Unpacking a weird Friday on the PGA Championship

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Nobody might have predicted the bizarreness we noticed on the PGA Championship on Friday, from the tragic demise of a volunteer to the No. 1 participant on the earth getting arrested. However there was a ton we missed on the course, too. What was the most important non-Scottie Scheffler story that came about between the ropes?

Jessica Marksbury, senior editor (@jess_marksbury): Michael Block’s unimaginable run put membership professional qualifiers within the highlight final 12 months, and although Block is out of the combo at Valhalla, there are others who might make a transfer to take his place. One professional, Braden Shattuck, is one underneath, proper on the cutline, together with his rounds already full. And there might probably be as many as 4 others who make it to the weekend, relying on how they end their remaining holes. That’s fairly exceptional!

Josh Berhow, managing editor (@Josh_Berhow): Three big-time names who threatened on the Masters are again once more — Xander Schauffele, Collin Morikawa and Bryson DeChambeau — and one in every of them, Schauffele, continues to be ready for that main breakthrough. He’s performed nicely this 12 months (eight prime 10s in 12 begins) however nonetheless hasn’t gained. Will this lastly be his week? Both manner, it’s a juicy leaderboard on the halfway level.

Alan Bastable, government editor (@alan_bastable): I’m extra considering a man who hasn’t been in rivalry of late, however this week is: Vik Hovland, again from the YouTube wilderness and simply 4 off the tempo! Reunited together with his previous coach, Joe Mayo, it’ll be fascinating to see if Hovland can proceed to channel his late 2023 type and make a run on the Wanamaker. Right here’s hoping he does. The lads’s professional sport might use Hov’s cheery vibes again on the prime of leaderboards.

Zephyr Melton, assistant editor (@zephyrmelton): I’ll go in a bit of completely different course and say the most important non-Scottie story on Friday didn’t even come from the PGA Championship, however moderately the LPGA’s Mizuho America’s Open. It’s one of many best-run occasions on the LPGA’s schedule, however this 12 months there’s been a cloud forged over it as gamers and different personnel have been battling a mysterious sickness. A number of gamers have been compelled to WD (together with defending champ Rose Zhang) and caddies, help employees and even media members have caught the bug, too. It’s been an unlucky storyline throughout an in any other case unimaginable run for the LPGA Tour.

Josh Sens, senior author (@JoshSens): No major-championship recap is full and not using a Tiger replace. It was a tough day for Woods, with two triple-bogeys in his first 4 holes, and in some ways a repeat of what we’ve seen from him in his uncommon appearances of late: some flashes of brilliance interrupted by painfully scruffy stretches. And so one other weekend through which we gained’t see Woods. Fittingly, although, he birdied his remaining gap, a form of teasing reminder of all of the struggle he nonetheless has in him.