2016 PGA Championship: Scores, leaderboard updates and more from Friday’s second round

Last year, the rollicking trash fire but salvaged event that was golf’s reintroduction to the Olympic Games forced the PGA Championship out of it usual second-week-of-August time slot, ahead two weeks to the end of July. The result was a major championship schedule that looked something more like horse racing’s triple crown, a nearly untenable travel schedule for players, and a fourth major championship that many fans might just look over due to the temporary, crammed-in date. This year, it’s back in the normal slot -- but it seems to be heading to May in 2019. (That’s dumb! But more on that later.) Just enjoy it in August, for now.

For casual golf fans that only tune in for the four major championships, the PGA often gets overlooked anyway. This ranking, from Deadspin’s Drew Magary, is the common one among casual fans.

When the week started, Friday at Baltusrol looked like a mess. The forecast was ominous, setting up a full day of stop-and-start golf at the PGA Championship.

Fortunately for the PGA of America, and everyone trying to keep up during this manic golf summer, we finished up Friday night on schedule and will have a normal Saturday start. The rains did come, dumping buckets on the North Jersey course overnight and into the morning. But all we got was a 50-minute delay early on in the morning that had them squeegee a few fairways and greens off while the players stayed in place. That left plenty of cushion for the full 156 players to get in before darkness and for a cut to be made, with a normal tee sheet set out for Saturday.

Business picked up on Friday at the PGA Championship. We had another major championship record-matching round. The No. 1 player in the world went crazy and shot up the leaderboard. Phil Mickelson started with a tee shot that left the golf course property. Jordan Spieth made an early move, then came out on the right side of a potential controversial penalty.

Baltusrol is giving this deep field a chance to make plenty of birdies, so there will be constant opportunities for leaderboard shuffling and movement throughout the weekend. Some scores and stories from the second round in New Jersey.

Rory McIlroy’s putter may be the reason Rory McIlroy won’t be playing the weekend at Baltusrol but it was his typically solid iron and wedge play that let him down at the end and had him on an early flight out of New Jersey on Friday.

Needing at least a par on the final hole of Friday’s second round to avoid missing his second major cut of the season, McIlroy flew the green with his approach shot and proceeded to chunk his way to a bogey-6 and a 3-over for 36 holes.

This is an aggressive and enterprising fan who knows what he wants. He gave Jason Day, who is torching Baltusrol right now, no chance but to give him a high-five before proceeding up the 17th hole.

Good work, kid ... you just touched the hottest player on the course.

Phil Mickelson got off to a no good, really bad, downright terrible start to the second round of the PGA Championship on Friday. The problems all started off the tee on No. 1.

Mickelson not only pushed his drive left and out of bounds, but he pushed it so far left it ended up bounding along some residential streets.

Jordan Spieth’s making a run back into contention on Friday’s second round of the PGA Championship. He’s at 3-under on the day, just two shots behind Henrik Stenson, Patrick Reed and Martin Kaymer. Or, he might be at 2-under. RULES OF GOLF BACK, BABY.

On the 7th hole -- his 16th after starting on the back nine -- Spieth hit this fantastic recovery shot from off the cart path and inside treeline jail to just behind the green. He made bogey after a difficult up-and-in, but it was much better than the big number that could’ve been coming.

We thought there might be weather trouble on Friday morning at the PGA Championship, and our first delay this week came just over an hour into the second round. The stoppage did not come from lightning but rather “non-dangerous weather conditions.” That means the course had become overrun with water from all the rain that fell overnight and continued early on Friday morning.

Fortunately, the delay was not expected to last long and the rain should be moving out of the area. The players were told to stay in place and not come back to the clubhouse, as they would if the PGA expected it to be a lengthy disruption.

Nooooooo, it’s the last major of the season. How is the PGA Championship here already?

This is the one major that the Olympics forced out of its usual spot on the schedule, moving the PGA from its mid-August date to just 10 days after that incredible Sunday at The Open. It doesn’t seem appropriate for what is arguably the most exciting major championship, but here we are catching our breath and ready to dive back in. Some picks and predictions for the week at Baltusrol.