Tour News
Kaymer stays hot in Round 2, leads by 6
If Germany consider its World Cup Brasil chances to be diminished after injuries to Marco Reus and Manuel Neuer, coach Joachim Loew might be well-served to place a call to North Carolina and discuss the matter with Martin Kaymer.
Germany’s latest contribution to upper-echelon professional golf, fresh off a victory at this year’s Players Championship, took an unanticipated, six-stroke lead over the field at the midpoint of the 2014 U.S. Open at Pinehurst No. 2.
Over the course of two days, Martin Kaymer has posted 11 birdies against a solitary bogey, deciphering a classic layout whose next lowest offering is a 4-under-par score from Brendon Todd, who won this spring at the PGA Tour’s Byron Nelson Classic.
After the round, Kaymer smiled and offered that his golf of the past two days was about as consistent as he could play.
“I played very well, I had some good rounds in the past as well,” he said. “But yesterday and today, especially today, the way I worked my way around the course, it was quite — I hit some smart shots, I didn’t play too aggressive and when I had a good number, I went for the flag and I didn’t make many mistakes on the greens. I didn’t three putt, I made a lot of good putts today and yesterday.”
Kaymer’s lone bogey in round one came at No. 7 (his 16 hole), a 427-yard, par 4.
Brendon Todd has been slightly less spectacular, but certainly strong enough to give pause to the leader. Marking down six birdies against two bogeys, the journeyman from Pittsburgh by way of North Carolina and the University of Georgia will find himself in the final group of a major for the first time on Saturday afternoon.
How he handles himself is anyone’s guess, including his own. It is certain, though, that Todd knows what he should say and how he should attempt to play.
“Stick to your game and just keep playing a good U.S. Open golf,” Todd said. “If you can play each nine 1-under par, you’re probably doing really, really good. And if [Martin] comes back to us, great, if he shoots 10-under again in the next two days, then he’s superhuman, so we’ll just have to try and wear him down.
“My game plan has been, if you have a short club, you should be able it try to make birdie. So I’ll continue to try and make birdies and get under par. I’m not going to fire at flags with 5 and 6 irons. So if I can hole a long putt, great. Avoiding the bogeys I think is No. 1. And then if you can make birdies with the short clubs, that’s No. 2. And that’s what’s going to catch him.”
Many of the world’s top golfers and pre-tournament favorites have positioned themselves to contend should Kaymer falter. Brandt Snedeker sits at 3-under, while Dustin Johnson, Keegan Bradley and Henrik Stenson are at 2-under. Matt Kuchar, Rory McIlroy and Jordan Spieth find themselves one rung lower on the ladder at 1-under.
The 36-hole cut was made at 147 (5-over), with two amateurs surviving along with 66 professionals. As always, a number of surprising names found themselves on the depressed side of the cut line, including Luke Donald, Bubba Watson, Charl Schwartzel, Jason Dufner and Hunter Mahan. Each of them missed the weekend by a solitary stroke.
Further down the list, Lee Westwood and Nick Watney joined the contingent that simply couldn’t figure out the restored Pinehurst No. 2 golf course, rife with sandy waste areas, greenside falloffs and little apparent deception.
Mahan’s missed cut may have been the most searing of all, as he was penalized two strokes for playing an incorrect ball on No. 18, his ninth hole of the day
“Not much to describe, I just hit the wrong ball,” Mahan said. “I looked at the ball. It looked — I mean I don’t know, it was one of those things I couldn’t explain to you. Off the tee, it looked like that’s where my ball should have been, and I couldn’t explain to you how it ended up where it did. Just got to pay more attention.”
Mahan and playing partner Jamie Donaldson, using identical balls with nearly-identical markings, each played the other’s ball for their second shots.
At 3:25 p.m., Martin Kaymer and Brendon Todd will tee off, joining 66 other golfers on the quest to earn the two-handled, nameless silver jug awarded to the winner of the national golf championship of the U.S. Will Kaymer repeat what Tiger Woods did in 2000 and cruise to an enormous victory margin, or will he come back to the field, as many have done before, granting a second chance at victory to his contemporaries?
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Tour Photo Galleries
Photos from the 2024 PGA Championship
GolfWRX is on site this week at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Kentucky, for the PGA Championship.
While we see fewer equipment changes and new gear seeding at major championships, we get a look at custom gear and looks into the bags of players we rarely see, which is just as exciting. In the case of the PGA Championship, this means a look at the gear some of the PGA Professionals who qualified for the tournament will be gaming, and LIV players, such as Jon Rahm and Patrick Reed.
Check out links to all our albums from Valhalla below and check back throughout the week as we continue to update.
General Albums
WITB Albums
- Michael Block – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Patrick Reed – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Cam Smith – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Brooks Koepka – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Josh Speight – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Takumi Kanaya – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Kyle Mendoza – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Adrian Meronk – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Jordan Smith – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Jeremy Wells – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Jared Jones – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- John Somers – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Larkin Gross – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Tracy Phillips – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Jon Rahm – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Keita Nakajima – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Kazuma Kobori – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- David Puig – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Ryan Van Velzen – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Brad Marek – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Chris Gotterup – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Rich Beem WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Phil Mickelson – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Matt Dobyns – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Lucas Herbert – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Jason Dufner – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- John Daly – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Taylor Gooch – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Dean Burmester – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Joaquin Niemann – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Dustin Johnson – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
Pullout Albums
- Ping putter covers – 2024 PGA Championship
- Bettinardi covers – 2024 PGA Championship
- Cameron putter covers – 2024 PGA Championship
- Max Homa – Titleist 2 wood – 2024 PGA Championship
- Scotty Cameron experimental putter shaft by UST – 2024 PGA Championship
- Joaquin Niemann – new Ping putter – 2024 PGA Championship
- Brooks Koepka’s new Cameron putter – 2024 PGA Championship
- Rickie Fowler’s Cobra bag and Aerojet driver – 2024 PGA Championship
- Super Stroke grip – 2024 PGA Championship
- Tiger Woods – 2024 PGA Championship
- Michael Block’s new TaylorMade “Proto” 7-iron, from address – 2024 PGA Championship
- Odyssey putter covers – 2024 PGA Championship
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News
Photos from the 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
GolfWRX is live this week at the Wells Fargo Championship as a field of the world’s best golfers descend upon Charlotte, North Carolina, hoping to tame the beast that is Quail Hollow Club in this Signature Event — only Scottie Scheffler, who is home awaiting the birth of his first child, is absent.
From the grounds at Quail Hollow, we have our usual assortment of general galleries and WITBs — including a look at left-hander Akshay Bhatia’s setup. Among the pullout albums, we have a look inside Cobra’s impressive new tour truck for you to check out. Also featured is a special look at Quail Hollow king, Rory McIlroy.
Be sure to check back throughout the week as we add more galleries.
General Albums
- 2024 Wells Fargo Championship – Monday #1
- 2024 Wells Fargo Championship – Tuesday #1
- 2024 Wells Fargo Championship – Tuesday #2
WITB Albums
- Akshay Bhatia – WITB – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Matthieu Pavon – WITB – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Keegan Bradley – WITB – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Webb Simpson – WITB – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Emiliano Grillo – WITB – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Taylor Pendrith – WITB – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Kevin Tway – WITB – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
Pullout Albums
- New Cobra equipment truck – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Rory McIlroy – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- New Cobra equipment truck – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Eric Cole’s custom Cameron putter – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Custom Cameron putter – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Matt Kuchar’s custom Bettinardi – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Justin Thomas – driver change – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Rickie Fowler – putter change – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Rickie Fowler’s new custom Odyssey Jailbird 380 putter – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Tommy Fleetwood testing a TaylorMade Spider Tour X (with custom neck) – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Cobra Darkspeed Volition driver – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
See what GolfWRXers are saying about our Wells Fargo Championship photos in the forums.
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Tour Photo Galleries
Photos from the 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
GolfWRX is on site this week in McKinney, Texas, at the 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson (FKA the AT&T Byron Nelson).
Last year at TPC Craig Ranch, Jason Day ended a five-year winless streak. J-Day is in the field again, as are Jordan Spieth, Tom Kim, and Will Zalatoris.
We have our usual assortment of general galleries, WITBs, and pullout albums for your perusal. As always, we’ll continue to add links to additional albums as they make their way to us from the Lone Star State.
Check out links to all our photos below.
General Albums
- 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson – Monday #1
- 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson – Monday #2
- 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson – Tuesday #1
- 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson – Tuesday #2
- 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson – Tuesday #3
WITB Albums
- Pierceson Coody – WITB – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
- Kris Kim – WITB – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
- David Nyfjall – WITB – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
- Adrien Dumont de Chassart – WITB – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
- Jarred Jetter – North Texas PGA Section Champ – WITB – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
- Richy Werenski – WITB – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
- Wesley Bryan – WITB – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
- Parker Coody – WITB – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
- Peter Kuest – WITB – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
- Blaine Hale, Jr. – WITB – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
- Kelly Kraft – WITB – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
- Rico Hoey – WITB – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
Pullout Albums
- Adam Scott’s 2 new custom L.A.B. Golf putters – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
- Scotty Cameron putters – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
- Ben Griffin playing Maxfli golf ball
See what GolfWRXers are saying in the forums.
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Ronald Montesano
Jun 14, 2014 at 6:35 am
Saturday and Sunday equal the cauldron. We’ll see how he goes. Thanks for the comment, Rich. How do you like his chances?
Rich
Jun 14, 2014 at 6:21 am
What an amazing two rounds. Keep it going Martin, would be great to see you win another major!