PITTSFORD, NY — Eric Cole continues to add to his list of career highlights.
The 34-year-old PGA Tour rookie from Delray Beach thought it was cool finishing second at the Honda Classic and playing his way into the Players Championship. Now, he can add this to the list:
Playing in a major for the first time and leading overnight.
More: Eric Cole’s life has changed since Honda: ‘That’s something that comes with good golf’ | D’Angelo
Cole, the son of pros Laura Baugh and Bobby Cole, was 5-under with a one-shot lead over Bryson DeChambeau Thursday at the PGA Championship when play was suspended late Thursday. The start was delayed nearly two hours because of the frost. Cole had hit his drive on No. 6 (he started at No. 10) when the horn blew.
“It’s awesome,” Cole said about sitting atop the leaderboard at a major. “It’s a place I want to be and it’s a cool spot to be. Hopefully (I’m) there more often.”
Cole returned early Friday and knew things had changed when his first shot went into the creek. That led to a double bogey and losing the lead.
“I hit a really bad shot to start the day which wasn’t the way I wanted to start off,” he said.
Still, Cole finished the first round tied for second with a 3-under 67. He then started Round 2 with a bogey, another double on No. 6, and a bogey on No. 9 before nine straight pars to post a 4-over 74 and easily clearing the 5-over cut line at 1-over.
“It’s a really hard course,” Cole said about the Oak Hill Country Club East Course. “The difference between putting up a good score and not so good score is pretty fine.”
Still, Cole was not upset about his second round. He hit just four fairways in Round 2 after hitting seven in Round 1.
“They’re almost impossible to hit they’re so firm and anything with a dogleg the ball just runs through, so it’s really difficult,” Cole said. That all changed when rain came through the area later in the day.
“When I was in the rough the lies weren’t quite as good as yesterday. Yesterday I was very lucky, I’d say. Today I was probably maybe a little bit unlucky.”
Especially on No. 6, which is played as the hardest hole on the course. Cole carded another double bogey on the hole in Round 2 after putting his drive in the water.
If he had played the 503-yard, par-4, hole at even par he would have entered the weekend in the top five.
“It’s a hard hole,” he said. “I thought I hit a good drive up the right side and it just caught the water. Once you do that you have to drop at 240 so it doesn’t get easier after that.”
Cole, who lost to Chris Kirk in a playoff at Honda, has played in 20 events in his first year on the tour. He has four top-25 finishes.
A fifth, especially in a major, would be something else to remember from his rookie season.
This article originally appeared on the Palm Beach Post: Rookie Eric Cole leads the PGA Championship overnight, then makes the cut in his first major