This post summarizes the results from round 2 of my 2023 PGA Championship Replay at Oak Hill (Acorn Hill). Previous posts have discussed the history of the event, day conditions in 2023, and round 1 results for both the replay and actual tournament.
By way of recap, Acorn Hill is a par 70 with narrow fairways and a 7-Iron club restriction for all shots from the regular rough. The actual field of 156 players was trimmed to 76 following round 2. I am using all 70 of the APBA golfers who played in the event and were carded for 2023.
Actual Event
In round 2, Corey Conners (68), Viktor Hovland (67), and Scottie Scheffler (68) moved up the leaderboard into a three-way tie for first place. With the day’s best score, Brooks Koepka (66) moved into the top ten tied for sixth place with Callum Tarren (67 – not carded).
Bryson DeChambeau (71 – not carded) moved down from first place after round 1 into a tie for fourth place with Justin Suh (68 – not carded). Club pro Michael Block (not carded – 70) finished the round tied with eight other players for tenth place.
The day’s worst scores were 82 made by Josh Speight and Wyatt Worthington II, both club pros, and by Shaun Micheel who won the 2003 PGA Championship at Oak Hill. None of these competitors made the cut, which was set at +5.
The round 2 average score for the total field was 72.8 strokes, with the qualifiers at 70.6 strokes on average. Thus, while the field was 2.8 strokes over par, the qualifiers were only 0.6 strokes over par.
The top of the actual leaderboard for the 2nd round is provided below.
The Replay Event
For round 2 the pin was located at position 1, the wind was Calm, and conditions Normal (0 FW roll / 0 green roll). The hole distances for pin placement 2 resulted in the 7400-yard layout provided below. For reference, the round 1 pin placement resulted in a 7320-yard layout. The “To Par” numbers below are the combined averages for rounds 1 and 2 for the replay field.
Challenges of Acorn Hill’s Long Par 4’s
After two rounds holes 9, 17, and 18, all long par 4’s, have proved the most difficult to play. All three tree-lined holes feature a normal right dogleg off the tee. The doglegs occur at 315 yards on hole 9; at 285 yards on hole 17; and at 325 yards on hole 18.
At these distances, few players will drive beyond the doglegs on holes 9 and 18. Therefore, drives short of the dogleg run the risk of second shots being blocked by trees. Hole 9, pictured below and aptly named “Needle’s Eye,” provides a good example of the challenges posed by these long, tree-lined doglegs.
APBA Master game rule 6 addresses how to play doglegs. Rule 6.2 states that “dogleg effects are ignored for (1) par three holes; (2) second shots, unless trees block a straight line from the ball to green’s front/center; and (3) shots that are hit to the opposite side of the dogleg . . .”
Unfortunately, on second shots following typical drives for most of the pros, trees are frequently in line with the green. This situation is illustrated by the three blue dotted-lines drawn on the picture above. The white diamonds indicate where the line to the green’s front/center first crosses the trees. Notice that the diamond for the blue line that corresponds to a ball positioned 300 yards off the tee along the centerline crosses the trees just 5 yards from the centerline at 355 yards off the tee.
One strategy is to hit over the trees. To hit over a tree with a 5-Wood from the fairway requires 75 yards of clearance; a 2-Iron requires 120 yards of clearance; a 5-Iron requires 80 yards of clearance; a 6- or 7-Iron requires 60 yards of clearance.
Counting out 10 straight lines and one diagonal line to a tree obstruction from a ball located at 300 yards on the CL equates to about a 60-yard tree clearance requirement, thus a 6- or 7-Iron might carry the trees and reach the green for medium and long hitters from this location.
Counting out 10 straight lines and 3 diagonal lines to a tree obstruction from a ball located at 275 yards on the CL equates to a tree clearance requirement of about 75 yards. Although a 6-Iron can carry the trees and reach the green for a long hitter, shorter and medium distance hitters will struggle to do so in this situation.
As we move closer to the trees right of the CL, clearance is reduced. The only choices are to (1) play safe for a clear third shot, (2) layup over the trees using a wedge (provided that 40 yards of tree clearance is available) for a clear–yet somewhat shorter–third shot, or (3) hit around the trees with a long iron or fairway wood thereby bringing the dogleg rule into effect.
Since second shots hit around trees are very close to the start of the dogleg, any second shot will carry and roll most of its distance beyond the dogleg. That could result in the shot veering way off line if it crosses the inside of the dogleg. In that case, the result is a long third shot from well off the fairway to the green. (Note that rule 6.1 states for a Normal Dogleg to move 5 yards for every 10 yards past the dogleg in the opposite direction of the dogleg.)
As shown in the image above, shorter tees shots that land 40 yards right of the CL can easily find the Out of Bounds (OB) markers. Even shots just 25 yards right of the green can go OB.
Other challenges for this hole include a course board rule that reduces carry 10 yards for second and subsequent W/I shots and another requiring ALL PUTTS to be read one Play Result Number (PRN) lower on the putting boards. For example, a PRN of 17 becomes an 18. That doesn’t sound like much, but it can make a stroke or two difference per round (or more) when almost every hole has this restriction.
If you’ll recall, every shot from the regular rough on this course is limited to a maximum of a 7-Iron. Virtually any second shot from the rough, whether hit over trees or around them, will have a hard time making the green on hole no. 9 for all but the longest hitters. Taken together, the combination of all these factors makes for a challenging test to close out the front nine.
The Replay Leaderboard
The average round 2 score for the 70 replay competitors was 72.4 strokes, slightly higher than the average round 1 replay score of 72.3 strokes. The 2nd round replay scores more closely match the actual total field scores (72.8). The actual qualifiers (70.6) bettered the replay players scores by 1.8 strokes on average per round.
The top of the replay leaderboard for round 2 is provided below.
In a 4-way tie for first place, Patrick Cantlay (68) and Max Homa (68) moved up from T4, Rory McIlroy (69) moved up from T2, and Scottie Scheffler moved up from T15. Xander Schauffele (68) took sole possession of fifth place.
In a 3-way tie for sixth place, Nick Hardy (68) moved up from T24, Brooks Koepka (66) moved up from T41, and Collin Morikawa (70) moved up from T8. Cameron Davis (74) moved down from first place to T9, and Adam Scott (73) moved down from T2 to T9.
After round 2, Corey Conners (74), Keegan Bradley (73), Brian Harman (72), Billy Horschel (74), Robert McIntrye (77), and John Rahm (73) all moved off the top ten leaderboard.
The best score for round 2 was a 4-under 66, delivered by Scottie Scheffler, Brooks Koepka, Si woo Kim, and Emiliano Grillo. The round’s worst score belonged to Victor Perez (81).
Tracking the three top finishers from the actual event in the replay, both Koepka (T6) and Scheffler (T1) established prominent positions on the leaderboard after round 2. Viktor Hovland (73) finished round 2 three-over par and ranked T24. Notwithstanding the lower ranking, Hovland is only 7 strokes back from the leaders and thus still very much in contention.
Round 2 highlights include:
- Holes in One: Justin Thomas (hole no. 5) and Eric Cole (hole no. 15)
- Eagle: Stephan Jaeger (hole no. 10)
- Most Fairways hit: Brendon Todd, Sungjae Im, and Jordan Spieth – 12 of 14 fairways. (Avg. = 6.9)
- Fewest Fairways hit: Mark Hubbard – 2 of 14
- Most Greens in Regulation: Scottie Scheffler and Cameron Young – 14 of 18. (Avg. = 9.8)
- Fewest Greens in Regulation: Nico Echavarria – 4 of 18
- Jordan Spieth led all players in average driving distance (two holes) at 328 yards. (Avg. = 284)
- Min Woo Lee led all players in average driving distance (all drives) at 309 yards. (Avg. = 280)
- Nicolai Højgaard had the longest drive (365 yards).
- Sepp Straka sank the longest putt at 67 feet on hole no. 13.
- Sepp Straka had the longest total distance of putts made (152.5 feet).
- MacKenzie Hughes had the fewest putts at 20 (Avg. = 29.0).
- Cameron Young had the most putts (36).
- Matt Wallace 4-putted (hole no. 16).