Tiger Woods assisted Justin Thomas at the PGA Championship with a rather blunt statement. The world number nine shot his second successive 67 to end day two six under par, three shots behind leader Will Zalatoris.
After another positive day’s play the American shared the advice he was given by the 15-time major winner to negotiate the windy conditions at Southern Hills. “The first time I played competitively with Tiger, I just asked him: ‘What do you see?’ He said: ‘You don't move the ball enough’. For me it was a case of: ‘He's pretty good, he said that, I should probably try it,” said Thomas.
“Just being as windy as it was today, there was a lot of manipulating different shots. I played better today than I did yesterday. It was a lot more difficult due to the wind but I made it very easy on myself.
“There’s a lot of golf left but if I keep doing what I’m doing I’m excited for the week.” He finished off in style yesterday, walking in a ten-foot birdie putt at his final hole and the former world number one will hope to keep that momentum going as the event moves into its final two days.
The 29-year-old is aiming to win his second PGA Championship after capturing the crown in 2017. Elsewhere, Tiger Woods produced a monumental effort to shoot a 1-under-par 69 on Friday and finished at 3-over to make the cut.
The golf legend appeared to be in some discomfort on Thursday, as he’s playing his second successive major on his surgically-repaired right leg. In an interview with ESPN, Woods explained how he was able to withstand the pain and remain focused on the task in hand.
"There's a mission. The mission is to go ahead and win this thing somehow and I know sometimes it doesn't exactly feel well but hey, that's what it is,” Woods said. “That's life, that's sports. We push it, sometimes it breaks but that's OK, you get back out there and that's why I got a great PT staff.
“I'm really good at breaking things and really good at fixing things, so it's a great relationship.” Meanwhile, Rory McIlroy’s level dropped slightly in round two as he shot 71 and is now four under par. He dropped a shot at the second and three-putted for bogey at the seventh, before he recovered somewhat on the back nine, registering a first birdie of the day when holing a putt from 10 feet at the 12th, with a run of pars down the closing stretch.
In the shock of the tournament, the favourite for the event and Masters champion Scottie Scheffler, missed the cut at six over par after rounds of 71-75. After missing his first cut of the season on a course that appeared to suit him well, the world number one lamented his poor performance. “I had some good shots I had some bad ones, and I was punished pretty severely for the bad ones,” Scheffler said. “Today, I hit a lot of good shots it just got a few weird gusts and couldn't make any putts.”
