Vegas Shines As McIlroy Trails Ten Adrift At Quail Hollow + First Round Notes

5 months ago by Comments Off on Vegas Shines As McIlroy Trails Ten Adrift At Quail Hollow + First Round Notes

Jhonattan Vegas brilliantly grabbed nine birdies to take a two-shot lead at seven-under 64 into the second round of the 107th PGA Championship at Quail Hollow Club.

The World No. 70 is contesting just his seventh PGA Championship and a first since 2002 actually birdied five of his closing six outward half holes in a truly sizzling display on the course saturated early in the week under drenching rain.

Vegas’ effort also so different to Masters champion Rory McIlroy with the affable Venezuelan ending his day’s play 10 shots clear of McIlroy who signed for a disappointing 73 and to be sharing 98th place in the 156-player field.

“Obviously with the conditions (Wednesday), I didn’t really see that score coming,” said Vegas.

“But I think I got lucky that I was able to tee off very late, and the course obviously is drying very quick.”

Cameron Davis of Australia and newcomer Ryan Gerard are two shots back.

Vegas, who kick-started his round from the 10th hole, posted birdies on five of his final six holes. He capped it with a 27-foot putt.

“It was one of those rounds that kept building, and it came all together at the end,” he said.

No other golfer representing Venezuela has ever been among the top 10 on the leaderboard at the end of any round of a major.

The 40-year-old Vegas has won four times on the PGA Tour, including last July in the 3M Open. But he has missed cuts in nine of his last 13 majors.

Davis, who tied for fourth in the 2023 PGA Championship before missing the cut in last year’s tournament, racked up seven birdies. He held the lead until a bogey on his last hole.

“At this point in time, I’m just letting it all happen and seeing how it shakes up,” Davis said. “If you had told me I was leading the tournament after the first round (or) tied for the lead, I would never say anything but positive things about that.”

Gerard, a Raleigh native who played collegiately for North Carolina, is appearing in a PGA Championship for the first time. He led by three strokes after an eagle on No. 15 before making consecutive bogeys to end his round in the early afternoon.

“I feel very comfortable here,” Gerard said. “There’s a lot of people here that I know, and I’ve been fortunate enough to play this golf course a few times. And all of that is fantastic, and it’s definitely helped in the preparation.”

European Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald of England shot 4-under 67 and was a co-leader in the clubhouse for a stretch during the afternoon. Donald completed his bogey-free round before Alex Smalley, New Zealand’s Ryan Fox, Germany’s Stephan Jaeger and England’s Aaron Rai joined him with 67s.

Donald wasn’t expecting to have an impact on the leaderboard.

“I’m here only because I’m captain of the European Ryder Cup team,” he said. “I wouldn’t be in this field otherwise. It’s a nice invitation and a perk that the Ryder Cup captain gets.”

First Round Notes  

Weather: Partly cloudy. High of 85. Wind SW 10-15 mph.

First-Round Leaderboard

Pos. Player R1
1 Jhonattan Vegas 64 (-7)
T2 Ryan Gerard 66 (-5)
T2 Cam Davis 66 (-5)
T4 Luke Donald 67 (-4)
T4 Ryan Fox 67 (-4)
T4 Alex Smalley 67 (-4)
T4 Stephan Jaeger 67 (-4)
T4 Aaron Rai 67 (-4)

 Jhonattan Vegas (1st/-7)

  • Following a 7-under 64, becomes the first Venezuelan to hold the lead/co-lead in a major championship
  • Marks best score in 45 major championship rounds (previous: 67/R4/2016 PGA Championship)
  • Best finish in 16 prior major championship starts: T22 (2016 PGA Championship)
  • Seventh first-round lead/co-lead on TOUR; 0-for-6 to date (most recent; 2022 Valspar Championship/T27)
  • Four PGA TOUR wins in 318 starts: 2011 American Express, 2016 RBC Canadian Open, 2017 RBC Canadian Open, 2024 3M Open
  • Has one top-10 finish in 11 starts on TOUR this season: 4th (The Sentry)
  • In his most recent start, opened THE CJ CUP Byron Nelson with a season-best 8-under 63 and followed with rounds of 69-67-69 to finish T13
  • International players have won 14 of the first 22 events this season

Miscellaneous Notes

  • Ryan Gerard (T2/-5) posts his 13th par-or-better opening round in 14 individual stroke-play events this season; only over-par opening round – a 73 at the Valero Texas Open – led to a career-best runner-up finish
  • Cam Davis (T2/-5) equals his best position following any round in a major championship (T2/2021 PGA Championship/R1); his best finish in 10 previous major championships is T4 at the 2023 PGA Championship
  • Luke Donald (T4/-4) manages the only bogey-free round of the day; marks his first bogey-free round in a major championship since the 2015 Open Championship (R1)
  • Alex Smalley (T4/-4) became the last player in the field following Sahith Theegala’s WD on Wednesday
  • Ryan Fox (T4/-4) and Sepp Straka (T73/+2) open 67 and 73, respectively; the last player to win a major the week after winning on TOUR: Rory McIlroy (2014 WGC-Bridgestone Invitational, 2014 PGA Championship)
  • Adam Scott (T20/-2) opens with a 69 in his 95th consecutive major championship start, the longest active streak; only Jack Nicklaus (146) has played in more than 100 straight majors  
  • Eric Cole (T29/-1) aces No. 4 from 186 yards for his first ace in an individual stroke-play TOUR event; also had an ace on No. 14 during R1 of the 2024 Zurich Classic of New Orleans (alongside teammate Russ Cochran)
  • Additional notable opening-round scores:
    • World No. 1 and reigning FedExCup champion Scottie Scheffler (T20/-2)
    • Defending champion Xander Schauffele (T60/+1)
    • 2017 (at Quail Hollow Club) and 2022 PGA Championship winner Justin Thomas (T73/+2)
    • 2025 Masters Tournament champion Rory McIlroy (T98/+3)
    • Jordan Spieth (T125/+5) in bid to become the seventh player to win the Career Grand Slam


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