Matthew Fitzpatrick flies on birdies

Bethpage (USA): Matthew Fitzpatrick birdied four straight holes on Friday and made six overall in the second round of the PGA Championship golf in a bid to make the cut.

The 24-year-old from England made putts from 5, 23, 33 and 16 feet on the first four holes — his second nine — to get to 6 under for the round and 1 under for the tournament. The former U.S. Amateur champion shot a 75 on Thursday.

First-round leader Brooks Koepka is not scheduled to tee off until almost 2 pm. He had shot a course record 7-under 63 on Thursday.

Dustin Johnson and three others are now his closest competitors after a wild ride on Bethpage Black’s back nine. The top-ranked player in the world began the day at one under and promptly bogeyed the 10th hole; he opened his first round with a bogey, too.

But then he got rolling, with birdies at the 11th, 13th, 15th, 16th and 17th. Suddenly, he was at five under for the tournament. A drive into the rough and an approach wide of the green led to a bogey on 18, however. Johnson, whose only major victory was in the 2016 US Open, had only two pars on his first nine holes.

Meanwhile, Rory McIlroy was looking for a rally in the second round. The two-time PGA champion drove into a bunker right of the 10th fairway, found rough on the other side of the fairway and started with a double bogey. He missed another fairway on No.11 and made bogey.