Brandt Jobe Fits In With The Other Leaders At The PGA
If your expecting household names to dominate the leaderboard at the half way point of the 93rd PGA Championship you would be disappointed. Like most of the names on the leaderboard like Jason Dufner, Keegan Bradley and D.A. Points, Brandt Jobe fits right in.
Jobe at 46, can be considered a journeyman. Winless on the PGA Tour in 287 appearances, the UCLA Bruin has only recorded four runner-up finishes, but the last almost win came at the Memorial Tournament on a championship course at Muirfield Village.
That early June weekend, Jobe lost to Steve Stricker, the same guy that shot a 63 in Thursday's first round. Coincidence? Maybe, but as the sun was setting on Friday evening over the Highland Course at Atlanta Athletic Club, Jobe was playing the difficult 18th with a chance to tie for the 5-under lead with Dufner and Bradley, but like many before him made a bogey at the last and at 3-under, is just two shots out of the lead.
"I don't think you can really sit here and say you're going to attack this course," Jobe said after a second round 69, that included an eagle chip-in at the par-5, fifth hole. "I think I need to be probably a little bit more aggressive on some of my short irons than what I was today, which you know, now it's getting in position and we'll see what everyone does."
Jobe has had mixed results in the three previous PGA Championships he has played in, with two missed cuts in 1998 and 2006, but a T16 in 1999.
With the clock aging day-by-day, Jobe has quietly had his second best year as a professional earning $1,284,956 and having a realistic chance of eclipsing the $2,000,000 million barrier for only the second time in his career.
But that's all for later, now Jobe's focus is to get through 36-more holes, which all starts on Saturday, moving day, when he tee's it up with Stricker at 2:20 ET.
"I think the end of the day, if we get any wind, anything under par is going to be amazing," Jobe said of the weekend scoring. "But I think you're looking probably right about where you're at, 5‑under is a pretty good score."
Stuart Hall is editor of the Golf Press Association.
