Friday at the 2020 PGA Championship felt like many other major championship rounds over the last three years.
Scan the leaderboard and it won’t take you long to find Brooks Koepka’s name. After carding a 2-under-par 68 on Friday, Koepka now has been in the top-four at the end of 18 of his last 21 major rounds.
Still, two shots off the pace set by leader Haotong Li, Koepka thought he could have gone lower over the first two days at TPC Harding Park.
“I'm pretty happy,” Koepka said after his round. “I felt like I probably could be [10 under] right now. Hit a lot of good putts, just didn't go in. A couple of them, if I just hit them, they're in. But driving it pretty well. Iron play, I'm pretty pleased with. You know, I like where I'm at.”
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 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, a putt he calmly knocked 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 made three consecutive pars at Nos. 7, 8, and 9 before birdieing the Par-5 10th to get back to 6-under.
He was battling more than just TPC Harding Park on Friday, though.
After his tee shot on No. 12, Koepka called his physical trainer over and asked him to stretch him out while lying in the rough. He did this again two more times during his back nine.
Koepka has battled a left knee issue since last fall, but he insists the stretching Friday was about getting his hip loose and has nothing to do with his knee.
“Yeah, my TFL is usually pretty tight on the side,” Koepka said. “It just kind of moved to the front and tightened up the front and kind of the inside and groin. It will be fine. It's something I'm not worried about.”
A dropped shot at the Par-4 13th knocked Koepka down the leaderboard a peg, but he finished his round in style.
His drive on No. 18 found the fairway bunker down the right side. With a good lie in the sand, Koepka stepped up and smacked his approach shot from 166 yards out to seven feet.
Koepka promptly poured the birdie putt into get back to 6-under par and enter the weekend with positive momentum.
Half of the battle at major championships is getting yourself to the weekend.
With history on his mind, Koepka is lurking at TPC Harding Park, and he has put himself in position to once again lift the Wanamaker Trophy come Sunday.
