CHARLOTTE — Jhonattan Vegas of Venezuela maintained his spot atop the PGA Championship leaderboard through two rounds, but there are a growing number of notable contenders.
Vegas shot a 1-under-par 70 in Friday’s second round at Quail Hollow Club. Despite a sour ending, Vegas built on the strong finishing stretch from a day earlier that made him the first-round leader.
“Every chance you get to lead a major and play with the lead is never easy,” Vegas said.
He’ll go to the weekend at 8-under 134, carrying a two-shot lead on France’s Matthieu Pavon (65 on Friday), England’s Matt Fitzpatrick (68) and South Korea’s Si Woo Kim (64), who was buoyed by a hole-in-one on the sixth hole.
World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler got going, and his 68 pulled him to 5 under, joining Max Homa (64).
“I like the position I’m in going into the weekend,” Scheffler said. “Obviously, I wish I was a little bit further up the leaderboard. I think I got a lot out of my game the last couple days.”
Much of the early evening was focused on the status of defending champion Xander Schauffele and Masters champion Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland. Schauffele’s 71 and McIlroy’s 69 left them both at 1 over, right on the cut line.
McIlroy struggled off the tee, but made up for it by needing just 24 putts in the round.
Vegas played the front nine Friday in even par, with his lone birdie coming on No. 7. He notched birdies on three of the first five holes on the back nine.
The round included a stroke of good fortune when Vegas’ tee shot on the par-3 17th hole landed in front of the green, but the ball hit a rake alongside a bunker and rolled onto the green. He finished the hole with a par.
Vegas wasn’t as lucky at 18, when his approach shot found a greenside bunker. His blast from the sand then rolled off the green. He lipped out a putt from less than 3 1/2 feet away, resulting in a double-bogey 6.
“It’s easy to hang your head on that, but there were way too many things to keep fresh in the mind,” Vegas said. “Even though it’s never easy to give two shots away right at the end, a lot of golf left, so got to keep remembering the good stuff.”
Pavon has enjoyed his time at major tournaments in North Carolina after sitting near the top of the leaderboard throughout last year’s U.S. Open at Pinehurst, where he finished fifth.
“It’s all about getting a good mindset and stick to a clear game plan,” Pavon said.
Kim’s ace from 252 yards out with a 5-wood ranks as the longest hole-in-one in major championship history.
“I hit it like right exactly how I wanted,” Kim said. “So it was cool and then it was pretty memorable hole-in-one in major.”
Early in the second round, Homa moved in contention with his best round in a major by three strokes. He began the round with a 30 on back nine, including consecutive 2s on Nos. 13 (birdie) and 14 (eagle).
“It was kind of in a way nice to be able to play in the morning and just get to go immediately because I knew the game was good,” Homa said. “Didn’t know I was going to shoot 7 under, but I will take it.”
England’s Aaron Rai also moved to 5 under by early afternoon, but a double-bogey 6 at No. 16 left him at 72 for the day and 3 under for the tournament.
Weekend contenders include Michael Thorbjornsen, whose 70 put him at 4 under. He had bogeys on Nos. 16 and 17 that halted his momentum. South Africa’s Christiaan Bezuidenhout (68) is also among the 10 golfers at 4 under.
Ryan Gerard, who was two shots behind Vegas when the day began, started his second round around the time Vegas sank his last putt. He shot 72 as one of the final golfers on the course Friday and his final-hole bogey left him at 4 under.
Cameron Davis, an Australian who was tied for second with Gerard after the first round, dropped off the leaderboard with a 74 as he fell to 2 under.
The course continued to dry out after heavy rains earlier in the week. Friday was muggy, particularly for those with tee times in the afternoon.
Notable names to miss the cut included Jordan Spieth and Ireland’s Shane Lowry at 2 over; Justin Thomas, Hideki Matsuyama of Japan and Ludvig Aberg of Sweden at 3 over; Rickie Fowler, Gary Woodland and Patrick Reed at 4 over; Patrick Cantlay, Will Zalatoris and Australian Jason Day at 6 over; Cameron Smith of Australia at 7 over; Brooks Koepka and Englishman Justin Rose at 9 over; and Dustin Johnson at 12 over.
–Bob Sutton, Field Level Media
