PGA Championship 2013 Leaderboard: Live Day 2 Look-in and Overall Predictions

The 2013 Masters and 2003 U.S. Open champions are your leaders through Day 1.

Adam Scott and Jim Furyk are the two golfers with the targets on their backs entering the second round of the 2013 PGA Championship at Oak Hill Country Club in Rochester, N.Y. Will either of them be able to hang on to their lead through the next three rounds?

That remains to be seen, but it doesn’t seem likely since there are many, many players within striking distance of the co-leaders. Scott and Furyk are only at five under par entering Friday. There are more than 30 golfers within four strokes of the pair of top players. Their lead is far from safe, and it’ll likely be gone soon.

So, what’s going to happen in the second round at Oak Hill? Who will hold the lead entering the weekend? Which players will make the cut? And of course, which golfer will emerge as the champion come Sunday afternoon? While we don’t know the answers just yet, we will soon. In the meantime, we’ll make predictions.

Below is the scoreboard for the PGA Championship, which continually updates, as well as predictions for how the remainder of the tournament will play out.

PGA Championship Predictions

Furyk Finishes In Top 10

Jim Furyk might hold a share of the lead entering Friday, but I’m not convinced he’s going to hang on for the remaining three rounds at Oak Hill. He had one good round of golf but still hasn’t played well at a major tournament in quite some time. He didn’t even play the weekend at the U.S. Open or the Open Championship this year.

Furyk also hasn’t finished in the top 10 at the PGA Championship since 2002. He was smooth with his swing and stroked the ball well on Thursday, but can he replicate his first-round success going forward? He has the 113th-best scoring average before the cut this year. That doesn’t mean he’ll crumble on Friday, but it’s likely.

Furyk has played his best golf in the third round this season and is the worst on Sundays. In all likelihood, he’ll be among the leaders throughout the weekend but won’t finish atop it once the championship concludes. He’ll end his week at Oak Hill a few strokes behind the champion but still in the top 10.

Rory Nearly Defends Title

Rory McIlroy has had a rough season and hasn’t been very impressive at any of the three majors since winning the PGA Championship at Kiawah Island a year ago. He failed to finish in the top 20 at the Masters or the U.S. Open—which he won two years ago—and didn’t even get to play the weekend in Scotland.

Rory finished the first round at Oak Hill in fine shape entering Friday. He shot two over for the round but was inconsistent for a large portion of it. He had four birdies and a bogey on the front nine followed by a birdie and three bogeys on the back nine. It seems likely he’ll be in contention throughout the weekend.

In fact, expect Rory’s struggles at major championships to end at the PGA Championship. He’s been playing well in the fourth round this season—30th-best scoring average—and that’s where he’ll make his run toward the top of the leaderboard. Unfortunately, he’ll finish a stroke worse than the champion.

Tiger Wins No. 15

The time has come for Tiger Woods to win another major championship. He’s come so close since winning his 14th back at the 2008 U.S. Open, finishing in the top 10 nine times. But he’s failed to finish in first place, and when you’re talking about Tiger, first place is all that matters. Who cares about second or third?

Tiger played well throughout the back nine at Oak Hill on Thursday but wasn’t sharp on the front nine. He was two under at the turn but finished his round at one over. He could easily make a comeback with a strong couple of rounds going forward. He should enter “Tiger mode” soon.

The biggest hurdle for Tiger will be cruising through the weekend. He has the 73rd-best third-round scoring average and the 135th-best final-round scoring average on the PGA Tour this season. But while the weekend has plagued him in the past, he’ll overcome his struggles to win the PGA Championship by one stroke.

All statistics in this article were obtained via PGATour.com unless otherwise noted.