PGA Championship 2019: Five storylines heading into Friday's second round
Everything you need to know heading into the second day of the PGA Championship at Bethpage Black in Farmingdale, N.Y.:
There’s Brooks, and there’s everyone else
Brooks Koepka is on a one-major winless streak, and that’s apparently quite enough for him. Koepka started by birdieing the very first hole and stayed thermonuclear the rest of the way, scorching Bethpage for a course-record 63 and streaking out to an early lead that held up the rest of the day. Koepka is establishing himself as a literal Tiger-esque major hunter, unflinching and unconcerned with anyone who’s pursuing him. Which, at the moment, is everyone. He’s going to be tough to beat.
Who’s Danny Lee?
There was a time a decade ago, long before anyone had heard of Koepka or Jordan Spieth, that Danny Lee looked like he was about to become the game’s Next Great Thing. He was, at the time, the youngest winner of the U.S. Amateur and looked positioned to join a young Rory McIlroy as one of the greats of the next generation. It didn’t work out that way — he didn’t qualify for any majors at all for most of the 2010s — and so the fact that he’s just one stroke behind Koepka at 6-under is something of a minor miracle. A strong finish here could jump-start his career — the guy’s younger than Koepka and Dustin Johnson, after all. We’ll see if his strong play holds on for another day.
Tiger’s Masters hangover
Tiger Woods roared off the green at Augusta last month looking like he was going to devour the golf world. He stumbled over his own feet on the very first hole of the PGA Championship, and alternated flashes of brilliance with incredibly bad putting. He finished the day at 2-over, nine strokes behind Koepka. He’s not out of it, not by a wide margin, but he’s going to have to play some perfect golf over the next three days.
Lurking leaderboard
With all due respect to Luke List, Chez Reavie and Mike Lorenzo-Vera, the players right behind Koepka and Lee aren’t exactly household names outside of their own households. But looking below that level — right around the even-par line — and you see some of the top draws in the game: Phil Mickelson, Jason Day, Rickie Fowler, Dustin Johnson and the impeccably named Jazz Janewattananond. Also right there: Jordan Spieth, needing only the PGA to complete the career Grand Slam. Spieth hasn’t played like himself in more than a year, but his 1-under opening round at least keeps him within sight of the top of the leaderboard.
As good as it’s going to get
Bethpage played like it was a U.S. Open Thursday, with thick rough and pool table greens. Only about a dozen players ended up carding below-par rounds, which in the PGA Championship is as rare as an ace on a par 5. And the bad news for the players is, without any rain in the immediate forecast, this could be the best the course plays all weekend. Anyone who’s going to catch Koepka is going to have to card the round of their lives ... or hope that he detonates.
The PGA Championship’s second round begins Friday morning at 6:45 a.m. ET.
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Jay Busbee is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Contact him at jay.busbee@yahoo.com or find him on Twitter or on Facebook.
