Cameron Smith loses ground but stays in touch at PGA
Cameron Smith watches his tee shot at the 7th today -PGA of America Montana Pritchard
After an opening round of 68 on Thursday left him three shots behind the leader, Justin Thomas, Cameron Smith now finds himself seven shots from the lead at the PGA Championship in Tulsa in Oklahoma but by no means is he out of contention.
The leader, Will Zalatoris, is not only chasing his first major title but his first PGA Tour victory although with four top tens already to his name he has shown a capacity to handle the heat of the battle at this level.
Zalatoris leads by one over another yet to record a win on the PGA Tour, Mito Pereira, although during a stellar career on the Korn Ferry Tour the Chilean won on three occasions and finished 4th at the Olympics in 2021 and so is a rising star as a rookie on the PGA Tour.
Smith was unable to take full advantage of the better afternoon conditions he enjoyed in his half of the draw although when he reached the turn in 33 he was just two from the then lead before two bogeys on the homeward nine saw him finish in a share of 10th.
Lucas Herbert was tied with Smith heading into round two but, playing in the morning half of the draw on day two, he fell victim to the very demanding windy conditions that prevailed for that side of the draw.
Herbert finished the day with a round of 73 although to his credit he recovered from a horror front nine of 39 with a 1 under run home to finish the opening 36 holes at 1 over par and in a share of 30th place.
New Zealander Ryan Fox continued his good recent form in Europe with a second consecutive round of 70 to be at even par and tied for 23rd. A double bogey at his 5th hole could well have sent him spiralling down the leaderboard but he fought back with a solid finish late in the day and has a great chance of bettering by some way his previous best PGA Championship finish of 27th.
Marc Leishman and Jason Day are tied for 53rd at 3 over while Cameron Davis completed the line-up of six Australasians into the weekend with birdie at the final two holes to make the cut on the number.
Min Woo Lee missed by an agonising one shot after his round of 72 today, Adam Scott rebounded with a second round of 70 but still missed by three, while Matt Jones was further back.
Zalatoris is developing a reputation for playing the big events well and after his round of 65 he explained why.
“Yeah, they’re tough golf courses that allows my ball-striking to really give me the best chances,” said the leader.
“Obviously these greens aren’t easy, but hitting them on the right tiers and being able to have the 15- to 25-footers where I’m not going up and down slopes is huge.
“But the other part, too, I think is just I’ve kind of had an attitude with the majors, especially since the Masters, where I wanted to enjoy the experience as much as I could. I don’t want to leave anything — looking back from 20 years from now I don’t want to regret my attitude or anything like that.
“So I just make sure that after really every single shot I hit, it’s just — I don’t want to say life or death, but make sure I’m fully committed to everything that I do because we only get four of them a year.”
Will Zalatoris at the 7th today – photo PGA of America Montana Pritchard
Tiger Wood’s performance was again the subject of much scrutiny and he let no-one down with yet another impressive fight to finish at 3 over and inside the cutline of 4 over.
A double bogey at his 11th hole took Woods to 5 over and it appeared that might have cost him the chance of making his second cut in succession after his return from injuries sustained in his near death accident fifteen months ago.
“Well, just the fact that I’m able to play golf again and play in our biggest championships,” said Woods when asked what makes the battle against pain worth it.
“As I alluded to earlier, you guys all know, I’m not going to be playing a lot of tournaments going forward. They’re going to be the biggest tournaments. I want to be able to play the major championships. I’ve always loved playing them.
“Coming back here to a place that I’ve had success on, to play against the best players in the world, that’s what we all want to be able to do. Fortunately enough, I’m able to somehow do it. I’ve had a great PT staff that have put Humpty-Dumpty back together, and we’ll go out there tomorrow, and hopefully tomorrow I can do something like what Bubba did today.”
Tiger Woods today – photo Darren Carroll PGA of America
