Brooks Koepka went to bed Thursday night with first-round co-leaders Jason Day and Brendon Todd in between him and PGA Championship history.
When he stepped on the first tee Friday afternoon at TPC Harding Park, the two-time defending PGA Champion had a new target after Haotong Li fired a second-round 65 to take the lead at 8-under-par.
Starting the second round four shots back didn’t faze Koepka. Few things do.
He stepped to the first tee and pummeled his drive right down the center of the fairway. After a crisp wedge shot, Koepka had five feet to open with a birdie and he calmly knocked the putt in to cut the lead to three.
Koepka notched pars at No. 2 and No. 3 before arriving at the 607-yard, Par 5 fourth hole. The world’s No. 6 golfer found the fairway off the tee and his second shot came up just short of the green on the right side. A nifty chip left him three feet for a tap-in birdie to get to 6-under, two shots back of Li.
But Koepka was unable to maintain his early-round momentum.
Following a par at No. 5, Koepka ran into some trouble at No. 6, pushing his tee shot well right into the fifth fairway. A great recovery shot left Koepka 23 feet for birdie, but he blew the putt well passed the hole and missed the come-backer for par, dropping him to 1-under for the round and 5-under for the tournament.
Koepka steadied the ship after the bogey at No. 6, closing his round with three consecutive pars to make the turn at 5-under, three shots back of Day and Li for the championship.
