Jason Day is in a great position after the uncompleted second round of the US PGA Championship. Several players who were in the most expensive bracket for the DraftKings fantasy golf game are right in the mix to win the final major of the season. Jordan Spieth and Justin Rose advanced through the field on Friday but some of our team made significant progress towards the top of the leaderboard. The second round will be completed early today and the third round will begin 30 minutes later. Violent thunderstorms curtailed play yesterday in what is developing into a great championship.
Our selections before the championship began.
Course Features
The US PGA Championship is being played at Whistling Straits for the third time in eleven years. It is a specially designed links type course on the banks of Lake Michigan that opened in 1998. There are over 1,000 bunkers on a course that puts a premium on long driving and hitting the greens in the correct number of shots. The following players were selected on the basis of their current form and suitability to the course. Here is a progress report on our picks who all look like making the cut:
PGA Championship Team
Justin Rose ($10,000, 8 under) has ambitions to be the best British golfer in the history of the game. He is in a great position to win a second major and get closer to Sir Nick Faldo’s tally of six. Every part of Rose’s game is in good order and the putting that let him down last weekend is functioning well. The 2013 US Open champion will be tough to beat over the weekend.
Bubba Watson ($9,900, 1 under) is some way off the pace and with just two holes to play in the second round and will need to go low over his next 18 holes to get in contention. Three bogeys on Friday were more than offset by four birdies but he now has little margin for error if he is to shake things up at the top of the leaderboard.
Hideki Matsuyama ($8,000, 4 under) as always looks a good thing to be top Asian having made another strong start in a major. Two solid back-to-back rounds of 70 keeps him on the periphery of the leaderboard. His consistency could see him make progress if there is some poor weather over the weekend when less solid players could struggle in the conditions.
Brooks Koepka ($7,800, I under) was in the top 20 for driving distance and greens hit before the championship began. Winning may now be beyond him from eight shots off the pace but he can contribute some points. He is moving in the right direction as his second round score was four shots better than his opening effort and he has completed 36 holes unlike some others.
Justin Thomas ($7,200, 2 under) is proving the virtue of following a player suited to a course. He is in the top 50 for all the key skills of driving distance, GIR scrambling and putting average and can handle Whistling Straits. He probably would have taken 2 under after 36 holes but a double bogey seven on the par 5 5th, his 14th, was a potential card buster but he recovered well over his last four holes.
Danny Lee ($7,100, 5 under) is putting together his second successive solid round and another birdie over five holes today in the second round would get him right in contention. He has been the most consistent player on the PGA Tour over the last six weeks and he looks like putting together another decent tournament. He may be too inexperienced to win but a top 10 finish is not beyond him.
Click here to see the USPGA Championship leaderboard. Photo Credit
