It’s unlikely that the second round will be completed today. We’re already 80 minutes behind schedule because of this morning’s tragic accident; the forecasters are saying the weather will close in on Valhalla at around 5pm local time, 10pm BST. Hopefully there won’t be any electrical activity and play will be able to continue, but it’s likely to be pretty wet and so not likely to be fast. Earlier in the day, Dame Laura Davies did some quick back-of-envelope workings while commentating on Sky, and reckoned the final pairings would have to get around in four hours without delay to get home before darkness sets in. Which is not going to happen. And if that sounds right to Dame Laura, it sounds right to us. But that’s all the worst-case scenario, so having managed expectations, let’s see how things pan out.

A fourth birdie in a row for Austin Eckroat! The latest at 10. It took a while, but the leaderboard is beginning to jiggle around a bit.

-9: Schauffele
-8: Hubbard (7*)
-7: English (13*), Noren (12), Eckroat (10), Morikawa (10*)
-6: Kim (11*), Detry (11), Scheffler (9*), Finau, Theegala
-5: Hojgaard (11), MacIntyre, McIlroy
-4: Rai (14), Lowry (13*), Tosti (6), Moore, Koepka, Kohles

Another birdie for Brian Harman, whose putter has been hot, hot, hot this morning. This one comes at 18, and the Open champion has played the back nine in 32 strokes to move to -3 overall. Birdie for his playing partner Scottie Scheffler, too, who made a meal of making his way up the hole – a drive into thick rough, the second evading the fairway too – only to rescue the situation with a stunning punched wedge from 80 yards to six feet. In goes the putt and he moves to -6.

Rasmus Hojgaard is making his presence felt at a major for the first time. The 23-year-old Dane has made four starts in the biggest tournaments, and has missed the cut every time bar one, when he finished 79th at the 2021 PGA. Perhaps his brother Nicolai’s decent performances at last year’s Open (tied 23rd) and this year’s Masters (tied 16th) have inspired him to kick on? Whatever, a 68 yesterday, and now birdies at 5 and 10 have sent him up the rankings to -5.

Austin Eckroat is trending in the right direction: a top-ten finish at the US Open last year, his first PGA Tour win at the Cognizant Classic a couple of months ago. Now the 25-year-old from Oklahoma cards three birdies on the bounce to move to -6. Meanwhile birdie at 18 for Collin Morikawa, birdie for Alex Noren at 12, yet another for English, at 4, and after a period of little movement on the leaderboard, a few players are beginning to make their move!

-9: Schauffele
-8: Hubbard (6*)
-7: English (13*), Noren (12), Morikawa (9*)

Birdie for Harris English at 3. He joins the group at -6, and can the 34-year-old Georgian make the big leap? According to the man himself, he sure can. Our man Matt Cooper – who will be blogging for your leisure and pleasure later today – has sent this quote across, gleaned at the Players the other month, on the subject of English’s close pal Brian Harman: “He’s a competitor. I feel like I’ve pushed him a little bit. He’s definitely pushed me to be better. We all really love seeing each other’s successes, but it pushes me to be better. I know I can compete with Brian Harman, I can win a major, I can win some of these tournaments.”

That 16th-hole birdie total remains at 14, because Scheffler tickles his downhill putt towards the cup, but it’s always going to stay out stubbornly on the left lip. Not hit with the conviction of Harman, minutes earlier from over double the distance. He remains at -5 … but perhaps even more importantly, retains the optimistic support of Simon McMahon, who predicts: “Scheffler’s winning this now, isn’t he? And being presented with a pair of handcuffs as big as the Wanamaker Trophy by the Chief of Police on Sunday in best Rory/Ollie Medinah style.”

Well, there is a 14th birdie of the week at 16, but it’s got nothing to do with Scottie Scheffler! Brian Harmon sends a 25-footer straight into the cup for birdie of his own. Like an arrow. Shades of his antics around Hoylake last year, and not just because of the drippy weather. The Open champ is -2.

The long par-four 16th is one of the hardest holes at Valhalla. It’s playing fourth most difficult so far this week. Just the 13 birdies so far. Number 14 could be coming up soon, though, because from the centre of the fairway, Scottie Scheffler has just creamed an iron from 226 yards to ten feet. Whatever happens with the putt, that’ll be one of the sweetest shots of the day.

Alex Noren yips a three-foot birdie opportunity at 10. He smacks his lips in frustration, and remains at -6. It continues to rain. Nothing dramatic, just a steady stream. No threat of more serious weather coming in just yet.

Jason Day birdies 18 to turn in 33. He’s -3 overall. Early birdies for Thorbjorn Olesen, at 3 and 5, send the Dane up the standings to -4. Aaron Rai is this close to making his second birdie of the day, at 10, only for the putt to shave the hole; he remains at -4. And on 16, Cameron Young teeters atop a mound of rocks in the middle of the stream running down the side of the fairway, and demonstrates his impressive core strength by lashing his ball back into play without toppling into the drink. Shades of Tom Kim last year, only without the mud-caked comedy.

Jon Rahm is in the middle of an existential golfing crisis. An LIV dude now, yet not quite able or willing to shake off his PGA Tour past, he came into the week struggling for form and out of sorts. He then bogeyed four of the first six holes he played yesterday. But what a response by the former Masters and US Open champ! Back in 32 last night to salvage a 70, and now birdies at 13 and 15. He’s -2 and fighting like mad to stay involved. Despite it all, Rahm’s presence at the business end of this major far from a pipe dream.

Alex Noren has ten European Tour wins to his name, but the 41-year-old Swede hasn’t done too much in the very biggest competitions. Top-ten finishes at the Open in 2012 and 2017, and that’s about that. But he did finish in the top-20 at the Players a couple of months ago, and third at the Byron Nelson at the start of May. So he’s in form, and he’s carrying it over to Valhalla. Birdies at 4, 7 and now 9 have whisked him up the standings to -6.

Back to Scottie’s golf, and he’s short of the green at the long par-three 14th. No matter! He takes out the Texas Wedge and lags a 50-footer up from the apron to tap-in distance. He remains -5. Meanwhile Mark Hubbard clips his second at 12 to eight feet, and tidies up for another birdie that takes the 81st-ranked player in the world to within a shot of the lead!

-9: Schauffele
-8: Hubbard (3*)
-6: Morikawa (6*), T Kim (6*), Detry (6), Finau, Theegala

Louisville police have issued a report of their own. They claim the officer who held onto Scheffler’s moving car, Detective Gillis, was dragged “to the ground” and suffered “pain, swelling, and abrasions to his left wrist” after the car “accelerated forward.” Gillis was taken to hospital for his injuries.

Scottie Scheffler’s attorney, Steve Romines, has spoken to the Associated Press about this morning’s incident involving his client, and the subsequent arrest. “We will litigate the case as it goes. The main thing is he was proceeding exactly as he was directed in a marked vehicle with credentials. He didn’t do anything intentionally wrong.”

Tom Kim bounces back with a 15-footer on 15. He’s back to -6. Meanwhile over on 16, Min Woo Lee finds himself out of position high on a bank to the left of the green, but swishes confidently at his chip and sends the ball floating down the hill, scampering across the green and into the cup. Birdie out of nowhere! His third of the day, and after yesterday’s 72, Minjee’s brother is now -2 overall.

Shane Lowry has two top-ten finishes at the PGA, in 2019 and 2021. The 2019 Open champion is positioned nicely for a tilt at a third, or something even better: he’s just carded his third birdie of the day, at 16, to move to -4 overall.

Mark Hubbard is making his first impression at a major championship. Before this week, his best finish at one was a tie for 51st at the 2020 PGA; the 34-year-old from Denver’s next best effort is 75th in last year’s event. This week could be his breakthrough, though: a late-in-the-day 65 posted yesterday, and now an opening birdie at 10 to move into second spot all on his own!

-9: Schauffele
-7: Hubbard (1*)
-6: Detry (5), Morikawa (4*), Finau, Theegala
-5: English (8*), T Kim (5*), MacIntyre, McIlroy, McNealy

Tom Kim can’t find the green at the monster par-three 14th. It’s only playing at 246 yards today, to be fair, a whopping ten yards shorter than yesterday. Still. It costs him the shot he picked up with that rake at the previous par-three. Back to -5. “If Scheffler somehow ends up winning this tournament, should the US PGA introduce an Orange Jacket for the winner?” wonders Adam Hirst, because let’s face it, someone was going to say it at some point.

Scottie Scheffler missed a miserable par putt from close range on 11. He responds by draining a one-in-ten 40-footer on 12 to move back to -5. A gentle punch of the air. Nothing fazes him. He was in the jug a couple of hours ago!

Thomas Detry shot 66 yesterday. He rattles in a birdie putt on 4 to move to -6. Collin Morikawa does likewise on 13. Meanwhile an opening birdie at 10 for Patrick Reed, the 2018 Masters champ climbing to -3.

-9: Schauffele
-6: Morikawa (4*), Detry (4), T Kim (4*), Finau, Theegala, Hubbard
-5: MacIntyre, McIlroy, McNealy

The 2015 champion Jason Day prepares to wedge into 15. As he addresses the ball, an errant tee shot from the 16th misses him by … well, not a great distance at all. It flies towards him before whistling past his left lug. He calmly turns to see the ball come to a halt 30 yards behind him, then gathers himself and sends his approach to six feet. In goes the par. He’s -2 and lucky to still be upright. An apology no doubt coming from either Cameron Davis, Harris English or Talor Gooch, the three players in the group ahead.

Scottie Scheffler races his first putt at 11 six feet past the flag. He can’t make the one coming back, shoving his putt well wide right of the cup. That never looked like dropping. He moves back to -4. Tom Kim’s 30-foot birdie putt on 13 does look like dropping, however … but it suddenly rears up and stops on the lip, half a dimple short of toppling into the hole. He pulls his gilet over his mouth in irritation, and remains at -6.

Hole-in-one: Sebastian Söderberg

Scheffler wasn’t totally on top of his game yesterday. (It’s testament to his outrageous ability that you can say something like that after a major-championship opening round of 67, but here we are.) That opening birdie will give him succour, but his tee shot into the long-ish par-three 11th isn’t the best, only just finding the fringe on the right of the green. He’ll have a bit of work to do to get down in two putts for his par.

Brian Harman is out of position all the way down 10. A short drive, a second shot shoved into bother down the left, a third sent 40 feet from the flag. No matter, he drains the birdie in the Hoylake style. Having shot 72 yesterday, he’s back to level par. Then Scheffler tidies up for his birdie to move to -5. Plenty of Scottie chanting, ringing its way around the course. Close your eyes and it could be Sunday afternoon. What a way to start his round after the morning he’s had. Scheffler and Harman smile at each other and jabber away happily. Looks like it’ll do Scheffler some good to be going around with a pal.

Scheffler does indeed lay up with his second, trusting his wedge. Great idea. He lands his approach just to the right of the stick, the ball spinning back to a couple of feet below the hole. If that. He’ll have a great look at birdie. Not as quite as blistering a start as the hole-out for eagle he made on 1 yesterday, but that’ll go some way to settling the nerves, which must surely be jangling like billy-o.

Min Woo Lee has started quickly as well. Birdie at 10 followed by a chip-in from the back of 12, and the young Aussie moves up to -1 in short order. Meanwhile Shane Lowry has got himself back up to -3 with birdie at 13.

The ever-entertaining Tom Kim shot 66 yesterday. The early signs are that he’s in decent nick today. He really should have birdied 10, but missed a five-footer; however that’s not fazed him, and he’s just sunk a 30-footer on 11 to make the first move at the top of the leaderboard.

-9: Schauffele
-6: T Kim (2*), Finau, Theegala, Hubbard
-5: Morikawa (1*), Detry (1), McIlroy, MacIntyre, McNealy

Scheffler tees off

The Open champion Brian Harman will be going around with Scheffler this morning, and he speaks to ESPN. “It’s just a wild morning, man … Scottie is one hell of a dude and I sure am glad he’s going to be out here to play … by the time I got in, everything was cleared up, but it was so congested … just a bad scene … Scottie is a joy to be around and I look forward to playing with him again today … [the players in the locker room] were just supportive … hoping everything would get figured out in time for him to have a chance … we’ve all got a job to do … I’m happy to see him walking around over there.”

The PGA have also released a statement. This one as heart-wrenching as you’d expect.

Scottie Scheffler has issued a statement. It’s as thoughtful and respectful as you’d expect from the man.

A couple of early birdies to report. Shane Lowry, who shot 69 yesterday, follows opens with birdie at 10 to move to -3 … but only momentarily, as he three-putts from distance on the par-three 11th to slip back to where he started at -2. In the group ahead, Harris English birdied 10 and the 34-year-old Georgian, who has a weirdly lopsided record in the majors – absolutely nothing of note to report in a dozen years of trying, with the notable exception of third, fourth and eighth-placed finishes at the US Open in the last four years – joins the group at -4.

Scottie Scheffler turns up on the range. The orange jail shirt now swapped for a pristine white Nike sweater. Some wag in the gallery shouts that his mugshot “was way better than Tiger’s”; suffice to say Scheffler doesn’t crack a smile at the bon mot. The face still ashen. He’s trying his best to regain some sort of focus, looking straight ahead. A fistbump from Rickie Fowler. “All good?” “All good,” he replies. “You’re not a criminal,” another gallery member shouts, amid a smattering of supportive “Scottie”s. A few short irons to loosen up. Then finally a semblance of a smile as he gets back down to work.

The Louisville Metro Police Department have released a statement regarding the fatal accident. “About 5:00 this morning, the LMPD responded to a call of a vehicle collision involving a pedestrian and a bus,” it begins.

“Our preliminary investigation found that an adult male pedestrian was crossing Shelbyville Road south to north when he was struck by a shuttle bus that was travelling eastbound in the compulsory centre lane dedicated for buses.

“As a result, the pedestrian received fatal injuries and was pronounced dead on the scene. The LMPD Traffic Unit is investigating.”

Sky: Scheffler to tee off at 10.08am. Kira K Dixon of Sky reports that Scheffler told gathered journalists that “he wasn’t going to be commenting” but “popped his head into player dining and said ‘hello I’m here’ and continued on”.

Dixon adds that “it seems to be all signs pointing to him having a warm-up, that he will play, and he should be at that 10.08 tee-time … spirits are fine … he is ready to go … he’ll try to get into the headspace that is required to compete at a major.”

Scheffler arrives at Valhalla

As evidenced by Rich Beem’s early double bogey, the second round has belatedly started. Nothing of great import going on in the early matches, so time for some admin. “This is low down the list of things to point out,” begins our chief sports reporter Sean Ingle, “but Scottie is out to 13-1 on Betfair. He was less than half that a couple of hours ago.” Meanwhile here’s the weather report; expect more delays, for less tragic reasons, later in the day.

Scheffler released and returning to Valhalla

Sky Sports commentator Wayne Riley has been on the driving range to gauge opinion among the early starters. “The energy is zapped,” he reports. His Sky colleague Rich Beem is competing this week as a former champion, and Beem told Riley that “no-one had seen Scottie Scheffler … everyone was on their phone … they’d hit a shot, hit a putt, then look on their phone … they were caring for Scottie Scheffler, they were worried.”

Riley also spoke of the “person who was coming to the golf, if he was coming, lost his life … that is a terrible thing … you’re looking forward to the PGA Championship here at Valhalla and someone is not going to be with us today … so many players have said to me, ‘I can’t believe they’re actually playing today’ … I’m getting that vibe … I’m getting a lot of vibe that people are going ‘woah, somebody’s lost their life here today, Scottie has been taken away, do we go into Monday?’ ”

Play is however continuing as planned, albeit with that 80-minute delay. By way of illustrating the difficulty of snapping back into competitive mode, the aforementioned Beem, first out today, opened with a double bogey.

Louisville Metro police have given a little more detail on the fatal traffic accident in the early hours of this morning. Their spokesman Dwight Mitchell told Louisville radio station WHAS that the man was crossing Shelbyville Road, which runs past Valhalla Golf Club, at about 5 am. The shuttle bus didn’t see him. Mitchell confirmed that the man was pronounced dead at the scene.

Scheffler’s charge sheet

Scheffler’s detention card

According to reports, Scheffler thought he was attempting to get past Valhalla GC security, and not the police. And now look, courtesy of the sports director of an ABC affiliate in Tulsa.

… and a close-up of the mugshot thanks to Golf Digest magazine. Booked at 7.28am for the record.

The PGA have confirmed that all tee times have been pushed back one hour and 20 minutes from the original sheet. The 2002 champion Rich Beem will now hit the first shot of the day at 1.35pm BST.

“Here’s the thing. Right now, right now, he’s going to jail, OK, and there ain’t nothing you can do about it. Period. There’s nothing you can do about it.” That’s what a Kentucky cop told ESPN reporter Jeff Darlington in that filmed exchange, after Scheffler appeared to turn to Darlington and ask: “Can you please help me?” Fair to say, Scheffler will be lucky to make his tee time, initially scheduled for 8.48am (1.48pm BST) but since pushed back by the accident to 10.08am.

Scottie Scheffler detained by police

Play delayed by fatal accident

Preamble