Key events
Justin Rose shoots 65
Justin Rose has rolled in two big putts on 18 already this week. Par savers both. And it’s three pars at the closing hole now, though he’s not so chuffed about this one, a 15-foot birdie attempt stopping just short. He cocks his head back in frustration, though it surely won’t sting for long, because that’s set the seal on a 65, and at -2 he’s right in the mix. He joins Kristoffer Reitan and Chris Kirk in the clubhouse lead.
-4: Smalley, McNealy
-3: McIlroy (11), Lee, Greyserman, Potgieter, Jaeger, Matsuyama, Gotterup
-2: Reitan (F), Kirk (F), Rose (17), Burns (15), Kaymer (13), Schauffele (10), Conners (8), Rahm (3), Åberg, English, Kim, Scheffler, Puig, Young, Thomas
Rory McIlroy, meanwhile, is very much on the charge. He hit the turn in 32, taking advantage like others before him of the relatively benign early conditions. Now he’s made another, sending a lob wedge at 11 to six feet and rolling in the putt. He’s looking as confident as he looked irritated after that inexplicable run of four consecutive bogeys to close round one, and if he continues like this, and posts something out there, the leaders Alex Smalley and Maverick McNealy will have some work to do, with the wind expected to pick up a little bit later. Rory is -3.
Kirk, Reitan shoot 65
Oh dear. Kirk can’t make the par putt on 18 coming back … and then he misses the bogey tiddler. It’s not technically a four-putt, because the first was from off the front of the green … but it kind of is, isn’t it? He certainly wears the slightly drained look of someone who was one putt away from equalling major-championship history, and has somehow managed to make a 65 feel like a disappointment. He ends the day at -2 overall … as does last week’s winner at Quail Hollow, Kristoffer Reitan, who also signs for a slightly less dramatic 65 (if making two eagles on the back nine can be considered undramatic, that is).
Justin Rose was the next player after Michael Kim to get stuck in. He carded five birdies on the front nine, at 3, 4, 5, 6 and 9, turning in 30. Another birdie at 13 was instantly cancelled out with bogey on 14, since when he’s been forced to make a series of staunch par savers. But they’ve all gone in. He’s hanging onto his score, and he’s one par away from a 65 that will revive his bid for a second major. To think he needed to make birdie on 9 last night in order to survive the cut … and chipped in for eagle! Rose is -2 overall.
Chris Kirk won’t be making his record-equalling 62. He takes Texas wedge from off the front of the 18th, and rattles a very excitable 45-foot birdie attempt 12 feet past. He’ll now have a job on to card 63.
The first sign that low scoring was afoot today was provided by Michael Kim. The 32-year-old, born in South Korea but representing the USA, has come out of a mid-career slump that saw him at one point miss 23 cuts in a row. He won the French Open last year, and has reestablished himself as a regular participant in the majors, if not one making any serious waves. He was due to miss the cut yesterday, and was +7 with six holes to play, but birdied 4 and 6 before chipping in for eagle at 9. Then this morning he birdied 1, 2, 3, 5, 6 and 7, a run spoiled by a single bogey at 4. He turned in 30. Sadly a double bogey at 10 scuppered his momentum, and though he came close to making a hole-in-one albatross at the driveable par-four 13th – six feet short, for the record – he shot 37 on the back nine. Still, that’s a fine 67, a round he wasn’t expecting to play six holes from home yesterday. He’s level par overall. Kim is the current clubhouse leader, alongside Nicolai Højgaard, who shot 66 today.
Actually, let’s immediately revise that, because Chris ‘Captain’ Kirk has just raked in a long birdie putt across 17. It’s his eighth birdie of the day. Just the one bogey, and so a birdie up the last would give the 41-year-old from Tennessee a 62, equalling the lowest-ever round in a men’s major, a record jointly held by Branden Grace (2017 Open), Rickie Fowler (2023 US Open), Xander Schauffele (2023 US Open and 2024 PGA) and Shane Lowry (2024 PGA). Oh, and it gives him a share of the lead.
-4: Kirk (17), Smalley, McNealy
-3: Lee, Greyserman, Potgieter, Jaeger, Matsuyama, Gotterup
-2: Reitan (16), Rose (15), McIlory (9), Åberg, English, Kim, Scheffler, Puig, Young, Thomas
Here we go, then … and the scoring was much better this morning. The ball running further, the wind down. And as a result, a few players have made a run towards the top of the leaderboard. Let’s catch up on exactly how things stand at the minute, and then we can work out how we got here …
-4: Smalley, McNealy
-3: Kirk (16), Lee, Greyserman, Potgieter, Jaeger, Matsuyama, Gotterup
-2: Reitan (16), Rose (15), McIlory (9), Åberg, English, Kim, Scheffler, Puig, Young, Thomas
Preamble
It’s Moving Day at Aronimink! Here’s what the top of the leaderboard looked like after two attritional loops …
-4: Alex Smalley, Maverick McNealy
-3: Hideki Matsuyama, Chris Gotterup, Aldrich Potgieter, Stephan Jaeger, Min Woo Lee, Max Greyserman
-2: Cameron Young, Justin Thomas, Scottie Scheffler, David Puig, Harris English, Si Woo Kim, Ludvig Åberg
-1: Andrew Novak, Kurt Kitayama, Aaron Rai, Jason Day, Patrick Cantlay, Jon Rahm
… here’s a selected list of big names to have missed the cut …
Michael Block, Im Sung-jae, Akshay Bhatia, Jimmy Walker, Robert MacIntyre, Tommy Fleetwood, Wyndham Clark, Stewart Cink, JJ Spaun, Viktor Hovland, Sepp Straka, Keegan Bradley, Gary Woodland, Tyrrell Hatton, Brandt Snedeker, Adam Scott, Jason Dufner, YE Yang, Shaun Micheel, Max Homa and … Bryson DeChambeau
… and here are today’s tee times (all BST). Plenty of third-round water has already passed under the bridge – Moving Day has seen some movement, baby! – so we’ll get onto that immediately. Here we go! It’s on!
1245 Jhonattan Vegas, Alex Noren
1254 Nicolai Højgaard, Michael Brennan
1303 Taylor Pendrith, Johnny Keefer
1312 Christiaan Bezuidenhout, William Mouw
1321 Shane Lowry, Brian Campbell
1330 Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen, Daniel Berger
1339 Luke Donald, Elvis Smylie
1348 Michael Kim, John Parry
1357 Kristoffer Reitan, Padraig Harrington
1406 Daniel Brown, Chris Kirk
1415 Justin Rose, Brian Harman
1424 Rasmus Hojgaard, Sami Valimaki
1433 Kazuki Higa, Mikael Lindberg
1442 Keith Mitchell, Sam Burns
1451 Tom Hoge, Joaquin Niemann
1500 Alex Fitzpatrick, Denny McCarthy
1520 Sam Stevens, Chandler Blanchet
1530 Martin Kaymer, Matt Fitzpatrick
1540 Casey Jarvis, Matt Wallace
1550 Jordan Spieth, Dustin Johnson
1600 Brooks Koepka, Rory McIlroy
1610 Rickie Fowler, Xander Schauffele
1620 Sahith Theegala, Bud Cauley
1630 Ben Griffin, Ryan Gerard
1640 Collin Morikawa, Matti Schmid
1650 Nick Taylor, Corey Conners
1610 Daniel Hillier, Ben Kern
1720 Ryan Fox, Ryo Hisatsune
1730 Rico Hoey, Cameron Smith
1740 Haotong Li, Patrick Reed
1750 Jon Rahm, Andrew Putnam
1800 Jason Day, Patrick Cantlay
1810 Kurt Kitayama, Aaron Rai
1820 Ludvig Åberg, Andrew Novak
1830 Harris English, Si Woo Kim
1840 Scottie Scheffler, David Puig
1900 Cameron Young, Justin Thomas
1910 Min Woo Lee, Max Greyserman
1920 Aldrich Potgieter, Stephan Jaeger
1930 Hideki Matsuyama, Chris Gotterup
1940 Alex Smalley, Maverick McNealy