PENNSYLVANIA — Maverick McNealy tied Alex Smalley for the halfway lead at 4 under par after the second round of the US PGA Championship. McNealy dropped back to that mark after his tee shot at the par-3 eighth hole came to rest against the first-cut grass, and he missed the resulting 12-foot par putt after playing the shot with his putter.

"Hard golf course, fun test, but a long time to be switched on. I played four a half hours very good golf and an hour not so great. This is one course where I can contend without hitting fairways. I hope to hit more fairways this weekend, though," McNealy said.

Chris Gotterup shot a 65 in the second round. Ludvig Åberg also positioned himself in contention after the round.

"Compared to yesterday, I did most things better. I was hitting more fairways, I was hitting it closer, and I was making more putts. We knew it was going to be a day of patience with some of those pins. The wind was up early in our round. It died down, which made it a little bit easier. But still a difficult golf course, and I'm pleased with my patience," Åberg said.

Rory McIlroy made the par putt on the 18th hole to post a second-round 67 and sit at 1 over par for the championship. "The only thing I would say is, I think a bunched leaderboard like this is a sign of a not great setup. It's easy to make a ton of pars, hard to make birdies and, not that it's hard to make bogey, but it feels like bogey is the worst score you're going to shoot on any one hole. There are not a lot of hazards. I've always felt like really good setups spread the field a bit, and not great setups bring everyone together. I feel like that's what's happened the last two days," McIlroy said.

Jon Rahm closed out his second round with a back-foot chip to save par and sat at 1 under par for the championship. He had made bogeys on the 13th and 15th holes after saving par at the 12th, and hooked his tee shot at the 16th hole into heavy rough. Jordan Spieth hit his final birdie putt 11 feet past the hole to finish level par for the second round.

Russell Henley, Robert MacIntyre, Tommy Fleetwood, and Wyndham Clark each missed the cut at 5 over par. JJ Spaun, Viktor Hovland, and Tyrrell Hatton each missed the cut at 6 over par. Bryson DeChambeau finished his second round with three straight birdies but still missed the cut at 7 over par. Adam Scott missed the cut at 8 over par.

The last 30 winners of the PGA Championship were tied seventh or better heading into the final round, with 29 of those tied fourth or better. Jhonattan Vegas, Matt Jones, Robert Streb, Carl Pettersson, and Tim Herron have all led or co-led the PGA Championship at the halfway mark and finished outside the lead after the final 36 holes.