Cameron Smith accidentally hits opponent on nearby hole as Australian hopes fade at US PGA Championship
Cameron Smith has let the leaders slip in a missed opportunity at the US PGA Championship in Oklahoma.
Most important points:
Smith hit American Aaron Wise on a faulty tee shotTiger Woods finished round two with a one-under-par 69The American Will Zalatoris currently leads with a five-under 65
Smith remains an outside chance but will face history after slaving to a second round even par 70 at the Southern Hills Country Club on Saturday.
Australia’s world number four is two-under for the championship, seven shots adrift of American pacer Will Zalatoris after failing to take advantage of a favorable change in conditions.
While his rivals took advantage of a dramatic mid-lap wind shift with a barrage of birdies, Smith backed off with two bogeys on his homeward nine to overtake himself this weekend.
Bogeys on the 10th, when he missed the green left, and on number 15, after leaving his bunker shot in the trap, Smith sent from fifth to a blockade of players sharing ninth.
A wild tee did not help Smith’s round shot. He sailed into an adjacent hole and accidentally hit Aaron Wise of the USA on the head.
Aaron Wise holds his head after being accidentally hit by a shot from Cam Smith. (Getty Images: Andrew Redington)
History has favored the Southern Hills frontrunners, with all seven winners of the previous seven PGA championships played at the venue having at least part of the 36-hole lead.
That leaves Zalatoris in the box to hoist the Wanamaker Trophy on Sunday after the 2021 Masters second place shot down with a blistering 65 to nine.
Chilean Mito Pereira (64) is one shot behind after missing a short birdie putt on the latter to equal the course record jointly held by Tiger Woods and Raymond Floyd.
Woods, for his part, cut with a 69 under par in the second round, 15 months after nearly losing his right leg in a car accident. He moves the tournament to three-on-four thanks to four birdies on Saturday.
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Justin Thomas is chasing a second PGA Championship win and is third with six under after a straight 67, this time in the fierce morning wind.
Smith’s compatriots Lucas Herbert, Jason Day, and Marc Leishman made it halfway through but will make up for the numbers.
Herbert also lost ground on Saturday, returning to one over for the championship with a three-over 73.
Day, champion in 2015 and runner-up in 2016, fought hard to pull back to the map but finished his second round of 72 with three straight bogeys to slide over to three – a dozen strokes adrift from Zalatori.
Leishman (71) is also three over, while Cam Davis (72) birdied his last two holes to cut the number at four over.
Min Woo Lee (72), with five, left, and Adam Scott (70), with seven left, missed the cut.
Meanwhile, Australian Whitney Hillier has grabbed the lead en route to the final round of the Ladies European Tour event at Evian Resort Golf Club this weekend.
Fresh off a team wins at the Aramco Series in Bangkok, Hillier put in a par round of 71 for a total of 36 holes four under par, including a sensational hole-in-one on eighth to complement the hole-in-one she yesterday sank on a course where two others achieved the feat on the same day.
Hillier now has a one-stroke lead as she looks set to take her first singles to win.
MONKEY/ABC
