This post summarizes round 2 of my APBA Golf replay of the 2022 PGA Championship at Southern Hills (Sooner Hills). Earlier posts described the replay set-up based on conditions for the actual tournament and round 1 replay results.
Actual Event
In round 2 of the actual tournament, Will Zalatoris (65) climbed to the top of the leaderboard at 9-under, with Mito Pereira (64) one back at 8-under and Justin Thomas (67) two back at 6-under. The 2nd round and tournament’s best score of 63 was posted by Bubba Watson (not carded), who stood alone in 4th place at 5-under. First round leader, Rory McIlroy (71), slipped into a three-way tie for 5th place with Abraham Ancer (69) and Davis Riley (68) at 4-under.
The mean score for the total field was 72.8 strokes, with the qualifiers at 70.2 strokes on average. The cut line was +4 with 78 of 156 players in the field qualifying, which shows that with a par of 70 how difficult the course was playing. While 2.6 strokes better than the entire field on average, even the qualifiers were slightly over par.
The actual 2nd round leaderboard is provided below.
The Replay Event
For round 2 of the replay, the pin was located at position 1. The prevailing wind was moderate – type ‘A’, and course conditions dry (+10 FW roll / +5 Green roll).
The average score for the 69 replay competitors was 71.5 strokes for round 2, slightly higher than the average round 1 score of 71.3. Thus, as with the actual players, the average round 2 replay score for the field was over par.
Tony Finau (66), who was tied for 1st after round 1, took sole possession of the lead after round 2 at 9-under. Rory McIlroy (66) and Xander Schauffele (68) finished tied for 2nd place at 7-under. Sam Burns (66), Dustin Johnson (66), and Cameron Young (65) tied for 4th place at 6-under.
Justin Thomas tied Cameron Young for the day’s best score–a 5-under 65. Yet with a 3-over round 1 score, the best Thomas could do was move up to a tie for 13th place. By contrast, Mito Pereira (76) and Will Zalatoris (73) continued their weak play in round 2 and now trail towards the bottom of the replay field at T62 and T44, respectively. The worst score posted for the day was carded by Ryan Brehm (82), the 2022 winner of the Puerto Rico Open at 20-under par. (Ryan’s actual score in the 2nd round of the 2022 PGA Championship was 81.)
Round 2 highlights include:
- Scottie Scheffler aced No. 11, a 173-yard par 3.
- Marc Leishman hit every fairway (14). (R2 Ave. = 9.1)
- Marc Leishman also had the longest drive at 390 yards on No. 1, tying my previous all-time tournament replay record held by Hideki Matsuyama (2019) at Pebble Beach (Seaside).
- Marc Leishman also sank the longest putt for this round at 54 feet.
- Seven players tied for hitting the most greens-in-regulation (14). (R2 Ave. = 10.2)
- Tony Finau had the fewest putts (23).
- Cameron Young recorded the longest total distance of putts made (152 feet).
The replay leaderboard for round 2 appears below.
Complete statistical results through round 2 of the replay can be viewed by clicking the upper righthand corner on the PDF document below.