Venezuelan Jhonattan Vegas in action on day two of the 107th PGA Championship in Quail Hollow where he continues to lead at a major for the first time in his career. Image courtesy PGA of America.
By Rahul Banerji
Jhonattan Vegas maintained his place at the top of the 107th PGA Championship leaderboard in Charlotte, North Carolina, on Friday even as a hot of big names failed to make the 36-hole cut.
The 40-year-old from Venezuela leads at a major for the first time, adding a 1 under par 70 to his opening 64, two shots up the road on 8 under 134 from a three-way tie for second despite a closing double bogey that trimmed his advantage substantially.
Matthieu Pavon (71-65) of France, England’s Matt Fitzpatrick (68-68) and Korea’s Si Woo Kim (72-64) – who aced the longest par-3 at Quail Hollow – were on 6 under totals of 136.
Behind then, world numbers one and two, Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy advanced into the weekend rounds in very different fashion, the former climbing the leaderboard on 5 under 137 (69-68) while McIlroy made the cut right on the line at 1 over par 143 (74-69).
Defending champion Xander Schauffele (72-71) was alongside the Masters winner from Northern Ireland.
Missing out were a host of big names led by Jordan Speith who was looking to complete his career grand slam at Quail Hollow this year.
Others to fall short were five-time major winner Brooks Koepka, Phil Mickelson, Hideki Matsuyama, Justin Thomas, Rickie Fowler, Jason Day, Cameron Smith and Patrick Reed amongst others.
Fairytale run
But the story of the championship continued to be Vegas, despite his late blip.
The Venezuelan, who has in the past missed 10 cuts and never had a top-20 at 16 starts in major championships despite his four PGA Tour titles, is currently ranked 70th in the world was off every radar when the championship teed off on Thursday.
“This is kind of what we put all those hours for. You put all those hours to give yourself chances like this,” Vegas said on Friday.
“Unfortunately I haven’t been able to do it throughout my career, but like I said, you never know.
“You got to keep the pedal down, keep your head down and keep working hard. You never know when things are going to turn your way.
“It’s definitely been annoying. It’s been very, very annoying, especially knowing I have the game to compete in these big events. I feel like my game is very complete, but I just haven’t been able to put it all together in a major.
“I’ve been patient enough to not really get too down on myself for not playing well at majors. I’ve played good at The Players. I’ve played good at some good, big tournaments, but never a major, right?
Learning curve
“It’s just kind of one of those things that you’ve just got to keep learning about yourself and what it takes to play good here. … Unfortunately, it’s taking me a little bit longer than usual, but I’m glad that I’m in this position right now,” he added.
Lurking are LIV Golf stars Bryson DeChambeau (71-68, 3 under 139) who dropped a bogey n his last hole, Jon Rahm (70-70) who has not really caught fire, and Joaquin Neimann (74-67), yet to make his mark on the majors.
Scheffler played himself into contention on day two, and given his formidable reputation and the fact that he is just three strokes off the lead, he remains a serious contender.
“Overall, I was pleased with the score I posted today,” Scheffler said after coming off the course with a 3 under 68.
“I was close out there. It was just I didn’t give myself as many opportunities as I would have liked to early in the round, but I was still able to shoot under par on the front nine.
“Kept a clean card, made some nice up-and-downs,” he added.
Also read: Indo-Brit Rai is fourth as PGA C’ship sees a surprise day 1 leader
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