History is firmly on the side of Will Zalatoris as he looks to convert his halfway lead into a first major title.
Zalatoris made the most of being on the right side of the draw on Friday to card a bogey-free second round of 65 for a halfway total of nine under par, one shot ahead of Chile’s Mito Pereira.
And the 25-year-old American, who is yet to win on the PGA Tour, was made aware in his post-round press conference that the winner of each of the previous seven majors at Southern Hills had led or shared the lead after 36 holes.
“I think history to me, it is what it is, but I’m going to go out and do my job, and hopefully it’s enough at the end,” said Zalatoris, who was runner-up in the 2021 Masters and had recorded four top-10 finishes in his seven major appearances before this week.
“I’ve got a long 36 holes ahead of me. You’re able to plot your way around this golf course and if you hit as many greens as you possibly can, it’s kind of hard to mess it up.
“(But) you still can. If you get on the wrong slopes it still has a little bit of the attitude of like Augusta, where you can hit 18 greens and walk off that place and shoot 80.”
Former world number one Justin Thomas is three shots off the pace on six under, with two-time Masters champion Bubba Watson another stroke back after equalling the championship record with a superb 63.
Rory McIlroy could only add a 71 to his opening 65 to fall five shots off the pace.
Third round tee times (all times BST)
USA unless stated
Starting at Hole One
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1300 Brian Harman
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1310 Lucas Glover, Sebastian Munoz (Col)
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1320 Cam Davis (Aus), Rikuya Hoshino (Jpn)
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1330 Patton Kizzire, Hideki Matsuyama (Jpn)
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1340 Maverick McNealy, Luke List
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1350 Keith Mitchell, Charl Schwartzel (Rsa)
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1400 Louis Oosthuizen (USA), Billy Horschel
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1410 Collin Morikawa, Webb Simpson
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1420 Si Woo Kim (Kor), Adam Hadwin (Can)
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1430 Shaun Norris (Rsa), Tiger Woods
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1440 Troy Merritt, Kevin Streelman
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1450 Sepp Straka (Aut), Adam Schenk
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1500 Jason Day (Aus), Russell Henley
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1510 Justin Harding (Rsa), Marc Leishman (Aus)
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1520 Brendan Steele, Laurie Canter (Eng)
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1530 Thomas Pieters (Bel), Francesco Molinari (Ita)
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1540 Jon Rahm (Esp), Kramer Hickok
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1600 Keegan Bradley, Harold Varner III
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1610 Brooks Koepka, Jason Kokrak
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1620 K.H Lee (Kor), Shane Lowry (Irl)
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1630 Justin Rose (Eng), Lanto Griffin
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1640 Denny McCarthy, Jordan Spieth
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1650 Xander Schauffele, Tony Finau
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1700 Aaron Wise, Robert MacIntyre (Sco)
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1710 Tommy Fleetwood (Eng), Lucas Herbert (Aus)
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1720 Ryan Fox (Nzl), Rickie Fowler
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1730 Beau Hossler, Tom Hoge
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1740 Adri Arnaus (Esp) Viktor Hovland (Nor)
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1750 Cameron Tringale, Seamus Power (Ire)
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1800 Patrick Reed, Kevin Na
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1810 Bernd Wiesberger (Aut) Max Homa
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1820 Talor Gooch, Joaquin Niemann (Chi)
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1830 Sam Burns, Gary Woodland
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1840 Cameron Smith (Aus), Cameron Young
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1850 Tyrrell Hatton (Eng), Matt Kuchar
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1910 Stewart Cink, Chris Kirk
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1920 Davis Riley, Matt Fitzpatrick (Eng)
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1930 Rory McIlroy (NIrl), Abraham Ancer (Mex)
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1940 Justin Thomas, Bubba Watson
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1950 Will Zalatoris, Mito Pereira (Chi)