CNN
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Jonattan Vegas (literally) concluded (literally) the second round of the 2025 PGA Championship at the Cool Hollow Club in Charlotte, North Carolina on Friday.
The 40-year-old stands alone on the leaderboard, finishing the rounds with one under par and eight under par in the tournament throughout his first 36 holes.
Ranked 70th in the world, Vegas is two strokes than Si Woo Kim, Matt Fitzpatrick and Matthieu Pavon, who are sitting in second place.
The day after becoming a Venezuelan, or a leading or co-lead in the majors, Vegas is not only looking to win his first victory in one of the most acclaimed tournaments in golf, but also at least his first top 20 finish.
Vegas quickly bouncing off after an early bogey on the second hole with four birdies, propelling him to an electric 10 underscore.
Fortune isn’t something many golfers have on their side on any day of the course, but Vegas seemed to be digging deep on par 3 17th hole.
His tee shot…well… I’m lucky enough to bounce off the rake and land on the green, eventually saving par.
After the round, Vegas said the shot came as a “shock” when asked about his reaction.
“If I saw it hit something, I didn’t know how hard it was and where it was heading,” Vegas told reporters. “I know it was rolling green, but I wasn’t immediately sure if it was too hard to get to the water.
“Like I said, I don’t know, that was one of the things that happen in this sport. Sometimes you get an unbound sprinkler head, a cart pass with roots crumbling, or sometimes you bump into a rake that goes to the green.
For Vegas in the final hole, luck will go away as he gets double bogeyed to see his mighty lead shrinking over a few strokes.
Despite the unpleasant Friday finale, Las Vegas got better and said how meaningful it would make for him to work well in the majors.
“This is what we spent all of those times. You spent all of those times giving us this opportunity,” Vegas said. “Unfortunately, I have not been able to do that throughout my career, but like I said, you never know. You have been able to hold down the pedals, hold down your head and keep working hard.
“I enjoy this process and I have to keep going.”
Vegas has won the PGA Tour four times, but his best finish in the majors appeared in the same tournament nine years ago, finishing 22nd.
When asked how hard he was working on his previous major at home, he called it “annoying.”
“It was especially annoying to know that there are games where you compete in these big events. I feel my game is very complete, but I couldn’t put it all together in my major,” Vegas said.
“I think I am patient enough to not beat myself too much because I’m not playing well in the majors. … I played well in some good, big tournaments, but not in the majors.
Ace and the best in the world will be cut
Max Homa almost hit hole-in-one earlier in the day, but it was Siuukim who removed his counterparts one by one.
The 29-year-old shot a rare ace on the par 3, 6th hole for 252 yards, pushing him into a 6-under perscore, tied him second on the leaderboard along with Fitzpatrick and Pabon.
Kim, the world’s No. 66, was celebrated by throwing clubs into the air and running past multiple tee boxes.
This shot not only brought much excitement, but also brought history to the Koreans.
It was the longest hole-in-one in major tournament history, and Kim quickly pointed out that he held previous records at the British Open at Royal Troon last year.
“It’s exciting, it’s like imagination. I was going to hit it, I tried my imagination. I hit it exactly as I wanted it. So it was cool and it was a pretty memorable hole-in-one in the majors,” Kim said to CNN’s Patrick Snell, who felt he was still holding the record after the round.
Also, the grouping of Scotty Scheffler, World No. 1, World No. 2, World No. 2, and Xander Schauffele, World No. 3, found all the talks at the tournament.
It wasn’t all three opening rounds, and everything improved on Friday, but it wasn’t the usual play that I’m used to seeing from Masters champion McIlroy and PGA Championship winner Shaufele.
Both sit on one over par on 36 holes, with a slight +1 cut line over the weekend.
However, Schaeffler shot 68 to reach -5, reaching within three of the leads.
Schaeffler, who finished his first victory of the 2025 season with Byron Nelson a few weeks ago, was positive about his position on the leaderboard.
“Obviously I wish I had raised the leaderboard a little more. I think I’ve done a lot from the game over the last few days,” Schaeffler told CNN’s Patrick Snell.
“As the round progressed, my swing continued to improve, I was able to hit a few key shots and gave myself some opportunities. I’m looking forward to the weekend.”
Other notable names aren’t that lucky, missing out on cuts from Jordan Spieth, Justin Thomas, Rudig Åberg, Shane Laurie and Brooks Koepka.
“I don’t advise switching between your club and coach at the same time, or making your golf swing, but I did that,” Homa told reporters after posting his best score at 23 major championships on Friday.
The 34-year-old shot a 7-under 64, hanging himself into the competition, sitting at 5-under for the tournament, tied up for the fourth time on Saturday’s move day.
But 2025 was a struggle for Homa with new caddies, new sponsors, clubs and new swing coaches that led to what new swing coaches calling them “broken.”
Despite his previous successes and current struggles, Homa did not etch his words not just about the course, but also about how much he had an impact.
“Especially with my wife, she asks me every day at home like she does today. I say I’m great. I leave the next day and shoot countless times. She won’t get it,” Homa said.
“It’s hard to explain because I don’t. You can provide all the technical versions, but it’s odd at the end of the day. Play a really good practice round.
“It was hard to explain, but at the end of the day there was a bad day at home too. So when you compete in a golf tournament, it’s not entirely foreign. It wasn’t mental.
Homa, who won the PGA Tour six times, previously won two Cool Hollow titles in 2019 and 2022.
If fans thought they were the only animals to be seen on the course this weekend, they would have proven wrong on the second day of action.
Today was the snake turn after the Turtles caused a break in play yesterday and paused in the proceedings.
Former PGA Championship winner Sean Missile met a close-up with the reptile as he tried to take his third shot on the par 5 10th hole.
The snake slid all the way past Misser’s ball and headed towards the rough.
The incident did not discourage Missile. Misser made a birdie on the 10th.
