Scottie Scheffler started the second day of PGA Championship action with a bang, landing in jail for failing to cooperate with police orders while driving to Valhalla Golf Club. Scheffler was ultimately released and ended up making his tee time, and the Masters champion shot a 66 to keep himself in the mix. He’s tied for fourth heading into the third round. Meanwhile, Xander Schauffele stands atop the leaderboard at -12, and Collin Morikawa and Sahith Theegala are right on his tail. That said, we’re looking at an exciting moving day, with several top players in the hunt. And the fact that things are so tight means that there are still plenty of betting opportunities out there. So, keep reading to see what some of our golf analysts are thinking.
PGA Championship second-round scores
PGA Championship third-round tee times
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VSiN’s golf experts offered their second-round observations and third-round predictions.
Matt Youmans
Everyone says Scottie Scheffler is a boring superstar. Now he’s an outlaw, just like Josey Wales and Tiger Woods, and now you have got to root for the guy this weekend. Even after being arrested in the morning by the Barney Fife of Kentucky, Scheffler shot a 5-under 66 and is only three strokes off the lead. I’ll look for the best price on Scheffler and play it Friday night, which is also when I finally bet him in the Masters.
Bryson DeChambeau (28-1) is my best pre-tournament bet and he’s right there with a great shot to win. Brooks Koepka and Justin Thomas are hanging around, but both players should have scored better in each of the first two rounds. I’m thinking the winner will be Scheffler, DeChambeau or Collin Morikawa.
Matt Brown
The cut has come and gone and we will not be seeing Tiger Woods play the weekend (or Jon Rahm, Ludvig Aberg, Akshay Bhatia, Sungjae Im, Sam Burns, or Wyndham Clark for that matter).
Scottie Scheffler survived his brief incarceration and shot a 5-under 66 to finish the day T4. Other big-name movers include Collin Morikawa, Bryson DeChambeau, Viktor Hovland, Hideki Matsuyama, Justin Thomas, and Keegan Bradley.
Putter regression found Tony Finau, as expected, but he was able to ride his elite approach game to a 2-under round and T8 overall.
Xander Schauffele wasn’t invincible again in round 2, but he did finish atop the leaderboard heading into the weekend, one stroke ahead of Morikawa. Xander’s putter went away (lost 1 stroke to the field) but he was very strong T2G and looks poised for yet another top 10 finish.
The question now becomes…how far back is too far back? The T11 group 7-under that includes Brooks Koepka and Hideki Matsuyama is about as far back as I think is reasonable. Five shots off the lead of a proven stud, with Morikawa, DeChambeau, Scheffler, Finau, Hovland, and a real up-and-comer in Sahith Theegala is probably too much for anybody below that number.
If I didn’t already have it, I’d play a live Top 20 on Max Homa. Max lost putting and off-the-tee today, but was good with his irons and around-the-green. Max loves these tough fields and challenging courses, and I expect him to play well over the weekend.
I’ll be looking to fade Harris English in Round 3 who rode a red-hot putter (gained 4.65 strokes) to a 4-under despite losing on approach and off-the-tee.
When it’s all said and done, I think we’ll be saying, “I can’t believe Scottie did it again.”
Wes Reynolds
World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler (+320 current price) began his morning being detained by Louisville Metro Police and was booked into Metro Corrections on charges of second-degree assault, third-degree criminal mischief, reckless driving, and disregarding signals from an officer directing traffic, which was due to a fatal accident involving a pedestrian, on his drive to Valhalla Golf Club for his second round. An hour after arriving at the course, he teed off and eventually shot a 5-under 66, which has him T-4 at 9-under par after 36 holes.
Xander Schauffele (+240) maintained his first-round lead by adding a round of 68 to post 12-under, one ahead of Collin Morikawa (5/1), whose game seems to be hitting on all cylinders for the first time this season.
Bryson DeChambeau (9/1), leading the field for Driving Distance, matched Morikawa’s low round of the day (65) and put himself into contention. ‘
Sahith Theegala (10/1) is currently by himself in 3rd at 10-under par led by a hot putter (5th in the field for Strokes Gained: Putting) gaining +5.62 strokes on the field.
Other notables in the Top 10 include Tony Finau (30/1) and Viktor Hovland (18/1), who has played his best golf of 2024 over the last two days after multiple swing changes, coach changes, and a couple of sports psychologists.
Defending PGA Champion Brooks Koepka (16/1) is five strokes back at 7-under par.
As for Rory McIlroy (28/1), he is currently T-22 at 5-under par. McIlroy was a mess on and around the greens, losing over three strokes to the field combined with the putter and around the greens. He was also 1 for 5 getting up and down for pars today.
Notables who missed the cut included Jon Rahm, Ludvig Åberg, Matt Fitzpatrick, Phil Mickelson, Adam Scott, and Tiger Woods, who finished a 7-over par.
As for potential adds if you want to take on the two favorites — Schauffele and Scheffler — or already have them in pocket, they are the same three that I mentioned on Thursday’s episode of VSiN Tonight: Morikawa, DeChambeau, and Finau, who leads the field for Strokes Gained: Approach.
Kelley Bydlon
Well, it certainly wasn’t a boring start to the day at the PGA Championship. I know I’m still exhausted from tracking down breaking news at 4:30 am PT, but it didn’t seem to bother Scottie Scheffler’s golf game much. He got arrested and then still went out and shot a 5-under-66 in his second round, putting him just three shots off Xander Schauffele.
Besides Scheffler, Xander will be the story to watch over the weekend. Can he finally hold on to a lead? It will be tough with the likes of Collin Morikawa, Sahith Theegala, Bryson DeChambeau, Scheffler, Viktor Hovland and others breathing down his neck.
No third round bets for me yet, but I’ll certainly be hoping Scheffler can keep up his amazing play.
