
Spain: Simon, Porro, Cubarsi, Laporte, Cucurella, Gonzalez, Rodri, Yamal, Olmo, Baena, Oyarzabal. Subs: Raya, Joan Garcia, Pubill, Grimaldo, Eric Garcia, Llorente, Merino, Torres, Fabian, Gavi, Pino, Williams, Zubimendi, Munoz, Iglesias.
Saudi Arabia: Al Owais, Abdulhamid, Tambakti, Lajami, Al Amri, Al Harbi, Nasser Al Dawsari, Al Khaibari, Al Juwayr, Al Buraikan, Salem Al Dawsari. Subs: Al Aqidi, Al Kassar, Majrashi, Yahya, Al Shehri, Al Boushal, Kadesh, Al Johani, Al Ghannam, Al Hajji, Al Hamdan, Mandash, Kanno, Thakri, Abu Al Shamat.
Referee: Raphael Claus (Brazil)
Perhaps one of the Saudi -players can write themselves into this high-grade selection?
Perhaps it can be their goalkeeper.
Madrid screening of Spain v Saudi Arabia cancelled due to heat
The public screening of Spain’s World Cup match against Saudi Arabia in Madrid on Sunday has been cancelled because of extreme heat forecast for the Spanish capital, officials said.
The match, due to kick off at 6pm local time on Sunday, had been scheduled to be shown on a giant screen installed by the Spanish football federation (RFEF) at a fan zone in Plaza de Colón in central Madrid.
Madrid city council and the federation decided to cancel the screening after national weather agency AEMET issued an orange heat warning – the second-highest level – for the Madrid region, with temperatures forecast to reach 40C.
“The decision has been taken with the aim of protecting the health of attendees, event staff and support services involved in the event,” Madrid city hall said in a statement, apologising for any inconvenience.
Officials urged supporters to watch the match indoors in air-conditioned spaces and avoid prolonged exposure to the heat.
Large parts of Spain are experiencing unusually high temperatures for June as a mass of hot air from North Africa moves across the Iberian Peninsula.
A total of 13 of Spain’s 17 regions are on orange alert for heat on Sunday, while the northern Basque Country bordering France is on red alert, the highest level.
Authorities advised residents and visitors to take precautions during the heatwave, including drinking water regularly, staying in cool environments, limiting outdoor physical activity during the hottest hours of the day and taking extra care of vulnerable people. AFP
Can Saudi Arabia repeat the magic of 2022?
Argentina arrived in Qatar on a 36-game unbeaten run. When Lionel Messi opened the scoring from the penalty spot after 10 minutes, a comfortable afternoon seemed in the offing. Saleh al-Shehri and Salem al-Dawsari had other ideas, Argentina had three goals disallowed for offside in the space of 13 minutes and the greatest comeback in Saudi Arabia football history was made. Argentina went on to lift the trophy, while defeats to Poland and Mexico meant the Saudis did not reach the knock-out stage.
Unai Simon over David Raya is a controversial choice for De la Fuentes. The Arsenal keeper could lay claim to being Europe’s best this season.
“Those at the Champions League final had a few more days, so I got there on the Wednesday night,” Raya says. “I arrived a bit before Fabián [Ruiz]. I was saying hello to some of the others in reception when he arrived. I went to say congratulations; that was almost the first thing I did. I couldn’t really talk [to him] after the final; I just didn’t have it in me. The next day we talked about the game properly. Just two mates chatting … I was happy for him that he could lift the trophy for a second time.”
A high pressure game for the European champions, as Sid Lowe reports.
“If we had scored one, the game would have changed,” Martín Zubimendi said. Immediately after the game, De la Fuente had offered a simple analysis: when the ball doesn’t want to go in it doesn’t want to go in, he insisted. Spain had racked up 27 shots, after all. Ferran Torres had hit the bar and seen another clear opportunity saved. Vozinha, the 40-year-old goalkeeper who stopped that, saved six more and was named the man of the match. “There’s nothing to reproach the team for,” Rodri said. “We generated chances but couldn’t put it away; the good thing is they created almost nothing.”
We wait to see what role Lamine Yamal will play today. His coach would surely like to be able to use him.
The worst mistake we could make would be to compare him to anyone. He is the midst of a process. He has exceptional footballing maturity and lives it all with total naturalness. He has great serenity and strength. We have to let him follow his path but those players who have something different are ready for that. They’re geniuses, like Dalí [who] can paint a picture, or Michelangelo. They’re different. What is exceptional to us, isn’t to them. In those extremes, they feel comfortable. Why? Because they are different. What we think is exceptional, they consider normal.
Preamble
Spain’s campaign did not get off to a flying start, and Luis de la Fuentes may wake up in the night to visions of Cape Verde’s Vozinha. He will have Georgia on his mind ever since Monday. Saudi Arabia are no pushovers and gave Uruguay a scare in their opening match. Memories of downing Argentina four years ago still abound, and so Spain might beware. They can ill afford to go into the final game with Uruguay at a disadvantage. All eyes on Lamine Yamal, whose fitness situation remains opaque, though Spain need their other forwards to come to the party.
Kick-off 5pm UK, 1pm ET, 2am AEST. Join me.
A topless man can be seen driving erratically in Edinburgh before abandoning his car and attacking a black man and a delivery rider.
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