Ben Coley previews the second round of the PGA Championship
After a very near miss on day one of the PGA Championship, don't miss Ben Coley's take on day two.
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Thursday at the PGA Championship confirmed a few things that we already knew, or at least strongly suspected.
For instance, power will be a huge advantage this week. The likes of Gary Woodland, Brooks Koepka and Tony Finau help make up an extremely long-hitting leaderboard. Quail Hollow has always been this way, but with soft fairways and firm greens, the benefits of flying the ball beyond 300 yards have been exaggerated.
Other things we know: the BBC are next to useless when it comes to televising golf. Jordan Spieth is not all about the putter, but is the toughest player in the sport by a distance. Rory McIlroy likes it here but still doesn't look good on the greens. The PGA professionals will struggle to get close to 70.
My selection for day one was an ambitious four-fold based on the latter assertion, and it very nearly copped. Indeed, most of those who followed it will have been paid out thanks to two winners and two dead-heats, resulting in a give-or-take 5/4 winner.
Those same four players - Charles Howell, James Hahn, Russell Henley and Shane Lowry - may well all oblige in round two, but at a shorter price it's time to move on and return to that power advantage, especially with various firms deciding not to price up many of the low-key matches.
Xander Schauffele is by no means short from the tee, but he's certainly no Thomas Pieters and the Belgian can reverse Thursday's form at what looks a good price.
Pieters was clear favourite to beat Schauffele and Rod Pampling in the first round, but a woeful start saw him slump to a round of 79. Even out-of-form veteran Pampling managed 77, with Schauffele much the best thanks to a 74.
But there are reasons enough to suggest that Pieters can be fancied to put things right, and given that he's now around the 6/4 mark I'm more than prepared to take that chance.
Along with having a distinct power advantage, Pieters has shown time and again an ability to bounce back from the kind of off days which go with being a young, aggressive player still finding his way towards the top of the sport.
At the US Open, he followed a first-round 76 with a second-round 71, while his worst score (76) at the Open last month was followed by his best, a cruise-control 69 on Saturday.
Given that he went 72-68-75-68 in the Masters, that's all three majors in which he's followed an over-par round with an under-par one, and truth be told we're probably only looking for something like a two-over 73 to oblige here.
Schauffele is a PGA Tour rookie enjoying a golden summer, but he shot 70-76 over the first two days of the Open and 66-73 at Erin Hills. In other words, he's gone backwards after a good start, the reverse of Pieters.
Given that Schauffele struggled to hit greens on Thursday - Pieters managed one more - I can see more of the same here, particularly following a poor end to round one as he played the final four holes in three-over.
Although both came home in 39, Pieters was error free on the back-nine bar one big mistake at the difficult 17th which resulted in a six, so there were signs already that he, and not Schauffele, is in fact playing the more controlled golf.
As for Pampling, he's done nothing of note since a shock win last November and signed off with a round of 80 at Firestone last week. This unrelenting test will surely find him out again.
All things considered, I would still expect Pieters to be a solid favourite here at no bigger than evens, despite what happened on Thursday. He's not, so let's back him.
Posted at 0715 BST on 10/08/2017
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