US PGA Championship 2026: Mcnealy and Smalley Share Lead as McIlroy Fights Back in Round Two

Americans Maverick McNealy and Alex Smalley share the lead at four under par heading into the weekend of the Us PGA Championship after a chaotic second round at Aronimink Golf Club in Pennsylvania. McNealy fired a three under par 67 to join Smalley on 136 at the halfway mark, with six players just one shot behind and 15 competitors within two strokes of the lead, marking only the third time in major championship history that the leaderboard has been so bunched after 36 holes.

McNealy, whose best major finish was 18th at last month’s Masters, briefly held the solo lead at six under after holing a 54-foot bunker shot for eagle on the par five 16th and adding birdies on the first, second and fifth holes. However, he stumbled with three putt bogeys on the sixth and par three eighth. “This is unfamiliar territory to me,” McNealy said. “My putter is going to have to be my best club. That is the reason I still have a job out here”.

Smalley, who began the day as part of a seven way tie for the lead, carded a one under 69. He fell out of solo lead after three consecutive bogeys but closed with a birdie. “It was difficult, it was chilly this morning, the wind was up,” Smalley said. “Some of the hole locations are very difficult. They are right on the top of a crown”.

Rory McIlroy produced the round of the day, a bogey free 67, to climb from well outside the projected cut line to one over par, five shots off the lead. The six time major champion had labelled his opening 74 with a crude single word description on Thursday. When asked to compare his second round performance, McIlroy laughed and replied that it was “not as s—,” making clear the improvement in the same blunt terms.

McIlroy explained that he had misjudged Aronimink on Thursday, arriving at the course expecting lower scores and playing with an aggression that the conditions did not support. “I had a better understanding of how the course was playing. I probably went out there yesterday being a little too aggressive, thinking that guys were going to go lower than they were,” he said. “Because I certainly did not, in the practice rounds, see it playing as difficult as it has played. So I think knowing that the field is not going to get away from you, you can be a little bit more patient, especially this afternoon”.

At five back, McIlroy insisted he remains a contender. “I do feel like I am right in the tournament,” he said. However, he was critical of the tournament setup, noting that the congested leaderboard reflected a poorly constructed test. “I think a bunched leaderboard like this, I think it is a sign of not a great setup,” McIlroy said. “It is easy to make a ton of pars, hard to make birdies, and it feels like bogey is the worst score you are going to shoot on any one hole”.

Defending champion and world number one Scottie Scheffler sits at two under after a second round 71. He described some of the pin locations as the hardest he had seen in his time on tour. Chris Gotterup produced the championship’s finest round yet, a 65, to join Hideki Matsuyama, Aldrich Potgieter, Min Woo Lee, Stephan Jaeger and Max Greyserman at three under par. Cameron Young, Justin Thomas and Ludvig Aberg are also at two under.

Pace of play was glacial throughout round two, with the first group out clocking five hours and 30 minutes. Justin Thomas expressed frustration after his group, which included Cameron Young and Keegan Bradley, was put on the clock on the fourth hole. All three players were seen remonstrating with a tournament official. “We just did not really agree with it,” Thomas said. “It is hard because it is kind of the whole time par thing. What is time par? How can time par on this course be the same when it is blowing 25 and the pins are tough than if it is not?”.

Thomas admitted his group was behind but stressed they were not holding up the group behind them. “That was not our issue or being annoyed by it, it is just the fact that we were not holding up the group behind us,” he said. “We just did not agree with it, to be honest. But we got taken off, and a hole later we were caught up”.

The cut line fell at four over par, with 82 players making the weekend. Among those missing the cut were Tommy Fleetwood and Robert MacIntyre, while Shane Lowry barely survived, carding a 76 that included finding water on the 17th. The third round begins Saturday at Aronimink, with the tournament wide open heading into the final 36 holes.