2 weeks ago
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Jhonattan Vegas tops a congested leaderboard at the halfway stage of the PGA Championship, as Rory McIlroy stuttered into the weekend despite a costly finish to his second round at Quail Hollow.
Vegas followed his opening-round 64 with a one-under 70 on Friday morning, setting the clubhouse target at eight under despite double bogeying his final hole, with the Venezuelan two clear of Matt Fitzpatrick, Matthieu Pavon and Si Woo Kim.
Kim fired one of the longest holes-in-one ever recorded in major history during his round-of-the-day 64 and Pavon charged into contention with a bogey-free 65, with Fitzpatrick primed completing the trio tied second after successive 68s.
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World No 1 Scottie Scheffler is three off the pace following a three-under 68, as playing partners McIlroy - chasing back-to-back major titles - and Xander Schauffele both had to dig deep over their closing holes to make the cut.
Grand Slam champion McIlroy bogeyed the last two holes of an eventful second-round 69, lifting him to one over, with Schauffele also finishing on the same total to extend his run of consecutive cuts made to 64.
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McIlroy stutters through as Scheffler closes
Masters champion McIlroy failed to live up to his pre-tournament status during a three-over 74 on Thursday, at a venue he already has four career wins at, leaving him starting his second round on Friday afternoon outside of the projected cut.
McIlroy got up and down from a greenside bunker to scramble a par at the first and rolled in from 12 feet to birdie the next, with the Northern Irishman holing from 10 feet to avoid dropping a shot at the third.
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The five-time major champion ended a run of pars by taking advantage of the par-five seventh and added another from five feet at the next, with McIlroy starting his back nine with a tap-in birdie at the par-five 10th.
McIlroy was back sweating on the cut mark after back-to-back bogeys over his next two holes, before successive birdies at the driveable 14th and par-five 15th seemingly gave him breathing space heading into the closing 'Green Mile' stretch of holes.
He missed a putt from three feet to save par at the par-three 17th then saw a wild tee shot at the last narrowly avoid the creek, having clattered off a hospitality stand, with McIlroy two-putting from 40 feet for the bogey required to avoid an early exit.
Scheffler mixed four birdies with a lone bogey to card a three-under 68, while Schauffele birdied two of his last seven holes to salvage a level-par 71 and continue his run of making every cut since the 2022 Masters.
More to follow...
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