KIAWAH ISLAND, South Carolina—On the toughest scoring day in the PGA Championship since it switched to stroke play in 1958, Tiger Woods shot a 1-under 71 on Friday to take share of the lead with Vijay Singh and Carl Pettersson going into the weekend.
In a relentless wind that began at sunrise, par never looked better in this championship. There were more rounds in the ’90s—two of them by club pros— than in the ’60s. More than 30 players failed to break 80, including Rickie Fowler, Matt Kuchar and Hunter Mahan.
“It was tough out there—wow,” Woods said.
Singh, a three-time major champion who hasn’t won in nearly four years, joined Woods and Pettersson at 4-under 140. He scratched out five birdies in a remarkable round of 3-under 69. Only three other players managed to break par in the second round—Michael Hoey of Northern Ireland at 70, and Woods, Phil Mickelson and Ian Poulter at 71.
It’s the second time this year that Woods has had a share of the lead in a major going into the weekend. He missed one chance at Olympic Club in the US Open, when he stumbled to a 75-73 to tie for 21st. He was in the penultimate group at the British Open until a triple bogey on the sixth hole of the final round took him out of the mix.
Six players were atop the leaderboard on this day of survival. Singh was the first to post at 4-under 140, and it seemed difficult to match for a while as the wind never let up on The Ocean Course.