What a wildly unpredictable Friday at Aronimink. The weather truly played mind games with the field, flipping from an absolute "Arctic Open" cold in t
What a wildly unpredictable Friday at Aronimink. The weather truly played mind games with the field, flipping from an absolute “Arctic Open” cold in the morning to a bright, Marbella-like sun by the late afternoon. That shifting climate completely transformed the golf course and caught some of the best players in the world entirely off-guard.
2026 PGA Championship – Leaderboard After Round 2
T1. Maverick McNealy -4 (F)
T1. Alex Smalley -4 (F)
T3. Hideki Matsuyama -3 (F)
T3. Min Woo Lee -3 (F)
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T9. Scottie Scheffler -2 (F) <– Fought back after brutal start
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PROJECTED CUT LINE +4 <– Justin Rose lands on right side
For a brief hour on Friday morning, Scottie Scheffler looked human. Shivering through a brutal, biting cold, the World No. 1 endured a nightmare opening stretch that echoed the weekend golfer’s worst nightmares:he opened his round with three bogeys on his first four holes. The freezing early conditions made distance control nearly impossible, and the PGA of America unleashed what Scheffler later called “the hardest pins I’ve ever seen on tour.” Showing the resilience of a true champion, Scheffler stopped the bleeding with a miraculous par lag-putt on the 14th. He eventually carded a 1-over 71 to steady the ship, sitting safely at 2-under overall (T9) and firmly in the hunt.
If you want to see pure major championship drama, look no further than 45-year-old veteran Justin Rose. His scorecard was an absolute roller coaster featuring four bogeys, three birdies, and two crushing double-bogeys.
Standing on his final hole of the day (the par-5 9th), Rose was sitting at 5-over par—firmly on the wrong side of the projected +4 cut line. After his second shot sailed 267 yards into the penal, thick left rough, his weekend looked completely over. Instead, he dug into the grass with his wedge from 25 yards out, landing a sensational chip-in eagle that tracked straight into the cup. The miraculous shot moved him to 3-over par, booking his ticket to the weekend in spectacular fashion.
While Rose found magic, Bryson DeChambeau found only misery. Following a devastating opening-round 76, Bryson needed a heroic Friday rebound to survive. Instead, his aggressive, high-variance style was entirely weaponized against him by Aronimink’s diabolical layout. Bryson’s trademark brute force backfired violently. When his monster drives missed the fairways, Aronimink’s dense, penal rough completely neutralized his ability to control spin. Because he was constantly hacking out of the thick collars, he could not attack the tucked, glass-like pins. Even though he scraped together a 1-over 71 on Friday, his 7-over par total left him missing the weekend cut by three agonizing strokes. His early exit highlights just how unforgiving a classic Donald Ross layout can be when you try to overpower it.
The chilling morning weather that tormented players early on Friday is officially a thing of the past. Aronimik Golf Club is transitioning into a true “Marbella” summer vibe for the weekend.
Saturday: Skies will be entirely sunny. High temperatures are forecast to spike to 79°F to 80°F. Winds will remain steady between 8–14 mph with gusts up to 22 mph.
Sunday: The tournament wraps up with the warmest day of the week, reaching a sunny 85°F to 87°F.
With no more rain in the forecast, this intense heat will dry out the layout rapidly. The already brutal fairways and green complexes will become rock-firm, slick, and significantly faster. Balls will seamlessly bounce straight into the penal Donald Ross rough if tee shots are even marginally offline.
Photo: Instagram
Radu Roman
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