HAVEN, Wis. -- A score of 63 has now been shot 27 times in major championship history, including 13 times at the PGA Championship.
Perhaps the most unlikely was the 9-under-par score shot Friday at Whistling Straits by Japan's Hiroshi Iwata.
Playing in just his fourth major championship and a day following a 5-over-par 77, Iwata, 34, threatened the all-time record with a back-nine 29 that included a par at the last hole.
"The course conditions were very difficult from yesterday and today,'' Iwata said through an interpreter. "Yesterday the wind was so strong and the greens were really hard that I can't stop the ball with wedges. I could only make a birdie chance one time.''
That wasn't the case Friday, when Iwata birdied the first, fourth and eighth holes before a bogey at No. 9. At that point, he was still 3 over par and outside of the 36-hole cut line.
But an eagle at the par-5 11th started him on a roll that saw him birdie five of the last seven holes. Iwata didn't give himself much of a chance at birdie on the 18th, the hardest hole on the course, leaving himself a 90-foot putt, which he two-putted.
Iwata was a special invitee to the PGA because he was inside the top 100 in the world rankings before slipping to 102nd this week. He has two career victories on the Japan Golf Tour, including this year's Sega Sammy Cup. His only previous experience in major championships came at The Open three times, and he missed the cut on each occasion, including last month at St. Andrews.