Key events
Talking of broken runs, Hideki Matsuyama has made the cut in his last 19 major championships. But television pictures just showed him thrashing himself as much as balls and clubs on the range. His 72-73 is +3 for the week and he’ll have a unusually free weekend.
Something peculiar might be about to happen this PGA Championship Friday. Xander Schauffele has finished top 20 in his last dozen major championship starts. That’s a staggering run of elite-level consistency. But it might be about to end. He’s currently not only outside the top 20 but beyond the cut mark. He’s +2 for the round and +3 for the week.
Alex Smalley is now solo second at -7 after a birdie at the 596 yard par-five 10th. He found the green in two enormous blows. He’s not a well-known name but he is an 11-time top 10 finisher on the PGA Tour so he’s far from being a mug. He was also T18th at Quail Hollow in his only previous course start in 2023 (and he’d been T101st after 18 holes).
Back at 7 Rory McIlroy finds the back of the par-five green in two magnificent shots but his chip races five feet past. He makes the birdie putt, though, and he’s now inside the cut mark, -2 for the day and +1 for the week.
The clubhouse leader Jhonattan Vegas on what the upcoming weekend opportunity means to him: “This is kind of what we put all those hours for – to give yourself chances like this. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to do it throughout my career, but like I said, you never know. You’ve 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. I’m enjoying the process.”
Appalling fortune for Shane Lowry at 8. His drive finds someone else’s pitch mark in the middle of the fairway. Half the ball is settled in damp turf. His best effort can only flop the ball into a front bunker. His escape leaves him 22 feet for par and it pulls up short. Disgruntled, he offers the course an opinion TV apologises for. He’s level for the day, +2 for the week and one shot outside the cut mark.
A solid pitch from Rory McIlroy and he makes par at 6. But he’s making life a little difficult for himself. True, he drained a 12 foot birdie putt at 2 and he’s bogey-free, but his par putts have tested the nerves from 4’2”, 9’8”, 3’7”, 5’6” and now 4’0”.
Fun and games for JT Poston at the par-three 17th. His tee shot found water but his third shot from the drop zone takes a few hops before disappearing down the hole. He’ll scratch a par on his card and quietly smile to himself. Meanwhile, Luke Donald, who was the only bogey-free golfer in round one, closes his first nine today with a double bogey-6 at the 18th. He slips back to -3 for the week.
Ryo Hisatsune drops from the share of second with a bogey at 17. He wasn’t there long. He’s replaced on that mark by Alex Smalley who is -2 for the day through eight and joins Matthieu Pavon on -6 for the championship. Back at the par-three sixth Rory McIlroy liked his tee shot – great line – but it hits the false front and rolls back to the fairway.
A third fairway hit for Rory McIlroy at the 5th. That 3-for-4 today after going 4-for-14 yesterday. “A different Rory McIlroy,” says Sky Sports on-course commentator Wayne Riley. The Aussie has a tendency to over-sell McIlroy pre-shot. He’ll either predict the successful completion of a high tariff effort or say something like “this is easy for McIlroy”. The approach just missed the green, Riley then purrs that the chip is “asking” to be holed … and it slips by. A nasty distance, actually – nearly six feet. But he just about holes it. It wobbled!
A slow start for Jon Rahm: one bogey, five pars. I miss him at his best. With his strong frame, beard, and glowering looks he used to resemble a bear with a sore head when mixing it with the world’s best in the majors. It was gloriously fiery and dramatic. But he hasn’t been genuinely in contention in the events that define a career since 2023 and, despite making a tricky par putt at 6, he departs the green looking more like a subdued bear trapped in captivity.
Japan’s Ryo Hisatsune completes a two-putt birdie at the par-five 15th. He won the Open de France on the DP World Tour in late September 2023 and was actually planning to go home to Japan the week after! He thought he was done with Europe so that result transformed his career and hopes. He ended the year qualifying for a PGA Tour card and now he is tied second in a major!
-8: Vegas (F)
-6: Pavon (F) Hisatsune (6)
-5: Homa (F), Donald (8), Gerard
Jhonattan Vegas sets a clubhouse target of -8
Not the finest closing hole for the championship leader Jhonattan Vegas. His second shot at the par-four 18th finds sand, his recovery shot is less blast than waft, it dribbles off the front apron of the green, his chip slips a nasty three feet past the pin, and oh dear! Another ugly effort – he misses! Yikes. He finally finds the bottom of the cup after six strokes. He’s added a 70 to his opening round of 64 to set a 36-hole mark of -8. Back out on the course, Rory McIlroy drains an excellent par putt at the third to stay -1 for the day.
Luke Donald continues to give us all a blast from the past, sitting in a share for third on -5. The former World No. 1 rarely plays in the majors these days and last finished top 10 in 2013, but his long game has been solid, while his putter has been hot. Sky Sports noted earlier that he didn’t miss a putt inside 20 feet in round one. He’s not quite so sharp today – and misses a par breaker from 10 feet at the par-three 17th – but the European Ryder Cup captain must be having a terrific time. For one thing, he leads every member of his Rome 2023 team.
Rory McIlroy at the 2nd: Another fairway hit, this time he finds the green … and the 12 foot birdie putt drops! Cheers from the galleries who are surely desperate for good reasons (birdies – lots of them, ideally) to stick with the Masters champion all day.
What did Bryson DeChambeau make of his 68 today? “A weird day, much like yesterday,” he said. “I felt like I was playing good, just didn’t get anything out of it. A 64, 65 is out there. I almost shot it today and I definitely saw it out there, I just didn’t accomplish it.” He’s currently in the top 10 and on target to add to two great runs: he’s finished top four in three of the last four PGA championships, and he’s also been top six in four of the last five majors.
How did Rory McIlroy start his second round? The good news: he found the fairway from the tee. The bad news: he pulled his wedge approach into the greenside bunker. From there he has 4 feet for par and he makes it. Meanwhile, extraordinary good fortune for the leader Jhonattan Vegas. His approach at the par-three 17th misses the green and clatters into a rake behind a greenside bunker. It could have gone absolutely anywhere – the sand, the rough, the water – but instead it ricochets across the putting surface and leaves him a 33 foot birdie putt.
Frenchman Matthieu Pavon completed a 65 to sit second in the clubhouse. He hasn’t finished top 10 anywhere in the world since last year’s US Open (when he was fifth). He was also in a share of 12th at last year’s Masters so he likes the big occasion. His theory is to keep it simple. “It’s all about getting a good mindset and sticking to a clear game plan,” he said to the press just now.
-10: Vegas (16)
-6: Pavon (F)
-5: Homa (F), Smalley (4) Gerard
Rory McIlroy laughs with Scottie Scheffler on the 1st tee as he prepares to start his second round after that limp 74 yesterday. Can he turn it around? Well, we’ve had a sub-65 score already today so a low one is out there. But bear in mind that in major championships he’s shot 74 or worse in round one on 13 occasions and he’s responded with a sub-70 score in round two just three times. What about at Quail Hollow? In his 13 course visits, he’s five times failed to break 72 in round one and on three of those occasions he failed to do so again in round two. But when it happened most recently, in 2021, he went 72-66 jumping from T73 to fifth on his way to the third of his four course victories. So, it is possible …
Sky Sports commentator Rich Beem on the conditions today: “Fewer mud balls … benign conditions … with the heat and humidity the ball will fly long.”
A big moment for Bryson DeChambeau. He’s -4 through 17 holes, for the round and the championship, but has a par putt of a touch below 10 feet. He’s got himself back into contention and he won’t want to leave the course with a bad taste in his mouth. It’s a swift right-to-left putt, he didn’t like it the minute he hit it, and it duly misses. He’s now -3 for the championship.
Max Homa has been talking to press after completing his 64. He’s really struggled for form in recent months and said of those woes: “I’ve hit a lot of golf balls in the last seven months, like an absurd amount of golf balls … it’s been difficult because I felt like I was so broken … there’s been something stuck in the golf swing, or I’ve been stuck in the golf swing … I’m an overthinker, so when it comes to golf, I can overthink a swing fix or a problem probably too much.” He’s a course winner, though, and has finished eighth on both his last two visits.
Thanks Scott. A big afternoon/evening ahead for Rory McIlroy. If he’s on it we’re set for a fantastic evening of entertainment. But to be in that state he’ll need to be hitting more fairways. He was poor from the tee last week in the Truist Championship before arguing that he’d be okay when he returned to Quail Hollow. Why the confidence? Well, in the past he’s said that the reason he has such a good record on the course is that: “I like trees. Seriously. I like tree-lined golf courses. I like that it gives you definition, I like that it frames holes for you. I love that.” He badly needs that high-definition over the next five or six hours. He hits the first tee at 6.47 with defending champion Xander Scheuffele and World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler.
A couple of street-fighting pars to close out Aaron Rai’s round. A staunch response after that double on 16. He ends the day with a 72 and is still in the thick of it at -3. Meanwhile Luke Donald follows up bogey on 12 by raking in a 20-footer on 13. He’s back to where he started the day at -4. And he’s joined there by Bryson DeChambeau, who makes it three birdies in six holes, the latest his reward for nearly driving the green at the 353-yard par-four 8th.
And with that, I’ll hand you over to Matt Cooper, who will take this blog home in style. See you tomorrow for Moving Day.
An opening birdie for Shane Lowry. After yesterday’s 73 he needs a fast start, and there’s the first step. A 20-foot left-to-right curler on 1. He’s +1 overall. Meanwhile some work for the leader Jhonattan Vegas, who from the centre of the 15th fairway, pulls his second into deep rough to the left of the green. He’s short-sided, with a bunker in the way.
Jhonattan Vegas takes advantage of a huge break on 14. He carves his tee shot towards the 15th tee, and initially looks to have sent his ball into all sorts. But there are TV cameras there, and all manner of on-course paraphernalia in between his ball and the green, so he gets a free drop. He lobs softly from 60 yards to ten feet, then calmly strokes in the birdie putt. The leader into double figures!
-10: Vegas (14)
-6: Pavon (17), Thorbjornsen (15)
-5: Homa (F), Gerard
-4: Smalley (1), Jaeger
Jordan Spieth rattles in a six-foot par putt on 9. He celebrates with a couple of energetic fist-pumps, because at +2, there’s a good chance he’ll make it to the weekend. By the skin of his teeth. A fine round of 68 that should salvage his latest bid to join the career-slam club. The cut’s still projected to fall at +1, but the consensus in the Sky commentary box is that it’ll move out to +2. Meanwhile yesterday’s early leader Ryan Fox goes backwards with bogey at 2.
A disappointing end to JJ Spaun’s round. A three-putt bogey on 18. But the Players runner-up still signs for a 68 to go alongside yesterday’s 71. He’s nicely positioned going into Moving Day at -3.
Jhonattan Vegas looked jittery over the first few holes today. He soon calmed his nerves, though, and now he looks unflappable. A tee shot at the 211-yard par-three 13th to eight feet, then a walk-in birdie putt. He increases his lead to three strokes. Meanwhile Aaron Rai fails to get up and down from the front of 16, and that’s a double bogey six. He slips back to -3, suddenly well off the pace.
-9: Vegas (13)
-6: Pavon (16), Thorbjornsen (14)
-5: Homa (F), Gerard
-4: Spaun (17), Fox (1), Donald (1*), Jaeger, Smalley
Michael Thorbjornsen claims a share of second spot by clattering his drive at 14 into the heart of the green, then taking two putts for his birdie. He’s -6. Bryson DeChambeau enjoys a big stroke of luck on 6 as a hot chip pings off the flagstick and stops a couple of feet behind the hole. That would have been 20 feet past otherwise. He tidies up for par to remain at -3. And the two-time winner Justin Thomas is in the hutch with a 73, but at +3 overall it’s touch and go as to whether he’ll be here this weekend.
Bogey for Tyrrell Hatton at the 9th. That’s a sad end to a round that initially promised so much. He finishes the day at -1 having carded 73. Trouble also for Aaron Rai on 16, who follows up a drive into thick rough down the right with a full-blown shank that nearly takes out a few punters but clatters off the nearest tree trunk and pings back and to the left. He only just finds the fringe of the green with his third, so it’s damage limitation now.
That double-bogey six on 18 looked to have taken the wind completely out of the 2020 champion Collin Morikawa’s sail. He went on to make bogeys at 2, 3 and 6. But he’s in the process of salvaging something with back-to-back birdies at 7 and 8. He’s back into the red at -1.
Some trouble for Aaron Rai at the par-five 15th. His second scuttles through the green and down the back; he then fails to conquer the slope coming back, his chip running back down to the bottom of the swale. But his second attempt saves the day, up to kick-in distance, and remains in good nick at -5.
Joe Highsmith is on a charge. Already four under for his round, standing in the middle of the 15th fairway, he creams a wood from 273 yards to a couple of feet. Just a thing of beauty, gently drawn into the green, rolling right to left and nearly holing out for albatross. Never mind, eagle will do, and the 25-year-old from Washington state, making his PGA Championship debut this week, rises to -4. He’s in form, coming off the back of his first Tour win at the Cognizant Classic a couple of months ago. He’s just gone 3-3-3!
Max Homa shoots 64
Max Homa’s drive at 9 sails in the wayward fashion towards trouble down the left. But not for the first time this afternoon, he’s got a chance to go for the green by whipping high over a tree. And not for the first time this afternoon, he makes it. Two putts later, and that’s par and a brilliant round of 64, matching Jhonattan Vegas’s effort yesterday. Inches away from a hole-in-one-albatross as well. That’s his lowest career round in a major. He’s the early clubhouse leader at -5.
Tyrrell Hatton is hanging on in there. That triple-bogey seven at 18 threatened to derail him, especially when he followed it up with bogey at 2, but he’s parred his way along the front nine since, and now wedges his second at 8 from 60 yards to five feet. In goes the birdie putt, and he’s back to -2.
The cut is currently predicted to fall at +1. The wind might pick up a little bit for the afternoon wave, and the greens are expected to firm up a bit. But then they said it would become more difficult yesterday afternoon as well, and look what Jhonattan Vegas got up to later on. So plenty of the big names – Scottie, Rory, Brooks et al – will fancy themselves to make up some lost ground.
Bounce-back birdie for Bryson DeChambeau. He strokes in a 12-footer on 3 to return to -2. He’s set himself up nicely for another, too, swishing his tee shot at the par-three 4th to 12 feet. In it goes! He rises to -3 in short order! Birdies as well for Michael Thorbjornsen, on 12, and Matthieu Pavon at 14, the latter sending his approach from 113 yards to three feet and tidying up to grab second spot all for himself.
-8: Vegas (10)
-6: Pavon (14)
-5: Homa (17*), Spaun (15), Rai (14), Thorbjornsen (12), Gerard
… but he’s still three off the lead, because Jhonattan Vegas birdies 10. Reward for lashing a fairway wood out of thick rough and over a bunker guarding the front of the green. Two careful putts later, and Vegas is beginning to dream of becoming the first Venezuelan to win a major championship. He’s three clear!
-8: Vegas (10)
-5: Homa (17*), Spaun (15), Rai (14), Pavon (13), Gerard
-4: Thorbjornsen (11), Jaeger, Smalley, Fox, Donald
Birdie for Aaron Rai on 14. A fine 14-foot right-to-left slider that was confidently rapped into the centre of the cup. He joins the group at -5.
Over to Max Homa, then, and all that hootin’ and a-hollerin’ at his ball was well worth it in the end. From the bank near the creek, he sends his second greenside, knocks his third to 11 inches, and walks away with birdie that brings him back into a share of second. He’s chill.
-7: Vegas (9)
-5: Homa (16*), Spaun (14), Pavon (12), Gerard
-4: Rai (13), Thorbjornsen (10), Jaeger, Smalley, Fox, Donald
Bryson DeChambeau’s wedge into 2 isn’t all that, and he leaves himself a 17-foot left-to-right slider. He prowls around it for an age, but doesn’t make the read. It misses well to the right. He’ll drop back to -1. But Viktor Hovland takes the option of Texas wedge, and rolls uphill from 95 feet to seven, then makes the par saver. He remains at -1, and that’s a staunch two-putt par from an unpromising position.
“Chill. Chill. Chill. STOP!!!” Max Homa screams with increasing intensity at his drive as it whistles towards water down the right of 7. The ball listens, just in time, and snags in the rough. Meanwhile some similar vegetation-related bother back on 2, where Bryson DeChambeau and Victor Hovland take turns to send their tee shots into the trees down the left, then hit branches with their attempts to escape. Both are short of the green. Some big names with work to do here.
… but Vegas has copped a decent lie, and he takes advantage of the opportunity he’s given. He scoops an elegant wedge over the bunker and nearly holes out. The ball horseshoes, but a par is more than acceptable on one of the hardest holes on the course. He’ll remain at -7, having turned in level-par 35.
Matthieu Pavon grabs himself a share of second with a 17-foot birdie putt across 12. He’s -5, as is JJ Spaun, who birdies 14. The pair could find himself even closer to the lead soon, because from the centre of the 9th fairway, Jhonattan Vegas flays a 5-iron into the gallery down the right. He hollers an excuse-cum-explainer: “Mud, mud, mud, mud, mud, mud!” Hey, if it’s good enough for the world number one …
More chipping woes for Viktor Hovland. This time he flies one straight across the 1st green, and doesn’t get particularly close with the one coming back. He limits the damage by rolling in a 12-footer for bogey, but he’s slipping back to -1. Meanwhile par for his playing partner Bryson, who isn’t particularly happy with his prize, having cut the corner from the tee with a 340-yard boom. He remains at -2.
Bogey for Aaron Rai at 12. That’s the result of sending his tee shot into thick rough down the right. He manages to manufacture a low fade under some branches, but it scampers through the back of the green, and though he does well to chip to 12 feet across a viciously sloping surface, he can’t salvage par with his putt. Michael Thorbjornsen also finds himself going backwards, with a strangely similar chain of events on 9. All of a sudden, there’s a little bit more separation at the top.
-7: Vegas (8)
-5: Gerard
-4: Homa (14*), Spaun (13), Rai (11), Pavon (11), Thorbjornsen (9), Jaeger, Smalley, Fox, Donald
Scottie Scheffler has arrived at the property for his Friday shift. He’s managed to do so without having his collar felt this time. Onwards and upwards. He tees off at 6.47pm BST with Rory McIlroy and Xander Schauffele.
Bryson DeChambeau’s approach at 18 threatens to topple back down the false front. But it snags on the fringe. He’s left with a relatively straight uphill putt for birdie, but he underhits it, to his great frustration. But that’s par, and he’s played the back nine in a blemish-free 34 strokes. He’s -2 and positioned very nicely, especially as the names ahead of him aren’t the most frightening in world golf. Meanwhile bogey for his playing partner Viktor Hovland, punishment for pulling his drive so much that he was chipping back into play from the high bank to the left of the creek. He’s -2 as well.
An eagle chance for Jhonattan Vegas on the par-five 7th. But it’s from 78 feet. He races it eight feet past the hole. Still, it’s an opportunity to get back to where he started the day, and he teases the right-to-left birdie curler into the cup. His lead is back to two!
-7: Vegas (6)
-5: Rai (11), Thorbjornsen (8), Gerard
-4: Homa (13*), Spaun (12), Pavon (10), Jaeger, Smalley, Fox, Donald
