Charles Howell III hopes to clinch third win at The RSM Classic

FARMINGDALE, N.Y. – The second round of the PGA Championship saw Brooks Koepka blitz out in front of the field… can he be caught? Here PGATOUR.COM’s writers tackle some of the big questions out of Friday at Bethpage Black. Brooks Koepka turned a one-shot lead into a seven-shot lead at the halfway mark of the PGA Championship. His 12-under 128 is a major championship record. Can we call this Tiger-like dominance yet? BEN EVERILL (Staff Writer): Woods’ 81 PGA TOUR wins might be saying, “hold my beerâ€�… But credit must come thick and fast if Koepka holds up the Wanamaker trophy again on Sunday. That will be four wins in his last eight major starts – not done since Woods in 2005-06. No one has ever defended the U.S. Open and PGA Championship in their career. That’s new history. SEAN MARTIN (Senior Editor): I don’t think we can, for two reasons. Tiger’s best runs lasted longer and it extended beyond the major championships. Woods’s win in the 2002 U.S. Open was his seventh victory in 11 majors. He won two majors by double-digits. A win this week would be Brooks’ fourth in his last eight majors. Also, Woods has 81 PGA TOUR victories. Brooks has five. I’m not ready to go down that road yet, no matter how good Brooks has looked. CAMERON MORFIT (Staff Writer): It’s absolutely Tiger-like. Woods led by six halfway through the 2000 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach and wound up winning by 15. How many will Koepka win by? That’s the only suspense left in this tournament. ROB BOLTON (Fantasy Insider): Sorry, but I’m not taking that bait. Indeed, Koepka is in his own lane right now, but it’d take years for it to merge with that narrative. Leave hyperbole to social media and Bartolo Colon home run calls. RELATED: Tee times | Leaderboard | Koepka builds seven-shot lead How many shots will Koepka win by (or not by)? EVERILL: He talked about winning double digit majors in his career… I think he can win by double digits here. 10 shots. MARTIN: Five. I think there has to be some regression at some point. That said, it’s not like he’s simply relying on a hot putter. He shot 65 on Friday and the longest putt he holed was 11 feet. It’s his iron play that has been incredible. And that is less likely than the putter to desert a player in an instant. Bethpage Black is just too punishing to allow a player to keep cruising like he has, though. MORFIT: Scott doesn’t inspire confidence with his putting, and Spieth looks pretty suspect with his driving, so I’m going to say 14. BOLTON: Even fantasy leagues that reward bonus points for margins of victory don’t care much about it after only two rounds, but if Koepka is threatening Rory McIlroy’s record eight-shot runaway (in 2012) after 54 holes are in the books, then give me the over. Adam Scott flirted with an extremely low round before settling for a 64. Koepka has a 63 and 65. Danny Lee shot 64. Has Bethpage Black lost its bite? EVERILL: No. This course still is plenty long. And the rough has plenty of bite. But it has always given you the chance to score if you find the fairway. Ask Tiger Woods, Jon Rahm, Sergio Garcia, Bubba Watson or Bryson DeChambeau how hard it is… they were among those to miss the cut. MARTIN:  I wouldn’t go that far. The rough is still extremely penal and the fairways are narrow. They’re fairly soft, though, which makes them play wider. And the greens are still relatively soft by major championship standards. And they’re fairly flat, which makes it easier to get on a roll. MORFIT: These are the best players in the world. It’s what they do. And after watching what the back nine has done to these guys, including Rory’s horrific 40 Friday, I’d say the place still has plenty of bite. BOLTON: Not quite. Remember, these are professional golfers. Bethpage is performing exactly how the PGA of America wants it to given the conditions and setup. It’s penalizing poor play and rewarding form commensurately. Jordan Spieth has found his way to second place, albeit seven shots back. Are we seeing the end of the slump once and for all? EVERILL: I really want to say yes but his stats this season, and this week, give me pause. Spieth hit just nine greens on Friday but rode a hot putter. Also his scoring average on Thursdays and Fridays has been fine this season… it is the weekends where he has tanked. If he puts four rounds together I’ll be more positive. MARTIN: I can’t make that proclamation yet. The weekends have been his biggest struggle. He’s played well on Thursday and Friday several times. But any uncertainty about one’s swing gets exposed under the pressure, and that’s been the case this year. I’ll have to wait to at least until Monday to make that proclamation. MORFIT: By his own admission he has made everything he’s looked at on the greens. I don’t like the big misses I’ve seen in his driver, and he was T88 in Driving Accuracy through the first two rounds. That tells you how great his putting his been, and that he’s not really back yet.  BOLTON: Two rounds don’t make or break a slump or surge and I want to see him put four together, but his first 36 holes at Bethpage match his confident rhetoric pre-tournament, so let’s not lose sight of that connection. Tiger Woods missed the cut. Does this make you think twice about his chances at the U.S. Open next month? EVERILL: I’m going to cut Woods some slack. He didn’t play between his Masters win and this week and then was sick in the lead up. He looked underdone and lethargic at times but by Pebble Beach, where he’s had so much success, you can assume he will be healthier. MARTIN:  I don’t think so. Pebble Beach is so much shorter. I thought his ball-striking looked solid on Thursday. He was just plagued by some silly mistakes. And he just couldn’t find a fairway on Friday. He won’t have to rely on his driver at Pebble Beach, though. I think Tiger still had the Masters hangover when he turned up at Bethpage Black. He’ll likely play the Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide before the U.S. Open so that will give him another opportunity for some reps. MORFIT: Tiger just didn’t have it this week from the moment he double-bogeyed his very first hole, the brutish 10th. He drove it badly and made silly mistakes, which makes his Masters win look even more remarkable in retrospect. Was he tired? I don’t know. He’d better sharpen up for Pebble, though, because you can’t hit three of 14 fairways there, either. BOLTON: Hardly. While he’d never lay the foundation for doubt and excuse, it still would be nice to know sooner if he’s not feeling 100 percent. Assuming he’s healthy, all systems will be go at Pebble. It’s been fascinating to witness his learning curve as a capable 43-year-old.

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DUBLIN, Ohio – On the tee, Tiger Woods. Usually those five words bring with it raucous applause and cheers on the PGA TOUR. The 82-time winner brings the noise unlike any other. RELATED: Full leaderboard | Finau leads by one | ‘Totally different’ Muirfield Village this week But when those five words were uttered Thursday before Woods went out for his first round at the Memorial Tournament Presented by Nationwide there was a surreal silence. Playing in his first event on TOUR in five months Woods got his initial taste of COVID-19 pandemic golf that is played sans on-site spectators. The five-time Memorial champion carded a solid 1-under 71 to sit in a tie for 18th on a day where whipping winds and tough conditions made scoring difficult. It was a praiseworthy round by a legend of the game. But on the first tee … crickets. That’s not to say no one was watching. In fact around 50 or so media, tournament staff, security guards, police and volunteers were socially distanced around the area. A bunch of them would follow the entire 18 holes. Other TOUR pros waiting for their tee time on the nearby putting green took a look. But the lack of noise meant a few others didn’t even realize Woods was off and running – something unheard of in pre pandemic times. There was a concern Woods – who is used to galleries in the thousands – might not be able to muster the same competitive fire without that external boost. But the man himself said otherwise. “The energy wasn’t the same without the fans. That certainly was noticeable, mostly different,” Woods said afterwards. “(But no) I definitely didn’t have any issue with (personal) energy and not having the fans’ reactions out there. I still felt the same eagerness, edginess, nerviness starting out, and it was good. It was a good feel. I haven’t felt this in a while.” And besides … it wasn’t all silence. Some fans made sure Woods knew they cared from outside the property lines. As he and his group of FedExCup champion Rory McIlroy and two-time PGA TOUR Player of the Year Brooks Koepka walked down the opening hole a few fans on the fence line called out in support. Up by the green, in their backyard, a family of four stood against their fence to catch a glimpse. Their brown labradoodle rested in the shade, oblivious to the Big Cat walking past, while the two young girls enjoyed their FunDip candy while shouting “Go Tiger” as he coaxed in an opening hole birdie. The father joked to tournament officials about the value of his house going up this week. The second hole saw a couple standing on step ladders to get a look over the fence line. And a bunch of young children were running along the hole as Woods walked past, desperately trying to get as close as they could and perhaps naively expected the 44-year-old to race them. A hole later a large group had gathered behind the perimeter fencing and they erupted when Woods hit a superb approach shot that scared the hole for eagle but resulted in a tap in birdie. It was the biggest cheer he received but as the round wore on a scattering of fans were found in houses along the course and also on holes that skirted the property lines. On the sixth, three teenage boys filmed Woods’ par putt that skirted by the hole and were disappointed it missed. They resolved to still post it to Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok though. A quartet of young kids on the 11th hole were particularly vocal. They needed to stand on the very top of chairs leant against the fence to see over and three of them had painted their faces in tiger stripes. Brandishing a sign reading “Tiger’s Cub House” they chanted “Go Tiger!” over and over and got a big smile and a wave from Woods. “Cute, isn’t it,” Woods said further up the hole. As Woods left the 13th tee box fans yelled, “Thanks for still being here! We will be back for you next year!” from outside the property which produced another Woods smile. So too did the children who had run from a nearby swimming pool, still dripping wet in their swimsuits, to call out to their idol. Despite all of these efforts the final hole of his round continued to highlight the stark differences from the past. The natural amphitheater around Muirfield Village’s 18th green would usually be packed tight with fans and the 14-foot birdie Woods made would have sent them into raptures. Instead he settled for a nod and “good putt” from his playing partners before heading off to sign his card. “Certainly it’s a different feel, one that’s a new reality, and we’re going to have to get used to it,” Woods said of the vibe he played in. Atmosphere aside Woods had four birdies and three bogeys in his first start since the Genesis Invitational in February. He found eight of 14 fairways and 13 of 18 greens while taking 29 putts. “It felt good. I was a little bit rusty but felt like overall it was a good start. It’s been a while since I’ve played. Got off to almost an ideal start and got a feel for the round early. I just didn’t make anything today. I had looks at birdies, but I really didn’t make much,” he added. “I was very pleased the way I drove it, my feel for my irons. I just didn’t quite hit the putts hard enough. Most of my putts were dying, didn’t quite have enough oomph to it.” Now the question is whether Woods can shake off any fatigue and front up early Friday to go again with the same energy and perhaps adjust to the greens which are expected to only get faster. “I’ve felt good about my training over the last few months, and I’ve gotten ready for this,” he said. Adjusting to the silence might take a little longer.

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