Rory McIlroy and Xander Schauffele, playing alongside World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, both rallied to make the cut Friday at the PGA Championship. Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth, among other big names, did not.
They’re all looking up at Jhonattan Vegas, who has shot 64-70 at Quail Hollow to lead at eight-under-par, although he double bogeyed his final hole. In 16 previous major starts, he has 10 missed cuts and his best finish is a tie for 22nd place. Scheffler is only three shots back.
Spieth entered the week looking for the final leg of a career Grand Slam, talk that ramped up after McIlroy accomplished the feat last month at the Masters. But Spieth sputtered to a 76 in Round 1, leaving him with a tough ask on Day 2. He did shoot 68 and appeared to have a chance to play the weekend for a bit but his two-over-par total ended up one shot short of the cut.
Thomas was the PGA champion at Quail Hollow in 2017 and just won the RBC Heritage last month in South Carolina. So there were expectations that he’d play well this week. He shot 73 in the first round and was on the inside of the cut line Friday but made three bogeys in the last five holes to shoot 72 and miss the cut by two.
Here is a list of other notables who failed to advance to the weekend:
Sepp Straka (73-71, miss by one) came in hot after earning the biggest trophy of his career last week at the Truist Championship in Philadelphia. He bogeyed the 17th hole.
Shane Lowry (73-71, miss by one) birdied the seventh hole then went nuts on the eighth when his drive ended in an atrocious divot, which, as you can read here, did NOT make him happy. Later, after finishing the hole and making birdie, he unleashed the middle finger.
Hideki Matsuyama (72-73, miss by two) hadn’t missed a cut in a major in his last 19 starts, dating back to the 2018 British Open. He was not happy either, and, as you can read here, he went straight to the range and hit tons of balls.
Ludvig Aberg (70-75, miss by two) was on a short list of names that some predicted would play well this week. After an opening round under par it didn’t seem too far-fetched. He played a three-hole stretch Friday in five over par (!) and that was his undoing.
Cam Smith (78-71, miss by six) was too far back after an opening 78 that included six bogeys and a double bogey.
Phil Mickelson (79-72, miss by eight) was out of the mix after the first round but it was his second-round 72 that was more wild than the 79. On the 12th hole Friday he needed four shots to get out of a bunker. Read about it here.
Brooks Koepka (75-76, miss by eight) made just six birdies in two days against two double bogeys. Since his 2023 PGA win he only has one top-25 finish. This is his second straight missed cut in a major after missing last month at Augusta National.
Dustin Johnson (78-76, missed by 11) was offered a last-minute exemption into the PGA from the PGA of America and was out of sorts the whole week. In fact, he made more double bogeys (4) in two days than he did birdies (3).
Michael Block (75-82, missed by 14), the club professional from California and one of the main characters from the 2023 PGA Championship, made four double bogeys in a second round that could not have gone worse for him.
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This article was originally published on golfdigest.com
