2025 PGA Championship, Day 2 recap: Vegas still atop tight leaderboard with big names lurking

Jordan Spieth finishes just below the cut line, meaning his career grand slam pursuit will fall short this year. He shot a 68 on Friday, but it wasn’t enough to undo a first-round 76.

Whew. Rory McIlroy — who almost drove into the water — makes bogey on 18, while Xander Schauffele makes par. Both make the cut ... RIGHT on the number.

They’re each 1 over, nine back of the lead. It gives Schauffele his 64th straight made cut — and keeps the super slam in play for McIlroy?

Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy missed the same exact short putt — three or four feet — on the 17th.

Same putt, same distance, same lip-out on the same side of the cup. Even less excusable for McIlroy, who went second. Unlike Scottie’s, his was for par, so Rory, now even, will need to avoid a double bogey — of which the 18th has given out plenty — to make the cut.

... Back to 1 over, which leaves a few big names on the outside looking in, at 2 over: Shane Lowry, Sepp Straka, Jordan Spieth among them.

Min Woo Lee is at 3 over through 17, so even a closing birdie won’t save him.

Tony Finau, definitely totally known for his putting prowess, sinks a long one on the 15th for eagle.

He’s 2 under for the tournament. Welcome to the fold.

Ace alert! Si Woo Kim sinks one on the 252-yard hole 6. It’s his Tour-best sixth in the last decade.

Good: the celebration. Great: He’s suddenly tied for fourth at 5 under.

Scheffler, McIlroy and Schauffele all landed in the same bunker on the driveable par-4 14th. If you ranked how close they got to the hole on their next shot, it would look exactly like their order in the world rankings.

Scheffler made birdie, right after a bogey. Rory sank his putt, too — a theme today. Xander two-putted.

He’s at 2 over — which is, now, safe, right on the cut line.

The world Nos. 2 and 3 are right around the cut line with six holes to go on Friday.

Rory McIlroy is 1 over. Xander Schauffele is 2 over. If the current cut line holds, that would send Rory to the weekend and Xander home — ending his 63-event made-cut streak.

Scottie Scheffler, meanwhile, is 4 under, just four back of Vegas.

Matt Fitzpatrick is making a move. He’s 3 under today (after going 3 under on Thursday), and he’s now in a four-way tie for second.

He’s two shots back and still has five holes to play.

Just after we suggested maybe, just maybe, Phil Mickelson might make the cut ... he takes four shots to get out of a bunker on 12.

It’s a quadruple bogey. And that’ll end his weekend hopes.

Phil Mickelson might not add to his 2005 and 2021 PGA Championship wins, but he might play the weekend. After an opening-round 79, he’s 3 under on Friday, with four birdies in his last five holes.

He’ll need a few more in his final seven, though.

Rory McIlroy (3 under) and Scottie Scheffler (2 under) are finding their groove at the PGA Championship.

Xander Schauffele, meanwhile is 2 over and will have to fight for the weekend. The super-group is through eight.

Ben Griffin eagles the par-5 15th (his sixth hole of the day), and he’s already 4 under on Friday.

All of a sudden, he’s three off the lead — in a four-man tie for fourth.

Alex Smalley has birdied three of four, and at 7 under, he’s one off of Jhonattan Vegas’s lead.

JT Poston splashed his tee shot on the 17th. He then splashed his next shot, in a different way.

“Ball’s in the middle of the fairway, and it’s not even muddy! Surely nothing can go wro—"

That account posted another Lowry reaction to this unfortunate lie, which we won’t share because we’re a family-friendly live blog! It involved one specific finger.

Shane Lowry destroys turf, flips the bird during angry bogey Friday at PGA

Lowry did not like his situation on the eighth hole and let his anger get the better of him.

• Golf Channel Staff,

• Golf Channel Staff,

Alex Smalley, he of Players Championship contention, birdies the 7th and 8th to move into a three-way tie for second.

He’s 6 under for the tournament.

Jhonattan Vegas got one of those breaks at the par-3 17th where you think, well, maybe ...

He managed to make par there but wasn’t as fortunate at the last as his second shot landed in the greenside bunker (no helpful deflection) and his third rolled off the front of the putting surface.

Vegas chipped to 3 feet only to lip out the bogey putt and card a double, cutting his four-shot lead in half. Vegas (70) is still in front, two clear of Matthieu Pavon (65).

A birdie at the par-4 second gets McIlroy to 2 over, one outside the projected cut line.

It hasn’t happened yet. He has two birdies and one bogey over his first six holes and stands at 5 under, T-3.

Viktor Hovland shot even-par 71 with five birdies, three bogeys and one double. He’s at 2 under for the championship, eight back of Vegas.

DeChambeau drops a shot on his final hole but shoots 68 to finish at 3 under par. He’s currently seven back of leader Jhonattan Vegas and tied for 12th.

The 6-under round has him at 6 under for the championship and in solo second place at the moment.

Technically, we know the answer to that. But what a struggle it’s been in majors for DJ. He made more doubles than birdies in two rounds at Quail Hollow and finished at 12 over, T-150.

It’s his fifth missed cut in his last seven major starts.

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Will it be enough? The projected cut line is currently 1 over and, with the afternoon wave teeing off, it likely won’t drop to allow Spieth in.

One player certainly out is Justin Thomas. The 2017 PGA champion at Quail Hollow shot 73-72 to finish at 3 over.

Aaron Rai, thee off the lead while playing the 16th, hit his tee shot into the right rough. His next shot hit a tree.

Rai shanked his second square into a tree trunk, his ball ricocheting into the fairway. He made double bogey to drop to 3 under.

Three birdies in his last seven holes has Jhonattan Vegas at 9 under, three ahead of Matthieu Pavon and Michael Thorbjorsen.

Homa didn’t just storm up the leaderboard Friday at the PGA Championship, he shot his lowest round since Aug. 2023 and his lowest-ever score in a major — by three shots!

Homa had one eagle, six birdies and one bogey in a near-flawless second round at Quail Hollow.

The 34-year-old’s first of six PGA Tour wins came at this venue in 2019.

Club pro Michael Block, who captivated two years ago at the Oak Hill PGA, is dead last in this edition. Block followed his opening 75 with an 82.

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The Frenchman makes his sixth birdie of the day at the 14th to move to 6 under, two back of Vegas.

Jhonattan Vegas birdies the par-5 10th to reach 8 under, three clear of five others.

Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas both made bogey and have dropped to 3 over, two off the projected cut line.

Jordan Spieth birdies the par-3 fourth to get to 2 over par. He’s one off the projected cut line and likely needs at least a pair of birdies over his final five holes (he started on the back) to make it to the weekend.

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Also at 2 over: Justin Thomas, through 14.

The two-time U.S. Open champ made two birdies and no bogeys over his first nine holes Friday. He’s at 2 under, five off the lead.

After one bogey and five pars to start his second round, overnight leader Jhonattan Vegas makes his first birdie of the day at the par-5 seventh.

He’s again two clear of the field at 7 under.

No jokes necessary.

Collin Morikawa double-bogeyed the par-4 18th for the second consecutive day. He’s now at 2 under for the championship (with nine holes remaining in his second round). That hole aside, he’d be a co-leader.

On the scorecard it was a triple bogey, dropping Tyrrell Hatton from one off the lead to four back, so you can imagine how he felt.

Actually, you don’t have to imagine; as he does, Hatton let you know: After hitting his tee shot into the water he stared at his driver and cussed it. Following his drop and hack out of the rough, he spit into the spot where he ball was. He then did everything he could to not bash his wedge after coming up short of the green with his fourth.

Max Homa chips in for birdie at the 18th (his ninth) to turn in 30 and reach 4 under for the championship, two off the lead.

But promptly gives one back on his second hole, the par-4 11th. He’s at 4 over and currently T-108.

Homa is 5 under through his first six holes Friday and 3 under for the championship.

Cue Johnson Wagner:

Our opening-round live blog:

2025 PGA Championship, Day 1 recap: Mud balls galore and Jhonattan Vegas leads

Here’s how the first round played out in the 107th PGA Championship.

• Golf Channel Staff,

• Golf Channel Staff,