NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pa. — Alex Smalley closed with a birdie to set the clubhouse lead at 4-under-par 136 on Friday, while Chris Gotterup and Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama put themselves in contention at the PGA Championship halfway through the second round at Aronimink Golf Club.

Smalley, one of seven co-leaders after 18 holes, signed for a 1-under 69 at about 2:30 p.m. local time. He was tied with South Africa’s Aldrich Potgieter and Australia’s Min Woo Lee, who were 1 under par early in their respective rounds.

The other first-round leaders playing this afternoon are Germany’s Stephan Jaeger and Japan’s Ryo Hisatsune.

Gotterup’s 5-under 65 was the best round of the tournament by two strokes. The native of nearby New Jersey burst onto the scene with last year’s Scottish Open title and third-place finish at the Open Championship before he won two events on the PGA Tour this winter.

Gotterup birdied Nos. 7, 8 and 9 at the end of his round to surge up the leaderboard.

“If you’re in the right spot you can make a putt, but it’s really hard to get it close,” Gotterup said of the scoring conditions. “I felt like I got it about as close as you could on 11 today, and I had 25 feet and — made a nice putt. But, yeah, I felt like I just was in a good spot for some of those putts.”

Matsuyama, the 2021 Masters champion, is vying for his second major after a consistent tee-to-green day with four birdies and one bogey. He said his birdie at No. 7 was his favorite.

“My birdie putt hung on the lip for a while, and then the wind blew it in,” Matsuyama said. “So that was probably my best one.”

Smalley started the day at 3 under and was the first player to reach 5 under this week before squandering the cushion he’d built. He played the back nine — the more difficult half of the course — in 2 under par but proceeded to bogey Nos. 1, 2 and 3. He bounced back with a birdie at No. 4 before pitching his third shot at the par-5 ninth to 14 inches.

Australia’s Jason Day birdied the first two holes of his afternoon round to join the tie at 3 under.

World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler completed a 1-over round of 71 in more than 5 1/2 hours as sluggish pace of play became a prevailing topic of discussion around Aronimink.

Scheffler dropped to 2 under for the tournament, joining Cameron Young (67) and Justin Thomas (69) two shots behind the leaders.

Notable players with afternoon tee times include Xander Schauffele (2 under in the first round), Brooks Koepka (1 under), Jordan Spieth (1 under), Jon Rahm of Spain (1 under), Rickie Fowler (even), Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland (4 over) and Bryson DeChambeau (6 over).

–Adam Zielonka, Field Level Media

The NFL plans to continue offering a diversified broadcast package despite political and public criticism of the league expanding streaming opportunities with Netflix and Amazon.

“We love our model,” NFL president of media distribution Hans Schroeder said Friday, discussing the NFL’s schedule release for the 2026 regular season.

The majority of regular-season games — more than 86% — are available on free, over-the-air television via traditional broadcast partners NBC, ABC, CBS and FOX.

But Netflix carved out a slightly bigger portion of the vast single-game opportunities. The streaming giant has the first NFL regular-season game in Australia — Sept. 10 between the 49ers and Rams — a Thanksgiving Eve game and another game on Christmas Day, plus exclusive rights to the NFL awards ceremony known as NFL Honors. The annual program airs Super Bowl week from the host city with MVP, Coach of the Year and other awards handed out along with the first reveal of the year’s Pro Football Hall of Fame class.

In 2025, Netflix averaged 27.5 million viewers for the Vikings-Lions game among only U.S. customers.

FOX and the National Association of Broadcasters opposed taking games off of network television. The Justice Department reportedly is checking into any violations or failed compliance with the Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961. NFL vice president of communications Jeff Miller said of the opposition, “I’m not sure I really understand where that comes from.”

He said the NFL remains fully committed to broadcasting games on network television. Schroeder said there is no reason the partners should be mutually exclusive.

“We think broadcast [networks] have been an incredible home,” he said. “And, now, we also know fans are increasingly spending their time on other platforms as well. They tune into broadcast for the NFL and that’s where we want to be. But we also want to be on these platforms with a limited amount of our games where we know our NFL fans are already as well.

“When we’re going onto Netflix, we’re going onto a platform that is already massively adopted and a huge number of viewers on that platform already, including a huge number of NFL fans.”

–Field Level Media

Charles Woodson Jr., a three-star safety in the Class of 2027 and son of Michigan legend Charles Woodson, will carry on the family name with the Wolverines.

He shared a message announcing his commitment to Michigan on Instagram on Friday.

The younger Woodson plays at Lake Nona High School in Orlando. The 247Sports composite also lists him as the No. 49 player in talent-rich Florida and No. 82 at his position.

He had 21 offers, two-thirds of them from power-conference programs.

247Sports called Woodson an “impact player” at Lake Nona. As a junior in 2025, he made 73 tackles, broke up eight passes and intercepted two, and made one fumble recovery. On special teams, he returned a kickoff for a touchdown.

Woodson Jr. has a lot to live up to at Michigan.

His father played in Ann Arbor from 1995-97 after being named Ohio’s Player of the Year as a high school senior.

The starting cornerback in 1995, he had a team-leading five interceptions and was named Big Ten Freshman of the year and first-team All-Big Ten.

As a sophomore, and at the request of head coach Lloyd Carr, he added in some plays at wide receiver but remained known as a cornerback. That season, he set the Michigan record for pass breakups (15) and gained 316 yards receiving and rushing on offense. He earned Associated Press first-team All-America honors.

In 1997, Woodson led Michigan to an undefeated regular season and its first national championship (shared with Nebraska) since the 1948 team — and the last one until Jim Harbaugh’s 2023 team won the College Football Playoff title. Woodson won the Heisman Trophy ahead of Peyton Manning of Tennessee. Until Travis Hunter, a two-way player at Colorado who won the Heisman in 2024, no defender had been honored since Woodson.

He went on to a Pro Football Hall of Fame career with the Raiders and Packers, playing 18 seasons.

–Field Level Media