Last week it was Tiger Woods who was chasing history in his pursuit of 59 at the Bridgestone Invitational. On Friday at Oak Hill it was Jason Dufner who stood over a 12 foot putt to post the lowest 18 score ever posted in major championship history. Dufner missed the putt and became the 24th player to shoot 63 in a major.
Dufner broke the Oak Hill Country Club course record with a 63 in the second round. The competitive course
record of 64 on the East Course at Oak Hill was held by Ben Hogan (1942 Rochester Open), Curtis Strange (1989
U.S. Open) and Webb Simpson (2013 PGA Championship).
Dufner’s previous low round in a major is a 65 at the 2011 PGA Championship. Dufner’s 63 matches his career low
round on TOUR. He has five other rounds of 63 on TOUR.
13 players have made the cut in all four major championships this year. Tiger Woods and Adam Scott are among the group of 13.
Despite the low scoring at Oak Hill Country Club, there were several notables who weren’t able to take advantage of the soft conditions and missed the cut in the season’s final major championship.
Charl Schwartzel, Bubba Watson and Davis Love III all finished at +4 for 36 holes and will miss the weekend. Luke Donald (+5), Ernie Els (+6), Padraig Harrington (+7) also will be taking in the PGA Championship as a spectator after struggling at Oak Hill on Thursday and Friday.
27 players are under par thru 36 holes. In 2003, only 3 players finished in red numbers. In 1989 at the U.S. Open there were six players under par. This isn’t the Oak Hill we’ve come to see in major championships.
Webb Simpson has posted three consecutive 9-hole splits of 32. After a front nine 40, Simpson was on his way towards missing the cut after his front nine of the tournament until he righted the ship. Simpson now finds himself in the mix in search of his 2nd major title.
Rory McIlroy had 28 putts in Rnd. 1 and 29 putts in Rnd. 2. McIlroy had to bring his “A’ game over the final nine holes on Friday to make the cut and he delivered. Is Rory finally starting to figure things out? He sits even par headed into the weekend.
University of Illinois product, Luke Guthrie is the only of five PGA TOUR rookies to make the cut this week. Derek Ernst, Russell Henley, David Lingmerth and Jordan Spieth all missed the cut.
Hideki Matsuyama has made the cut in each of his first five starts in a major championship. Tiger Woods, Phil
Mickelson, Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player were not able to accomplish that feat.
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