Justin Rose and Shane Lowry brutally humbled in PGA Championship second round as Scottie Scheffler battles to stay in contention amid day of carnage in Philadelphia

For those who enjoy the sight of elite golfers pummelled into states of humility, humiliation and anger, then the PGA Championship has so far performed a service to the greater good.

At the halfway stage of the season’s second major, these guys are taking the kind of pounding that no one saw coming.

It was meant to be straightforward, this course in the suburbs of Philadelphia, where so many trees have been hacked down and Rory McIlroy bemoaned that tee shots were devoid of strategy. Just bash it down there, he had said on Tuesday.

But after two rounds of extremely modest scoring in extremely trying conditions, those views have been replaced by a mixture of grumbles, bogeys, carnage and big-name calamities, none bigger or more calamitous than Bryson DeChambeau. At seven over par, not even a closing streak of three straight birdies could save him from a second major cut in succession.

At the other end of the leaderboard, Alex Smalley and Maverick McNealy set the pace on four under par, but 13 men lurk within a couple of strokes, including the big beasts of Scottie Scheffler, Cameron Young, Justin Thomas and Ludvig Aberg on two under.

Jon Rahm is one further back and McIlroy’s 67 proved the value of his two-hour range session on Thursday night – the Masters champion rebounded from his opening 74 to reach one over par after showing considerable improvement off the tee.

Predicting the likely movers of Saturday would border on pointless because Aronimink Golf Club is delightfully resistant to conventional wisdom.

Somehow, this old classic of a course has blended the rough of a US Open with the weather of an Open Championship and greens that are generating substantially more three-putts than Augusta National.

Folk often say that the PGA Championship suffers from an identity crisis but its 108th edition has plundered the key characteristics of its bigger brothers.

Whether that is entirely positive is vulnerable to some debate.

Enter Scheffler, who spoke for many in querying if it was all a little too hard. ‘Absurd’ was the word he used for several of the pin positions.

At two under par after a 71 in the worst of the morning gusts, he couldn’t be accused of being a sore loser, because he is too near the top for that. But did he have a point? Quite possibly, especially in relation to the 14th hole, a par three where his playing partner Matt Fitzpatrick four-putted for a double bogey.

Scheffler added: ‘It was probably the hardest pin that I’ve seen in a long time just because there’s literally a spine and they’re like, “Oh, we’ll just put the pin right on top of it”. They are the hardest set of pin locations that I’ve seen since I’ve been on tour.’

We might stress that Scheffler did not accuse the set-up of being ‘unfair’, but there are places where it veered close to the line, given these greens are monumentally hilly at the best of times and wind speeds of 25 miles per hour call for prudence with the placement of flags.

By plonking them in proximity to the steepest slopes, the minds who decide such things have succeeded only in encouraging the field to excessively prioritise cautious approach play over adventurous shot-making. For the sake of a broader test of golf, it might be hoped that the balance can correct itself a little at the weekend.

For the time being, the thrills have largely been supplied by the charges of so-called lesser names and the mishaps of the big. 

Shane Lowry, for one. Starting his round at two under and in contention, he shanked into the lake on the 17th like a 25-handicapper. A 76 put him four over and a fraction inside the cut.

Justin Rose fared better with a 73, illuminated by a chip-in eagle at the last that carried him to three over. But he too had a showpiece blip by ballooning a drive so far right on the 13th that a row of bins needed to be moved ahead of his next shot.

It was that kind of day. But it was also tediously slow – rounds were taking in excess of five and a half hours.

That encouraged consternation of a different sort when the group including Justin Thomas, Keegan Bradley and Cameron Young were put on the clock.

Thomas, who is contending for his third PGA Championship title after a second straight 69, was particularly aggrieved to be singled out. Smalley’s group received the same warning.

DeChambeau’s aggravations were more pronounced. His tournament was summed up by his double-bogey six on the seventh, when blocked his drive right, hacked out into the rough and then duffed his recovery into a bunker. 

He added some late gloss with a back-nine 33 but his 71 contributed to a dismal total of seven over. The LIV golfer and his tour are going through a tough moment.

Other famed names to struggle were Bob MacIntyre and Tommy Fleetwood, who departed on five over after respective loops of 75 and 73. Curiously, Fleetwood has not finished in the top 10 of a major since the Masters in 2024, a slump out of keeping with his talent. Tyrrell Hatton also missed the cut.

McIlroy, meanwhile, is showing signs of life. A bogey-free 67 was characterised by better driving, with the world No 2 hitting eight fairways compared to just five on Thursday.

The range session appears to have corrected a degree of McIlroy’s issues with his favoured weapon, though it ought to be noted he benefited from the calmer evening weather.

The round of the day belonged to Chris Gotterup, who shot 65 in the breezier winds. At three under par, the American’s impressive season of two PGA Tour titles appears to be gaining pace on the big stage.