Scottie Scheffler is out for a repeat at the 2026 PGA Championship, coming into Round 2 today in the mix atop the leaderboard.
Justin Thomas and Xander Schauffele also impressed with their first-round performances, while Brooks Koepka stayed in the mix as well. Min Woo Lee, Aldrich Potgieter, Stephan Jaeger and Ryo Hisatsune put themselves in position to make a push for their first Wanamaker Trophy, as did Jordan Spieth, who needs that to complete his 10-year journey to completing the career grand slam. Garrick Higgo would have entered the day tied for the lead if not for a two-stroke penalty for being late.
The biggest name to track today is much farther down the leaderboard though, as Masters champ Rory McIlroy fell apart at the end of Round 1 and might miss the cut. Players champion Cameron Young and LIV Golf star Bryson DeChambeau also have work to do if they are to play the weekend. The Palm Beach Post is following the action from Aronimink. Keep scrolling for the latest updates and highlights from the PGA Championship.
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PGA leaderboard
Top leaders after Round 2. Players who started on the back nine are indicated with an asterisk.
Keep up with all the latest scores on our live leaderboard.
How to watch PGA Championship: TV schedule, live stream
Round 2 of the 2026 PGA Championship will broadcast nationally on ESPN starting at noon. The main broadcast is available to stream via Fubo, which offers a free trial for new subscribers. Featured group and hole streaming from PGA Tour Live is available on the ESPN app (with a subscription to the Select plan) starting at 6:45 a.m.
Maverick McNealy drops a shot, finishes tied for lead in Round 2
With a birdie on the fifth, Maverick McNealy was all alone in first place with four holes to play in Round 2 of the 2026 PGA Championship. But the former Stanford star stumbled down the stretch, scoring bogeys on the sixth and eighth holes to briefly fall behind leader Alex Smalley. But McNealy bore down and pared the ninth for a 34 on the back nine and a 3-under 67 for the day. He and Smalley are tied at 4 under for the tournament.
Chris Gotterup moves among the leaders with Round 2-best 65
No one had a better day at Aronimink Golf Club on May 15 than Chris Gotterup. To make his first-ever cut at the PGA Championship, Gotterup shot a 5-under 65 in Round 2 to get to 3 under for the tournament. The four-time winner on the PGA Tour birdied four of his last seven holes, including each of his final three (7, 8 and 9).
Maverick McNealy takes the lead in Round 2 of PGA Championship
Much like a race horse charging from the outside lane, Maverick McNealy has stormed up the leaderboard with an eagle on 16 and back-to-back birdies on 1 and 2 to reach 5 under for the tournament and 4 under through 11 holes on Friday.
At this point, McNealy is one shot clear of Alex Smalley (1-under 69 in Round 2) and Aldrich Potgieter (1 under through 17).
PGA Championship cut line
The field will be trimmed to 70 players (plus ties) after today’s round. We’re keeping track of the moving cut line and who is behind it throughout the day. With the final groups nearing the back nine, the projected cut line was 4 over par, which would spare 84 of the 156 players.
Sahith Theegala loses his ball
Out of a bunker on No. 10, Sahith Theegala sent his second shot high into the air … and nowhere to be found. The Rules of Golf laid out by the USGA and R&A changed the amount of time allowed to locate a lost ball from 5 minutes to 3 minutes in 2019, and despite all the cameras and volunteers at Aronimink, no one could find where the ball had gone in that time. Theegala was forced to take a one-stroke penalty and hit again from the same spot, winding up with a triple-bogey 7. It’s especially rough because the 28-year-old was just two strokes off the lead at the time; now he’s at even par.
Can Bryson DeChambeau make the cut?
Round 1 went about as bad as Bryson DeChambeau could have seen in his nightmares, with a birdie on his final hole salvaging a dreadful day with five bogeys and a double. It hasn’t gone much better in Round 2 for the two-time U.S. Open champion; though he hit a perfect 336-yard drive to open his round, he parred the hole and has gone 4 over through eight, double-bogeying the par-4 seventh and bogeying the par-3 eighth. DeChambeau is 10 over and nowhere close to the projected cut line of 3 over.
Will Rory McIlroy make the cut?
So far, so good in Rory McIlroy’s attempt to make the cut. After coming in at 4 over, the two-time reigning Masters champion birdied two of his first four holes to get to 2 over through seven. If he avoids disaster similar to that which befell him at the end of the first round, he’ll play the weekend.
Aldrich Potgieter alone in lead
Through the front nine, 21-year-old South African Aldrich Potgieter has retaken the solo lead at the PGA Championship. He took control briefly after birdieing the par-4 third hole, then jumped in front again when his 3-footer went true on the par-5 ninth to put him at 5 under.
The big-hitting Potgieter has one top-five finish this year at the Genesis Invitational and has made just one cut in five prior major tournaments. This is his PGA Championship debut, and if he finishes with the lead, he would be the youngest to lead a major after 36 holes since Tiger Woods at the 1997 Masters.
Justin Rose eagles to close round. Will he make the cut?
The 2013 U.S. Open champ had an eventful Round 2, opening with a double bogey on No. 10 and adding another on No. 14. His fourth bogey of the day saw him enter his final hole at 5 over, but Rose opened the door for playing the weekend when his 76-yard chip from the rough made a beeline for the cup and fell in. It got Rose to 3 over for the tournament, which could be good enough to make the cut depending on how the afternoon groups finish.
Cameron Young closes with eagle
One of golf’s hottest players came into the second round over par, but Cameron Young corrected the course Friday. The winner of the 2026 Players Championship bogeyed his fourth hole (the par-4 13th) but didn’t hit another the rest of the way, with birdies on the par-5 16th and par-3 fifth before wrapping up with a 316-yard drive on No. 9 and an approach that offered a 7-foot eagle putt. Young ends the day at 2 under for the tournament, in the top 10 and two shots behind leader Aldrich Potgieter.
Cam Smith hits incredible shot to start
Cameron Smith got out to a 3-under start in his first round before coming back to earth. Entering Round 2 at 1 under par, the 32-year-old LIV golfer is at it again, this time ramping up the difficulty by hitting out of the rough off the first fairway, finding the right slope on the green and watching it roll to within 2 feet of the cup. He tapped in for birdie, but his shot out of the rough on No. 2 wasn’t as lucky, and he wound up with a bogey 5.
Chris Gotterup shoots up the leaderboard
After hitting five bogeys in his first round, Chris Gotterup has turned the tables in the second with six birdies. The two-time winner on the PGA Tour this season started with a bird on the par-4 11th and really pumped it up at the end with three straight birds. With a 5-under Round 2, he’s in contention at 3 under overall in just his second PGA Championship.
Here comes Scottie Scheffler, getting boos from Philadelphia crowd
He bogeyed three of his first four holes, but the world No. 1 is back on his game as his round draws to a close. Scottie Scheffler birdied the par-3 17th, then treaded water until he broke through with a prime approach on the par-4 fourth to set up a 5-foot birdie putt. The reigning PGA champion bogeyed the sixth but finished with a birdie on the par-5 ninth to enter the weekend at 2 under, currently two shots behind the leader.
It will take a lot to get the local crowd to stop booing Scheffler, though. The Texas alum is a devout Dallas Cowboys fan, and fans have voiced their displeasure (or shouted “Go Birds”) after several of his shots at Aronimink, less than half an hour from where the Eagles play.
Justin Thomas group gets clock warning
It’s not often you see someone on a golf cart chasing after pro golfers to have a discussion at a major. But that’s what happened Friday when a tournament official put Justin Thomas, Keegan Bradley and Cameron Young on the clock for taking too long. ESPN cameras captured Thomas and Bradley pointing at the group ahead of them — that would be Chris Gotterup, Robert MacIntyre and Tommy Fleetwood — and arguing they were doing just fine time-wise.
Thomas didn’t seem to bothered: Shortly after, he pulled off a incredible chip off the fifth green by shooting well past the hole and letting gravity do its work to set up an easy 3-foot par putt, then hit a glorious bunker shot to within 2 feet on No. 6 for a birdie. He’s 2 under through 15, one shot off the lead.
When does Rory McIlroy tee off?
The afternoon groupings have begun to take the course at Aronimink. Back-to-back Masters champ Rory McIlroy still has a ways to wait. Here’s a look at the tee times for some of the big names still to come:
Who is Ben Kern? PGA club professional draining birdies
On a day when major champions like Scottie Scheffler and Collin Morikawa have battled and largely lost to the wind, PGA of America club professional Ben Kern has turned heads with his impressive play. The PGA general manager from Hickory Hills Golf Club in Grove City, Ohio (about 20 miles southwest of Columbus) made what could go down as the putt of the tournament with his 52-foot birdie on No. 17. In his third PGA Championship appearance, Kern used that beauty to springboard a run of four birdies over five holes on the front nine (he started on No. 10).
His six birdies on the day — and an incredible nine overall — have Kern at 1 over. He’ll play the weekend.
Alex Smalley takes the lead … briefly
For the first time in the second round, there’s a solo leader at the PGA Championship. Alex Smalley reached the green on the 538-yard 16th in two, and while his 16-foot eagle putt just missed, his tap-in for birdie put him at 4 under for the tournament. Another birdie on the par-4 18th gave him a two-stroke lead through nine, but he opened his back nine with three straight bogeys before righting the ship on No. 4, nearly holing out for eagle and settling for a 9-foot birdie putt to put him back at 3 under.
The 29-year-old from Rochester, New York has yet to win on the PGA Tour but he’s played well of late with four straight top-20 finishes since the start of April, coming in second at the Zurich Championship of New Orleans. This is Smalley’s fourth PGA Championship, making the cut in 2023 and 2025.
Shane Lowry in trouble after hitting into water
We’ve all been there, right? A daunting water hazard looms in front of a par-3, and you can’t help but turn the club head over and send your ball directly into the drink. So we can all relate to 2019 British Open champion Shane Lowry, who saw his tee shot on the par-3 17th skip into the pond. Lowry ended the hole with a double-bogey 5, and that coupled with two bogeys earlier in his second round, has seen him go from 2 under and one shot off the lead to 2 over and flirting with the cut line through 12 holes (he started on the back nine).
Scottie Scheffler struggles early in Round 2 of PGA Championship
The early morning session of Round 2 of the 2026 PGA Championship included several players stumbling out of the gate, including Scottie Scheffler. His bogey on the 10th (where he began his round) put him one shot behind the leaders. The biggest drop was Martin Kaymer, who opened the day tied with the leaders at 3 under but bogeyed five of his first seven holes.
The world No. 1 bogeyed three of his first four holes, missing the fairways he was hitting with ease in Round 1. But he helped his cause by landing his tee shot on the 214-yard 17th to within 2 feet of the hole, putting in for his first birdie of the day to see him back below par for the tournament.
Jon Rahm apologizes after divot hits volunteer
The 2023 Masters champ holed out twice in the first round, but the swing that has generated the most interest was the one he took after his second shot on No. 7. Rahm took a frustrated hack at the rough and accidentally brought up a patch of earth, sending flying into the face of a nearby volunteer at Aronimink.
Rahm apologized after the incident and did so again after his round, calling it “inexcusable.” He tees off with Rory McIlroy and Jordan Spieth at 2:05 p.m. as he looks to improve on his 1-under day and move farther up the leaderboard.
PGA Championship favorites and odds
Latest odds according to BetMGM:
PGA Championship tee times
All times Eastern.
LIV Golf players in PGA Championship field
There are 11 players from LIV Golf playing at Aronimink this weekend. Here’s how they did in Round 1:
PGA professionals in PGA Championship field
Twenty PGA of America professionals qualified to play alongside the best golfers in the world this weekend at Aronimink. Among that group is Tyler Collet, a PGA assistant golf professional at John’s Island Club in Vero Beach, Florida who is taking part in his fifth PGA Championship.
PGA Championship location 2026
The PGA Championship site rotates every year, and this year’s host is Aronimink Golf Club in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania, about 20 miles west of Philadelphia. The course previously hosted the PGA Championship in 1962, as well as the 1977 U.S. Amateur, 2003 Senior PGA Championship and the 2020 Women’s PGA Championship. Aronimink plays at par-70 over 7,394 yards.
PGA Championship winners: Who won last year?
Scottie Scheffler pulled away from the field at Quail Hollow Golf Club in Charlotte, North Carolina, shooting 11 under par to win the 2025 PGA Championship by five strokes over Bryson DeChambeau, Harris English and Davis Riley. It was the second victory of a monthlong stretch in which Scheffler won three of four tournaments. He would go on to win six events in 2025, including the Open Championship in July.
PGA Championship weather update: Aronimink forecast for Friday
AccuWeather predicts a high of 67 degrees with partly sunny skies in the forecast today in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania. Winds are expected to blow out of the northwest at 10 mph with gusts up to 23 mph. There is about a 10% chance of rain.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: 2026 PGA Championship leaderboard, live updates, Round 2 tee times
Reporting by Dan Rorabaugh and Kirkland Crawford, USA TODAY NETWORK – Florida / Palm Beach Post
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
