Fog delayed PGA Championship at Valhalla, where the cut is 1-under 141

May 18, 2024 | 9:00 AM

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Once the rain cleared out, fog moved in at the PGA Championship.

Thick fog covered Valhalla on Saturday morning, causing a two-hour delay before the second round resumed. It forced tournament organizers to send players off in groups of threes on both nines for the third round.

Xander Schauffele had a one-shot lead over Collin Morikawa after 36 holes, with Masters champion Scottie Scheffler three shots back as he tries to clear his head and get back into a routine following the wildest day of his career.

Scheffler was arrested early Friday in a predawn incident with Louisville police, who were investigating a fatal traffic accident involving a pedestrian. Traffic was blocked outside the gates when Scheffler tried to ease his way into the club.

Police say he ignored directions and an officer was dragged to the ground by Scheffler’s car. He was arrested on a felony charge of second-degree assault of a police officer and three other lesser charges, booked into jail and made it back to Valhalla for his tee time with under an hour to spare.

Scheffler shot 66 and later said his head was “spinning.”

The police investigation that shut down traffic led to a 1 hour, 20-minute delay in play and kept the second round from finishing.

The cut was 1-under 141, a PGA Championship record low score for the weekend.

And while it tied a major championship record for lowest cut — also 1 under at St. Andrews in 1990 and Royal Liverpool in 2006 for the British Open — Elias Sports Bureau said the 78 players were the most to finish 36 holes under par in any major.

Schauffele has gone two years since his last win. He shot 68 on Friday and was in the lead for the fifth time in his last six rounds dating to the Wells Fargo Championship last week, when Rory McIlroy closed with a 65 to overtake him.

Morikawa is a two-time major champion who contended at the Masters until fading to a 74 for a tie for third.

As for Scheffler? He’s trying to become the first player since Jack Nicklaus in 1980 to win the Masters and PGA Championship in the same year, and the first since Jordan Spieth in 2015 to win the first two majors of the year.

Scheffler, even with the “shock and fear” he said he felt during his arrest and brief jail time Friday, maintained his remarkable streak of 42 consecutive rounds at par or better.

That will need to continue over the weekend if he wants to win. The course is soft from rain over the last week. The wind has been on holiday. That’s a recipe for low scoring, which already is evident.

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AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf

Doug Ferguson, The Associated Press