Once again, Olympia Fields showed up in Round 2 of the BMW Championship, just like in Round 1. The average score was a bit lower than on Thursday, but as co-leader Rory McIlroy noted (-1) in his after the interview, the course seemed to increase by one level every 30 minutes or so.
While this may not be a great thing for viewers wanting to score, it tends to identify the best ball shots on the pitch in a given tournament. Namely: co-leaders McIlroy and Patrick Cantlay – who will play together on Saturday afternoon – are both in the top 10 so far for shots earned from tee to green.
Let’s take a look at what both golfers did on Friday in a sweltering and bewildering Round 2 at Olympia Fields.
T1. Rory McIlroy, Patrick Cantlay (-1) – Cantlay’s big move on Friday came with a punctured eagle on the par-4 eleventh hole, which was drivable. Cantlay came out from 48 yards and used it as a springboard to shoot 33 (with a double!) On the back nine. McIlroy also took advantage of the short 11th. He led the green and got up and down from the neck right in front of it for the little bird. It was part of a hot start that helped him into his second consecutive round on par or better. This week’s story is the opposite of last week’s story for him. After insisting for the first two days that he was enjoying “real golf,” he proved it with a driver who let him down last week at TPC Boston. McIlroy is first on the pitch off the tee and tee to green, and if the putter takes off over the weekend, we could get a champion on the run.
T3. Dustin Johnson, Hideki Matsuyama (E) – It was a tough day for Matsuyama after turning 67 on Thursday. On Friday he ran his score up to 4 under 8 holes, but played his last 10 of 4 to equalize. You almost always watch his putter first, but hitting three fairways and only six greens was actually the culprit for his 73 in round 2. However, if he analyzes the next 36 holes (albeit a high question!) will probably win. DJ entered the house a little quietly with three birds in the last five holes, including a bomb at the last that put him in the penultimate pairing on Saturday with Matsuyama. I’m here for a McIlroy-Cantlay-Johnson-Matsuyama slugfest over the next 36 years.
T5. Adam Scott, Brendon Todd, Louis Oosthuizen, Tony Finau, Billy Horschel, Bubba Watson (+1) – As much as I’d like to believe in Brendon Todd’s victory in the BMW championship this week and the FedEx Cup challenge next week, his put results are staggering. Todd leads the course by a wide margin after 36 holes at Olympia Fields and will almost certainly return to the group in the next 36. His company here is stiff and includes some of the best forwards (Finau, Scott, Watson) at the top of this card. . I expect those to separate from Todd in the next couple of days.
T11. Mackenzie Hughes, Kevin Kisner, Jim Herman (+2) – Kisner has played golf with the lights out in the last few tournaments and has been in the top 10 on approach shots in the first two rounds at Olympia Fields. Hughes finished on Friday playing his last four of four holes.
T14. Xander Schauffele, Bryson DeChambeau, Matthew Wolff (+3) – Wolff is turning into Matsuyama Lite with the way he plays some of these events. The former collegiate winner on this golf course is in the top five on this course in terms of driving and shots earned from tee to green, but gets squashed on the greens. That can change quickly, though, and it’s an intriguing choice to bring up a bit in the next couple of rounds. I think it will probably go as it did at the PGA championship, where he scared the lead but couldn’t sink enough putts to win the tournament. DeChambeau is also interesting here as it has been a fairly quiet 3 so far. DeChambeau won the US Amateur here in 2015 and has played well in silence so far. If only he could understand the rotational speeds!
T56. Tiger Woods (+8) – Week lasts for Big Cat through two rounds. He is almost the last to place this far this week on the first 36 holes, and at times he seemed lost with what he was trying to do. Friday had a lot of bogies and a terrible double that showed all the facets he’s struggling with right now. After hitting his second from a fairway bunker on the green, Woods was unable to reach his course on the green. When he did, he left a 5 foot putt … short.
Barring one miraculous weekend, he will miss the Tour Championship for the second consecutive year (after winning it in 2018), and we’ll see him next time at the US Open at the Winged Foot.
CBS Sports has been with you the whole time updating this story with the latest results, updates and highlights below. Check out the live scores at the start of this story, a more detailed leaderboard, and our comprehensive viewer guide.
