PGA Championship: Brooks Koepka keeps rolling with a 65, takes 7-stroke lead with record 36-hole score

FARMINGDALE, N.Y. – After making the game of golf seem ridiculously easy on Friday at the PGA Championship, and after rewriting the major championship record book at the event’s halfway point, Brooks Koepka had a confession to make.

“This probably sounds bad, but today was a battle,” he said. “I didn't strike it that good. I was leaking a few to the right.”

Well, Koepka struck it well enough to shoot a 5-under-par 65 at Bethpage Black and post a record 36-hole score of 12-under 128 to lead by seven strokes. We’re not just talking a PGA Championship record, we’re talking about the lowest 36-hole score of any major championship in golf history.

His seven-stroke margin is a 36-hole record for a PGA. It boggles the mind to think of how far ahead he would be had he struck it as purely as he did Thursday during his course-record 63 in the opening round.

“The way I hung in there today and battled it, I think that was probably more impressive than” Thursday, said Koepka, 29, the defending champion and a three-time major winner. “Not having your A-game but still being able to shoot a great score, I was very, very pleased with the way I played today.”

While Koepka was turning the Black course into his golf playground, Tiger Woods tried mightily to find some kind of remedy that could have kept him around for the weekend, but it was not to be. The Masters champion couldn’t buy a birdie on his final four holes, shot a 73 for a 145 total, and missed the 36-hole cut by one.

Koepka did show a bit of a human side Friday with his first two bogeys of the week, but he more than made up for them with seven birdies. Three of his birdies came on the last four holes on putts of 4, 5 and 11 feet, so obviously he was striking the ball better late in his round.

Except for a 3-putt bogey at No. 17, where his second putt of 7 feet bounced and fell short, Koepka looked extremely confident with the putter. He credited work he has done since the Masters that has improved his stroke.

“I putted great,” he said. “I feel like every time I slide the putter right behind the ball, it's lined up perfectly, and I don't have to do anything. I don't have to kind of adjust. I feel as comfortable as I've ever felt putting this week.”

Before Koepka began his round, Jordan Spieth took a step toward possible history this weekend. Needing a victory to complete golf’s Grand Slam, Spieth fired a 66 for a total of 135. He was trailing by two when his round ended, but Koepka birdied three of his first four holes to let everyone know that he was still in charge.

He certainly impressed Woods, one of his playing partners the first two days.

“What Brooksy did, he's driving it 330 yards in the middle of the fairway,” Woods said. “He's got 9-irons when most of us are hitting 5-irons, 4-irons, and he's putting well. That adds up to a pretty substantial lead, and if he keeps doing what he's doing, there's no reason why he can't build on this lead.”

Adam Scott shot the day’s best round, a 64, to tie Spieth for second. Dustin Johnson, the world’s No. 1-ranked player, fired a 67 to join a five-player group tied at 136. One of those players, Kelly Kraft, who came in as an alternate after past champion Justin Thomas withdrew with a wrist injury, had a 65.

Koepka and Spieth will play in the final pairing of Saturday’s third round. With no Woods to follow on the weekend, maybe the gallery that followed him will return to Koepka. Maybe they will be nicer to him.

“There was some guy yelling,'Shank it’ all the way up 18,” Koepka said, laughing. “I felt pretty confident I wasn’t going to shank the driver. I mean, that happens every time you play with Tiger; New York. It’s fun. It’s just something to laugh at.”

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