Live Blog
PGA Championship 2023 live updates: Scottie Scheffler, Viktor Hovland and Corey Conners share the lead after Round 2
Corey Conners lines up a putt during the second round of the PGA Championship.
Michael Reaves
The drive from the Canadian border to Rochester, N.Y., is about 165 miles. Do you think there will be a few golf-crazy Canadians looking to make that trip if they can grab some tickets to the weekend of the 105th PGA Championship?
(Scroll down for live updates)
Mike Weir is the only Canadian to win a men’s major championship with his 2013 Masters title, and now the country has a solid chance to pick up its first PGA triumph, as close to home as anywhere else, as Corey Conners shares the lead with World No. 2 Scottie Scheffler and Denmark’s Viktor Hovland heading into the weekend at Oak Hill Country Club.
After shooting a two-under-par 68 on Friday to get to five under overall, Conners said he’s already hearing the extra cheers from his countrymen. “It puts a smile on my face,” he said. “I'm not a super fiery guy. Try not to get too high or low, but yeah, puts a smile on my face. Nice to know people are cheering for me.”
Oak Hill was a beast again for the second 18 holes after the first round was completed on Friday morning due to the front delay that occurred on Thursday. Only nine players are in red figures heading into the final 36 holes, and the lowest score produced is Brooks Koepka’s four-under 66 in the second round—an effort that moved the four-time major champion into a tie for sixth place at two under.
Two behind the trio of leaders are Bryson DeChambeau, who bogeyed his final hole on Friday, and Justin Suh, a 25-year-old USC grad who only has two PGA Tour top-10s in 46 starts.
With low scores hard to come by, it would figure that the winner on Sunday would come from somewhere near the current top of the board, and the favorite would have to be Scheffler, the World No. and 2022 Masters champion. Hovland, who already has three PGA Tour wins at the age of 25, is looking to improve on a majors record that sports only two top-10s in 14 starts. Conners, 31 and two-time PGA Tour winner, posted his best major finish in Scheffler’s Masters victory, tying for sixth.
PGA Championship 2023: Latest Updates:
7:50 p.m.: With Bryson DeChambeau's bogey at 18, the top of the leaderboard heading into the weekend is set. Scottie Scheffler, Corey Conners and Viktor Hovland are tied at the top at five under, with DeChambeau sitting two behind.
7:42 p.m.: Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas grinded to the end to make the cut, but a few big names couldn't pull it off. Jason Day, recent winner of the Byron Nelson, struggled down the stretch to miss, while some of the other notable to not be hanging around are: Rickie Fowler, Billy Horschel, Tom Kim, Gary Woodland and Cameron Young.
7:14 p.m.: World No. 1 and Masters champ Jon Rahm will be around for the weekend, though hardly in contention as of now. His rally of three straight birides fizzled a bit at the end, but he still shot 68 to come back from his opening 76 and stands at four over. Meantime, reigning U.S. Open champ Matt Fitapatrick bungled the 18th with a bogey and missed the cut by one.
7 p.m.: Barring late heroicis by Bryson DeChambeau (who still has three holes to play), there will be at least three players at the top after Dane Viktor Hovland birdies 18 to finish off his 67 to match Scheffler and Conners.
6:57 p.m.: Jordan Spieth matched what his buddy JT did at 18 by making a grinding par to make it on the cutline at five over.
6:52 p.m.: ESPN put up this stat on how fearsome Scottie Scheffler is: He's been inside the top 10 after 20 of last 26 major rounds.
6:50 p.m.: The reigning champion will be around for the weekend. Barely. Justin Thomas put himself in a bad spot when he got too aggressive with a fairway bunker shot, hit the lip and left it in. He needed a bogey to finish at five over and make it to Saturday. Thomas pulled it off with an approach to 10 feet and made the nervy putt.
6:47 p.m.: Raise your hand if you wrote Rory McIlroy off when he was three over after the first nine holes on Thursday? Well, he's baaack, and only five shots off the lead after a birdie at 18 closed a 69. That got the fans at Oak Hill, and even the broadcasters, going. "Five shots off the lead and has brought nothing so far to this event. What a player," said David Duval. "All credit to him; that's amazing. That's how much talent this guy has."
6:40 p.m.: Corey Conners closes with a par at 9 to shoot a 68—matching the exact scores of Scheffler (67-68) to be tied with him at the top at five under. Impressive day for the Canadian, who made his only bogey on his 16th hole at No. 7.
6:30 p.m.: Scottie Scheffler misses a putt that looked in all of the way at 18 to drop a stroke and finish with a 68 and five-under total that is the clubhouse lead. In this game group, Brooks Koepka makes his third birdie in the last four holes—in the rain—and shoots 66 to stand at two under.
6:20 p.m.: Three in a row for Rahm! He's three over now.
6:17 p.m.: With a Corey Conners bogey on his 16th hole (the seventh) and Scottie Scheffler making a nice save at 17, Scheffler holds a one-shot lead. He's three-under for the day. Viktor Hovland is two back through his 15tth.
6:16 p.m.: Strong finsh by Harold Varner III, who birdied four of his last five to get to one over.
6:14 p.m.: The World No. 1 is finally seeing putts go in. Rahm birdies 14 after driving in the front bunker to be four over.
6:10 p.m.: irishman Shane Lowry, dressed in pink today, is making a huge move. He's birdied six of his last eight holes to go from flirting with the cut to only four shots back of the Scheffler-Conners lead.
5:56 p.m.: Rahm gets to five over with a birdie at 12, and with a couple of birdie holes ahead, the weekend is looking better.
5:51 p.m.: And there's Jordan Spieth. The trouble he gets into sometimes ... now, he can be relatable. Like many players, Spieth hit into the front bunker at the drivable 14th and promptly sculled his sand shot out of bounds. He had to drop it in the bunker—and the referee called him on his drop—and then he amazingly got up and down for a bogey that puts him at six over, one shot off the cut.
5:43 p.m.: How different are these guys from us? Bryson DeChambeau just hit a 6-iron from 248 at the par-3 11th, and put it to four feet. Though Curtis Strange did note that the numbers on the bottom of the clubs these days don't mean as much. That makes us feel a little better. Bryson makes birdie at 11 for his first of the day and is back at two under.
5:26 p.m.: Rahm will be no happier. He bogeyed the the 12th and is now a shot out of the cutline at six over.
5:16 p.m.: Jon Rahm, fighting to make the cut and currently rigiht on the number at five over, is running hot under the collar. After a par at 11, a hot mic picked him up saying, "Great hole PGA. Great f-----g hole!” Then, on the next tee, he pushed his drive to the right and immediately stared to his right, ripping off his golf glove as if an umpire call him on a looking third strike.
5:05 p.m.: For much of the morning, it looked like the cut would eventually drift to six over, but with calmer afternoon conditions, that now appears unlikely. According to Datagolf, there is an 80 percent chance the cut will be five over, where Justin Thomas and Jon Rahm both currently stand.
4:48 p.m.: There are trends and there are coincidences, so make what you will of the following: In the last three majors played at Oak Hill (2013 PGA, 2003 PGA, 1989 U.S. Open), the eventual champion either led or co-led after 36 holes. And in all six majors at Oak Hill, the champion was among the top three on the leaderboard after two rounds. The top three right now? Corey Conners (-6), Scottie Scheffler (-4) and Viktor Hovland (-4). Place your bets accordingly.
4:38 p.m.: Corey Conners rolls in another putt at the second, this time from 21 feet for birdie to get to six under, extending his lead to two over Scheffler and Bradley, though Keegan is making a mess of the par-4 seventh and has to get up and down from the bunker to avoid a double. Conners has now gained nearly five strokes putting so far this week.
4:25 p.m.: Add Bryson DeChambeau to the list of victims of the brutally difficult 503-yard par-4 sixth, as he makes a double bogey to drop back to one under, four back of the lead. The hole is playing to a scoring average around 4.83 today, which if it holds will be the first time in 30 years a hole has played more than 0.8 shots over par in a round at the PGA.
4:18 p.m.: For the guys at three, four and five over, the focus will surely be on making the cut to guarantee a tee time this weekend, but history tells us that if they want a chance at hoisting the Wanamaker, they need to make a bit of a run to close their second rounds. Since the PGA went to stroke play in 1958, 63 of the 65 champions were inside the top 20 at the end of the second round. If that trend holds, big names like Brooks Koepka (+2, T-29), Rory McIlroy (+3, T-38), Jordan Spieth (+3, T-38) need to get going.
4:04 p.m.: After the leader Corey Conners found the bunker off the tee at the 18th (his ninth hole of the day) and was forced to lay up, he drains a 10-footer for par to keep his one-shot lead. He made a similar par putt on 17. If you’re not familiar with Conners’ game, he is a flusher—routinely near the top of the tour in ball-striking stats—who often battles his putter. He’s currently 134th on tour in strokes gained/putting this season, but so far this week, he’s ranked sixth on the greens at Oak Hill. If that holds, look for Conners to be in contention on the back nine on Sunday.
3:53 p.m.: We may have spoken too soon about the rain relenting, as it is once again coming down at a steady clip. The good news for the guys on the course is that the wind is not as much of a factor as it was earlier in the day.
3:37 p.m.: Welcome back to Earth, Scottie Scheffler. It took 25 holes, but the World No. 2 has made a bogey at Oak Hill, dropping a shot at the seventh to fall back to four under. With that bogey, Corey Conners is your solo leader at five under as he looks to become the first Canadian to win the PGA.
3:34 p.m.: The afternoon wave may have played through the worst weather of the day to start their rounds, but it’s looking like they caught the favorable side of the draw as the rain is subsiding and the once gusty winds have died down. With softer greens and calm conditions, look for some better scores this afternoon, especially as Scheffler and company head for the easier back nine.
3:22 p.m.: Playing the par-3 fifth, Jon Rahm sits right on the cut line at five over. He holds the longest active made cut streak in majors (14) and has played the weekend at every major since the 2019 PGA at Bethpage. If he goes on to miss the cut at Oak Hill, he would make it six of the last seven Masters champions to miss the cut in their first PGA after winning at Augusta National.
3:12 p.m.: Thursday at Oak Hill brought chilly temps (and a frost delay) and Friday is bringing gusty winds and rain. It’s no wonder that there are a bunch of guys inside the top 10 who grew up in northern climates and are presumably accustomed to these conditions. Canadian Corey Conners just made a two at the par-3 15th to grab a share of the lead, as he’s joined by fellow countrymen Taylor Pendrith and Adam Svensson in the top 10. New England native Keegan Bradley (-3, T-4) is also playing well, as are the Norwegian Viktor Hovland (-3, T-4) and Englishman Justin Rose (-1, T-6).
2:51 p.m.: We have a lot going on right now at Oak Hill. Members of the maintenance crew are now out on the fifth hole with a bunch of pollen buds on the green ... and being the great sports fans they are, the Western New York crowd gives the boys with the blowers a hearty applause. Hilarious that Scottie Scheffler and Ted Scott were directing them around a little to make sure they got his line ... we'll allow that when you're a Masters champion and have a chance to add a second major title.
We also have Min Woo Lee making birdies in five of his first seven holes to jolt up the leaderboard ... he's now at 1-under for the tournament with this hot start. The front nine has been the more difficult side, and the conditions were supposed to be difficult this afternoon—but perhaps the rain we're getting right now will make it a little softer and more playable for this afternoon wave. Lots of golf to play—we'll see if the predicted winds pick up later in the day.
2:44 p.m.: Corey Conners played a lovely low wedge below the trees at the par-5 13th hole from 141 yards out to about 10 feet, then cans the birdie putt to move within one of Scottie Scheffler's lead. The par 5s are playing (very slightly) over the par right now, according to Datagolf, but Conners picked up the 12th birdie of the day there.
As the announcers just pointed out, Conners is just one of a handful of Canadians who are playing really well. Taylor Pendrith (who also finished top 10 at Winged Foot, by the way) is in the clubhouse at 1-under (T-7). Adam Svensson is T-5 after two birdies to open his second round. I suppose we're pretty close to the Canadian border up in Rochester, N.Y., so perhaps the Cannucks are digging this cold, blustery weather up north.
2:38 p.m. — Viktor Hovland found the front bunker at the par-3 third hole and it costs him a stroke. Hovland has yet to make a par through three holes—two birdies and a bogey—now putting him at 3-under overall, two back of Scheffler.
2:31 p.m. — Out of nowhere, we have a few cells of rain that have come popped up in Rochester, and it looks like it's raining hard and gusting wind as Bryson DeChambeau gets his first round going on the first hole. It's umbrella and towel season ... which is a bit unexpected ... we knew Saturday was going to be a slog of cold and wetness, but it looks like there might be a few extra minutes of conditions to deal with today.
Bryson's fairway wood off the tee just finds the rough, but the 2020 U.S. Open champion chopped it onto the green to start.
2:20 p.m. — Viktor Hovland has matched Scottie Scheffler's start a few groups later—with birdies of his own on Nos. 1 and 2. The talented Norweigan just nailed a 20-footer on the second hole after an 11-footer on No. 1 ... that's a heckuva way to start his round. He's just one back of Scheffler, who parred No. 3 with an impressive two-putt from across the entire green.
2:14 p.m.: Justin Rose finishes his marathon morning with a par at the ninth hole to get in the clubhouse at 1-under par. It felt like the Englishman was on or near the lead the entire morning ... really stellar play from the Englishman, who bogeyed Nos. 6 and 7—two of the toughest holes on the course—but still is T-7 and firmly in the thick of things looking for his second major championship.
1:57 p.m.: Scottie Scheffler birdies back-to-back holes to start his second round—knocking in a 9-footer on the second hole after his tap-in birdie at No. 1 to take the lead by himself at 5-under. Incredibly impressive start to his round on the more difficult front nine (it has played as a stroke harder all round). That's a nice buffer as he heads to the most challenging stretch on the front.
1:47 p.m. — Patrick Cantlay just carded the round of the day (67), but he's going to walk off the course with a bit of a bitter taste in his mouth. A bogey on his last hole (the ninth) came after missing the green with his approach, then missing a four-footer for par. Still, Cantlay has fought his way back admirably in this championship.
1:38 p.m. — We heard all morning from the broadcasters that the afternoon on Friday will be extremely difficult. Well, Scottie Scheffler is off to an ideal start if the wind does pick up. He just flagged his wedge to a foot for a tap-in birdie to tie Bryson DeChambeau's lead. Oddsmakers have now made Scheffler's odds to win +140 ... nearly even-odds for the 2022 Masters champion to win. That's some massive respect ... there are 53 holes left to play for Scheffler!
1:27 p.m. — The afternoon wave is getting onto the course to begin their second rounds, which includes Scottie Scheffler (-3), who finds the short grass right off the fairway with this tee shot. Despite him trailing Bryson DeChambeau, oddsmakers are making Scottie a big-time favorite to win this championship before he even hits a shot on Friday (they have him at a +200 favorite). For context, the odds for his next closest competitors are 11-1 -- assigned to Bryson (-4), Patrick Cantlay (even) and Viktor Hovland (-2).
Joel Dahmen is off to a very hot start to his second round, birdieing 10, 11 and 12 to start his day so far. Not too shabby, Joel!
1:07 p.m. — Patrick Cantlay has the round of the morning wave so far—getting himself to even-par on the tournament after an opening 74. He just parred 7 to remain four back of Bryson's lead, who will tee off in about an hour. Cantlay is gaining nearly three strokes to the field on approach right now per DataGolf, which is the kind of golf we've seen from the eight-time PGA Tour winner this year.
12:55 p.m. — The sixth hole is an absolute menace. In just the last 45 minutes, Max Homa, Dustin Johnson and Phil Mickelson have all found the hazard right of the fairway and proceeded to miss the green left with a fairway wood. Phil and DJ were lucky enough to stay on land, but as we mentioned before, Homa found the water. He and Mickelson left with doubles, while Johnson was able to hole his bogey putt. Something to watch as the day goes on ...
12:50 p.m. — Justin Rose has missed 10 fairways in a row (that's all of them, so far) and lost nearly two strokes to the field in the process, and yet, is two under par for the day. He should give his putter a big kiss after the round is over.
12:39 p.m. — After an opening-round 74, Patrick Cantlay has fought all the way back to even par, with five birdies on the card through 14 holes. He has gained five and a half strokes on the field already today.
12:33 p.m. — In a way, Max Homa got lucky at the par-4 6th. After his drive found the creek right of the fairway, he broke out the lumber from 256 yards and pulls his approach long and left of the green and into the creek again. He was able to get up and down from there to save double bogey, but it could have been much worse.
12:21 p.m. — Dustin Johnson has bounced back from a two-over first nine with a pair of birdies on his second nine to get back to two-under for the tournament. He's still one over for the day, but with the scoring average rising well above par, that wouldn't be such a bad place to finish.
12:06 p.m. — Mito Pereira, who led the PGA Championship on the 72nd tee last year, has a bogey-free, three-under round going through 11 holes. He has reached red numbers, moving to one-under for the tournament with a birdie at the first (his 10th).
Elsewhere, Canadian Taylor Pendrith, who's from just across Lake Ontario, drains a long birdie putt at No. 7 to move to two-under. He misses a mid-range par putt at his finishing hole to fall back to one-under. But with the wind getting stronger as the day goes on, in the clubhouse with a red number on the board is a great place to be.
In the same group, club pro Michael Block shoots a second consecutive 70 to sit at even par through two rounds, in a tie for 13th. He will make the cut.
11:56 a.m. — Max Homa has played 13 holes in the second round. He is one under par. He has made four pars. After knocking in his fifth birdie of the day at the par-5 fourth, Homa moves to even par, into the top 15.
11:37 a.m. — Hello, Dustin Johnson. After two bogeys at 16 and 17, DJ turns to the front nine and buries a birdie on the shorter par-4 second to get to two-under for the tournament, two behind Bryson DeChambeau and one behind Rose, who bogeyed the 18th hole (his ninth) to drop back to three-under, in a tie with Corey Conners and Scottie Scheffler.
11:06 a.m. — Justin Rose, 2013 U.S. Open champion and 2016 Olympic Gold Medalist, has made three birdies in his first seven holes of the second round to tie for the lead.
10:57 a.m. — Oh dear. Club pro Michael Block, one of the feel-good stories early in this PGA Championship, follows a bogey on the par-5 fourth with a cold shank off the tee on the 165-yard, par-3 fifth. Luckily, his ball hit a tree and ricocheted back in bounds. It was a double bogey when all was said and done, but it could have been worse. Back to even par for the tournament for Block, with the hardest hole on the course coming up next.
10:25 a.m. — It's fair to say the course is playing a little easier today, especially the back nine. Some gettable pins, and some softy conditions that have allowed for some birdies. The wind looks like it's started to kick up, though...
10:07 a.m. — A couple of wiley vets in the form of Justin Rose and Adam Scott have been lurking near the top of the early leaderboard. Rose birdied two of his first three holes and is now into T-2. Scott made back-to-back birdies on 14 and 15, but bogeys eitehr side of those Leave him at T-7
9:46 a.m. — Speaking of the 15th hole, Tony Finau, one-over at the time and playing with Homa, hit a strange shot off the tee that ended disastrously short-sided. Clearly, he didn't watch my video on exactly this. According to the stats, he’d do well to make a par from there. He almost did: He hit a phenomenal flop shot to almost six feet, but his downhill right-to-left breaker burned the edge.
9:34 a.m. — Fresh off back-to-back birdies to move to even par and four back of the current lead, Hideki Matsuyama is standing over a wedge on the 134-yard 15th hole when a commentator predicts there'll be hole-in-one on the hole today. He was almost exactly right: Matsuyama flagged his shot to inside 10 feet, but the putt a third-straight burned the edge.
9:27 a.m. — Dustin Johnson is officially unlucky for not having grabbed a share of the lead at this point. He's now lipped out from 15 feet and 22 feet on the 10th and 12th holes for birdie, which would've moved him into T-1. One of these will fall sooner or later, and it's a good sign that he's giving these birdie chances great looks.
9:17 a.m. — Aaaand just like that, Homa gives one back. He missed the fairway on the 623-yard 13th hole, and ended up with a tricky up-and-down attempt from the rough behind the green that culminated in a missed 15-footer. The curse of the live blog.
9:11 a.m. — Max Homa has been looking rather sharp this morning. He stuffed his shot to within 20 feet on the beefy 245 yard, par-3 11th hole and made the putt for birdie. He had jokingly said he was planning on laying up on that hole earlier this week. Then, on the next, he fired a wedge to six feet and dropped that putt. He's a man we've been expecting to show up in majors, and these kind of stretches are why. Let's see if it continues.
8:37 a.m. — Dustin Johnson lips out a 20-foot birdie putt on the 10th hole, his first of the day, that would have given him a share of the lead at four under with his LIV Golf pal Bryson DeChambeau. With a pair of LIV guys in contention, it's worth your while to read this post from our Shane Ryan that aims to explore what it would actually mean for a LIV golfer to claim a major title.
8:30 a.m. — Block birdies the par-4 14th and is now three under par and tied for second—rare air for a club pro in the PGA. The last club pro to finish in the top 20 was Jay Overton in 1988 at Oak Tree and the best finish ever by a true club professional was Jimmy Wright’s fourth-place finish in 1969 (the PGA of America says Tommy Bolt’s third-place showing in 1971 is the low finish by a club pro but we’re calling b.s. on considering Bolt, who won 15 times on the PGA Tour including a U.S. Open, a club pro).
8:26 a.m. — Tony Finau rolls in a six-foot birdie putt on the 10th hole, his first of the day to get to one over. One over par doesn't sound that great, but it's much better than the six-over mark he was on after his first nine holes on Thursday. Finau, winner a few weeks ago in Mexico, has made five birdies in his next 10 holes.
8:15 a.m. — Patrick Rodgers makes a par on the 18th hole and the first round is officially completed. Bryson DeChambeau holds the lead after 18 holes, but the LIV star shouldn’t be all that optimistic that he’ll be there come Sunday. In the last 17 PGA’s the first-round leader has gone on to win just twice, with Jimmy Walker in 2015 and Brookks Koepka in 2019 the only ones to pull it off.
8:11 a.m. — With a par on the 18th hole, Eric Cole closes out an opening-round 67. It would be seen as an amazing start without the double bogey he made at the resumption of play, but it's still something the 34-year-old can't been too disappointed with.
8:05 a.m. — ESPN cameras pan to the first tee and show Tom Kim waiting for the start of his second round in a pristine white shirt and off-white pants. Of course, the announcers have a chuckle after considering the very less pristine look that Kim had during the end of his first round.
7:58 a.m. — And now Block birdies the par-4 12th to get to two under and a tie for sixth. Or put another way, as the ESPN+ commentators note, he's now eight shots ahead of World No. Jon Rahm.
7:45 a.m. — As the first round wraps up in the morning, the second round is already underway and club pro Michael Block is having a nice start. With a birdie on his first hole (the par-4 10th) he's at one under par. His even-par 70 on Thursday left him with the best score among the 20 club professionals competing this week at Oak Hill.
7:36 a.m. — It's not quite as chilly on Friday morning as it was for the start of Thursday's opening round when play was delayed by a nearly two-hour frost delay. But today's weather challenge is expected to be winds, which are forecasted to jump to 25-30 miles an hour in the afternoon.
7:29 a.m. — Phil Mickelson finishes his opening round with a double bogey and a three-over 73 continuing a disturbing trend for Lefty. Since opening the 2003 PGA with a 66, the two-time PGA champ has gone 75-72-75-71-71-78-72-73 in competitive rounds at Oak Hill.
7:10 a.m. — Cole hits his fourth on to the green, but misses the eight footer for bogey and falls from solo lead to one back of clubhouse leader Byrson DeChambeau.
7:04 a.m. — Sitting on the overnight lead in a major is heady stuff, even for a PGA Tour veteran, let alone a rookie who got into the PGA Championship as an alternate. We can only imagine Eric Cole had a little bit of a restless night sitting at five under with his ball in the middle of the fairway on the sixth hole. Unfortunately the nerves show when he proceeds to hit his approach on the par-4 hole into the water left of the green. Yikes.
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