Charlotte (USA) May 17 (IANS) Even as some of the big names missed the cut, some others were hanging in by a slender thread at the 2025 PGA Championships at Quail Hollow. Right on top after two days was Jhonattan Vegas, who is leading a Major for the first time as the PGA Championship saw a drama-filled second day. Vegas added a 1-under 70. Vegas was 10-under par until he missed a 3-foot putt on 18 and ended with a double bogey for an even-par 70, giving him a two-shot lead.
Vegas was at 8-under 134, two ahead of Matthieu Pavon of France (65), former U.S. Open champion Matt Fitzpatrick (68) and Si Woo Kim, the South Korean who made an ace on the longest par 3 at Quail Hollow on his way to a 64. Kim hit a 5-wood on the 252-yard sixth hole for the longest hole-in-one in major championship history.
Lurking behind them was Scottie Scheffler (69-68) in Tied-fifth. Then there was Indian-American Akshay Bhatia (70-74), who was in the Top-20 with five holes to go. Then he dropped five shots in the last five and missed the cut by one.
Among those with an Indian connection, Indo-British Aaron Rai, who was T-4 after an opening 68, scored 2-over 73 and slipped to T-17, down by 13 places, but he was in for the weekend.
Bhatia looked set for the weekend as he was 2-under through 13 holes for the round and 3-under for the tournament. Then he found disaster with a double bogey on Par-4 14th and another double bogey on Par-3 16th and a bogey on the 18th – five shots gone in five holes.
Masters champion Rory McIlroy, still struggling off the tee, made the cut on the line and alongside him was the defending champion Xander Schauffele just made the cut and extended his streak to 64, the longest on the PGA Tour since Tiger Woods set the record at 142 tournaments 20 years ago.
There are just two major winners – Matt Fitzpatrick (68-68) in T-2 and Scheffler (69-68) in Tied-fifth among the top 10 after 36 holes.
The notable stars to miss the cut, which fell at 1-over 143, included Jordan Spieth, who needed to win this week to complete a Career Slam, Hideki Matsuyama, Ludvig Aberg, Justin Thomas, Patrick Reed, Patrick Cantlay, Jason Day, Brooks Koepka and Justin Rose.
Scheffler, the world’s No. 1 player, took time to feel comfortable with his swing. Yet he kept going with two birdies on the front nine and dropped only one shot on the back nine before coming up with two straight birdies on the back nine for a 68. That left Scheffler at 5-under 137 along with Max Homa, who shot 64.
Ten players were at 4-under 138, a group that included three players who a week ago were not sure of a place in the field.
They were Michael Thorbjornsen (70), the former No. 1 player in the PGA TOUR University ranking, who got in when Vijay Singh withdrew; Ryan Fox (71), who won at the ONEFlight Myrtle Beach Classic last week for his first PGA TOUR title, getting him to the PGA Championship, and Alex Smalley (71) who got in on Wednesday with another withdrawal, that of Sahith Theegala, due to a neck strain.
–IANS
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