Justin Thomas puts on a masterclass at the PGA Championship

A familiar name tops the leaderboard at the 104th PGA Championship: Justin Thomas, the 2017 champion, who put on a clinic in Friday’s second round at Southern Hills

Friday morning at Southern Hills promised to feature strong winds and difficult scoring conditions, and it claimed the PGA Championship hopes of many of golf’s elite. World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, untouchable coming into the week, shot five-over and won’t make the cut. Dustin Johnson shot three-over, Collin Morikawa two-over.

For Justin Thomas, the 2017 PGA champion, it seemed like just another easy walk. Thomas put on a brilliant display of ball striking and shotmaking on his way to a second consecutive round of 67 and sole possession of the lead at six-under as the players in the afternoon wave begin their rounds.

It started at the 10th hole, Thomas’ first of the round when he made an easy birdie from six feet. He also birdied the par-five 13th to get to five-under for the tournament and tie Rory McIlroy for the lead.

The shot he was quick to point to after the round as his best came at the fifth hole. Thomas drove his tee shot on the par-five into a fairway bunker and had to pitch out back into the fairway. Still with 213 yards left to the green and the wind howling from the left, Thomas took out a six-iron and hit his approach onto the upper shelf of the green to 23 feet. He rolled in the putt for an unlikely birdie, which he admitted felt like stealing one.

On the ninth hole, which he bogeyed on Thursday, Thomas hit a low stinger off the tee that went 303 yards down the middle of the fairway. With just 92 yards left to the green, he flipped his second shot to nine feet and closed his round with another birdie.

As he did on Thursday when his 67 was the lowest of any player who started in the afternoon, his 67 in Friday’s second round tied Brooks Koepka for best in the morning wave. He made only one bogey when he hit his tee shot on the par-3 14th into a greenside bunker. He was third in Strokes Gained: Approach to the Green, and fifth in Strokes Gained: Tee to Green in the morning. That he did it in such difficult conditions made it all the more impressive.

“I felt quite a bit better today. I think just being as windy as it was, it was a lot of manipulating and different shots,” he said afterward. “The way I played the last hole, I couldn’t have really drawn it up any or much better.”

Justin Thomas is primed to end a long major-less drought

Thomas, the son of a PGA professional, is a master of shaping the ball through the wind. At the Players Championship in March, amidst 40 mph wind gusts and some of the worst conditions he’ll ever play in, he managed a bogey-free 69 in the second round. Southern Hills is a much different challenge than TPC Sawgrass, and Thomas managed it better than anybody on Friday.

The Wanamaker Trophy he won at Quail Hollow five years ago remains his lone major championship. Earlier this week, he admitted that winning his second was proving more difficult than he thought it would be back then. He’s now halfway there.

“It’s golf, so it’s pretty hard sometimes. I feel like I’m playing well. We’re halfway through so it’s still a long way from home, but I’m very pleased with where everything is at and the frame of mind and state of mind that I’m in,” he said.

If he keeps playing like this, expertly navigating his way around Southern Hills, Thomas will be tough to beat on the weekend.