PGA: McNealy, Smalley lead at 4-under

Maverick McNealy and Alex Smalley reached the halfway point of the PGA Championship tied for the lead at 4-under-par 136 on Friday at Aronimink Golf Club in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania. The PGA Championship’s official site said the pair shared the 36-hole lead after two rounds on a course that produced a tightly packed leaderboard and higher scores than many players expected. (pgachampionship.com) Golf Channel’s live coverage showed Scottie Scheffler, the defending champion and world No. 1, remained within two shots of the lead heading into the weekend. Aronimink’s setup was a central part of the second round. (pgachampionship.com) The PGA Championship’s official round-two yardages listed the course at par 70 and 7,238 yards for Friday, while Golf Channel’s coverage said wind and difficult hole locations pushed scores upward through the day. Scheffler said Friday’s pins were “the hardest set of pin locations that I’ve seen,” according to Golf Channel. ### How crowded was the leaderboard at halfway? The PGA Championship said McNealy and Smalley were tied for first at 4-under, with a group at 3-under including Aldrich Potgieter, Min Woo Lee, Max Greyserman, Stephan Jaeger, Hideki Matsuyama and Chris Gotterup. (pgachampionship.com) The official leaderboard also showed Scheffler among the players tied for ninth at 2-under. The official PGA Championship report called the leaderboard “jam-packed” through 36 holes. That report also said 4-under was the highest leading 36-hole total in a PGA Championship since Southern Hills in 2022, underscoring how few players separated themselves on Friday. (pgachampionship.com) ### Where did Potgieter’s round turn? Aldrich Potgieter briefly moved to the top of the leaderboard before a bogey on the par-3 17th dropped him back, according to Golf Channel’s live updates referenced in the event coverage. By the end of the round, the official PGA Championship leaderboard had Potgieter tied for third at 3-under. (pgachampionship.com) Hole 17 measured 214 yards in Friday’s official setup, with a designated drop zone also listed by the PGA Championship. That made it one of the longer par 3s on the course in the second round. (pgachampionship.com) ### How did Scheffler stay close after his fast start? Scottie Scheffler opened the championship with a 3-under 67 on Thursday, Golf Channel reported, and began the second round among seven players tied for the first-round lead. Friday was less smooth: Golf Channel said Scheffler opened on the 10th hole, missed his first three fairways and slipped with early bogeys before staying within range of the leaders. (pgachampionship.com) Golf Channel later summarized Scheffler’s position by saying he had fallen two shots behind the lead. The official leaderboard showed him at 2-under entering the third round, still in a large group with realistic weekend chances. (pgachampionship.com) ### Why was Aronimink producing higher scores? The PGA Championship’s official report said strong wind, cool temperatures and difficult hole locations combined to make Aronimink a “stern test” in the first two rounds. Golf Channel’s live blog echoed that assessment during Friday play, saying “the wind is up and so are the scores” as few players moved deeper under par. (golfchannel.com) Friday’s setup data showed two par 3s over 200 yards and a par-70 layout stretched beyond 7,200 yards. Those numbers help explain why the lead stayed at 4-under rather than moving lower before the weekend. (golfchannel.com) ### What comes next on Saturday? The 108th PGA Championship runs from May 11 through May 17 at Aronimink Golf Club, according to the tournament’s official site. Round 3 is scheduled for Saturday, May 16, with McNealy and Smalley set to start the weekend in front and Scheffler, Potgieter and a cluster of players within reach. (pgachampionship.com 1) (pgachampionship.com 2) (pgachampionship.com 3)