NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pa. — The temperature barely rose above 60 degrees, with a brisk breeze and early-morning chill making it feel worse. That certainly led to some difficult scoring conditions during the second round of the PGA Championship.And so did the greens. Specifically, where the holes were located on them.It’s not unusual to have some precarious pin positions in professional golf, especially at the major championships.But Scottie Scheffler said he’d never seen them tougher.“This is the hardest set of pin locations that I’ve seen since I've been on Tour, and that includes U.S. Opens, that includes Oakmont,” Scheffler said after shooting 71, 1 over par, to stay in touch with the leaders. He was two back of clubhouse leader Alex Smalley.“I did ask, I asked Fooch [Mark Fulcher], who caddies for Justin Rose. He’s been around a long time, and I asked Teddy [Scott, Scheffler’s caddie] too—have you seen anything like this before? They said maybe Shinnecock is the only place they have seen that has pins that could compare to this.“But it’s different in a sense on this golf course, because Oakmont, their greens are extremely severe, but they’re extremely severe in one direction. Here, it’s like the green may slope all this way and then we put the pin down here and then there’s also a slope this way. And like it’s not as, how would you say, natural to the slopes that are there. There’s a bit more, I think, that’s manufactured into the greens, and it’s just very difficult.“It’s difficult to get the ball close to the hole. It’s difficult to hole putts, especially when you have big slopes and wind, and I think that’s why you see the scores so close to par.”Scheffler bounced back from a slow start FridayScheffler, the No. 1-ranked player in the world, rebounded from a tough start to get back into contention.After hitting 13 of 14 fairways during Thursday’s first-round 67, Scheffler missed his first seven on Friday and bogeyed three of the first four holes. He made a good par save at the 14th—his fifth hole of the day—to sort of get himself back on track and then made three birdies and a bogey the rest of the way to finish at 138 2 under par.“There’s also just some things that are out of your control,” Scheffler said. “You just got to continue to try to hit good shots, and most of the pins today were, I mean, kind of absurd.“ They were just so far into the areas where we thought the pins were going to be, and then they just—like the one on 14 was probably the hardest pin that I’ve seen in a long time just because, I mean, there’s literally just like a spine and they’re like, oh, we’ll just put the pin right on top of it. And you’re like, all right, well, I’ll see what I can do. And just you know, just challenging.”Scheffler was not angry or accusatory, just matter-of-factly explaining how he felt the course played.Chris Gotterup shot a brilliant 65 on Friday but said at times that Aronimink felt "impossible." | Bill Streicher-Imagn ImagesEven someone who seemingly mastered it, Chris Gotterup, talked about how challenging it was during the second round.“You’re out there, and it just feels like it’s impossible,” said Gotterup, who has two victories this year on the PGA Tour and shot 65, the low round of the tournament. “It’s hard to say that anything clicks on this golf course with these pins and some of these holes.“I felt like I missed in the right spot and was able to scramble and get it up-and-down, but by no means were those shots any easier than any other shot I’ve had out here. So I felt like I hit it in the right spot today for the most part, made a couple nice putts. And, yeah, my bogey was really just a weird one. I three-putted from 15 feet [on the 2nd hole].“I felt like I played well today and managed my way around the course as best you can around here.”Gotterup opened the tournament with a 72 on Thursday but rebounded nicely with six birdies during the second round, including three in a row to end his round.Even someone who played so well was tepid when asked about the severity of the course.“I’m going to try to answer this properly,” said Gotterup, who is a shot back of clubhouse leader Smalley. “I don't think it's unfair, but I do think for pace of play and certain aspects … [No.] 14 today is probably aggressive, I will say. You’re hitting a 4-iron to a 10-foot circle, and if it doesn't go there, it’s off the green, and if you hit it 40 feet left, you have a very hard two-putt.“So Bob [MacIntyre, who shot 75] made birdie in my group and he hit a great shot. So is it unfair? Probably not. But is it going to make the round slow? Yeah. Yesterday I think hole [No.] 8 was probably pushing it a little bit. I hit 5-wood yesterday, and I hit 7-iron today.“Granted, I don't know if they were expecting 30 mph winds yesterday, but I also did shoot 5 under today.“I don't think it's unfair by any stretch of the imagination, but you're not going to get any 4½ hour rounds out here if that's what they, if that’s what's going to happen. So, unfair, no, but, you know, tough to make birdies.”More Golf from Sports IllustratedAdd us as a preferred source on GoogleFollow