For the first time in a while, that Friday afternoon feeling of either making the cut or hanging on the first page of the leaderboard became enhanced with the very vocal supporters at The Ocean Course down in South Carolina.
A number of high-profile golfers made their move on Friday as one heck of a leaderboard takes shape for this weekend at Kiawah Island.
2021 PGA Championship notes: Friday edition
Phil’s Fanatics Rejoice! – Could he really do this? The 50-year-old man who spends more time selecting sunglasses and memorizing media answers put together a 3-under 69 for a share of the top spot at the halfway point in the championship. Mickelson’s playing really smart golf, not taking a lot of gambles and thriving from the pro-Phil crowd.
It seems the entire country of South Africa came alive on this Friday as well. Louis Oosthuizen, winner of the 2010 Open Championship, goes off with Phil in the final game tomorrow. Christiaan Bezuidenhout and Branden Grace look to make a weekend run. Grace looks to avenge the infamous gag on the 16th at the 2015 US Open a few years back when he visited the train tracks alongside Chambers Bay.
Names You Know – The PGA sometimes gets the ugly stepchild look to its tournament. Not this year. Brooks Koepka, Masters champion Hideki Matsuyama, Sungjae Im, Paul Casey and Bryson DeChambeau became part of the mix in a clumped leaderboard that makes even the most jaded sports fan smile. Even Rickie Fowler made the cut!
This Stupid Game! – Cameron Tringale should’ve easily made the cut at the PGA. He actually put himself in a good position for a solid paycheck come Sunday night. Then he stepped up to the 14th hole. Triple bogey. He regained composure to par the 15th. On the par-5 16th, Tringale found the water twice from the tee and then made a visit to the native area. The final damage? A 10 -- 5 over par on one hole. Forget contention, Tringale wanted to get to Saturday. Then a quad on the 17th sealed his fate: an 82 and a slammed truck.
Erik van Rooyen did less damage on his card, but more on the course as he swiped at the tee marker on 17. van Rooyen finally found something successful down the stretch as they needed to find the auxiliary tee marker for the hole.
