Lahiri misses cut, Scheffler, Hovland and Conners share lead at PGA

Rochester (New York), May 20 (PTI) Anirban Lahiri of India missed the cut as he shot 3-over 73 in the second round after finishing his first round in 4-over 74 at the PGA Championships at Oak Hill.

As Lahiri exited at the halfway stage, Scottie Scheffler, the 2022 Masters champion, shot 2-under 68 and moved to 5-under and shared the lead alongside Corey Conners (68) and Viktor Hovland (67), who had led after the first at Augusta National.

They were all at 5-under 135.
Lahiri, whose last Major was the PGA Championships in 2022, had five bogeys against one birdie in the first round and had four bogeys against one birdie in the second and at 7-over 147 he was two shots off the cutline.

American-Indian Sahith Theegala (71-71) was tied 30th.

Hovland had shared the lead after 54 holes at the Open at St Andrews last year. It was his 10th consecutive round in the Majors when he ended the day among the top 10 on the leader board.

Conners had at one point built a two-shot lead until he had to rely on his short game to account for some errant drives and tough holes on the front nine.

They were two shots clear of Bryson DeChambeau (71) and Justin Suh (68).

The leading seven players including Brooks Koepka, who shot 31 on the back nine in his round of 66, came from the same side of the draw.

They were delayed by two hours from freezing temperatures and a coat of frost on the grass. They avoided the wind Friday morning.

Shane Lowry had six birdies in an eight-hole stretch in the rainy afternoon until closing with a pair of bogeys saw him finish with 67, and at even-par 140, five shots behind but still very much in the thick of it.

That group included club pro Michael Block (70) and Rory McIlroy.

Masters champion Jon Rahm, the world No. 1 opened with a 76 but salvaged a 68 to make the cut with one shot to spare. Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth made the cut and were tied 59th.
Australian Min Woo Lee rediscovered his fighting spirit to play his way back on day two.

Three-over on his first round, Lee needed something around par to ensure he would advance to Round 3. He burst out of the blocks with four birdies in his opening five holes in a round of three-under 67 that puts him in a tie for 10th through 36 holes.

The top Asian was KH Lee with 73-68 and he was tied 19th at 1-over. Among other Koreans Tom Kim and Si Woo Kim missed the cut.