View of the weekend at the PGA championship 2025

Charlotte, NC-Die second round of the PGA championship, is in the books, and although it seemed less to be over the mud balls, which dominated the discourse in the first round, many players made movements and the ranking remained one of the most eclectic memory.

Some of the surprise names, which overlooked the top of the board after the opening round on Thursday, could not provide proper encores, but the 40-year-old Jhonattan Vegas did not fade and now has the 54-hole lead. Perhaps the greatest story was the world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler 3 and is in a first -class position to secure his third major.

“I think most of me are only happy to be close to the tour. If you want to play a 72-hole golf tournament, there will be days and strips of golf where you don't swing your best,” said Scheffler. “In the course of such a long tournament and at a large championship setup, there will be some bumps on the street. It's just about how to react to it. I did a good job today to react to these mistakes and keep myself in the tournament.”

In addition, Scheffler stays where he started: as a favorite to take the Wanamaker trophy home.

Here is what you should look out for this weekend.

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Jhonattan Vegas leads at halftime; What do you think are his chances of winning?

Schlabach: “Johnny Vegas” would probably not be a popular winner among Golffans, but he has a damn story because he started in his career. He was a top junior player in Venezuela and moved to Houston in 2004 when Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez threatened to transform urban golf courses into public apartments.

When Vegas arrived in the United States, he reportedly spoke only 10 words in English and had a bag of worn out clubs. He became good enough to get a scholarship to the University of Texas. After the professional, he spent two years on the Korn Ferry Tour before achieving his first PGA tour at the Bob Hope Classic in 2011. Vegas has won three times since then, most recently in July at the 3M Open.

Vegas said he didn't sleep well before Friday after he was finished the day before. It probably didn't help with his first tour of a major. He has to sleep on another 2-shot lead before the third round. His last cut in A Major was a draw for the 57th place at the US Open 2021. This is only his third start to the Big Four since then.

A double bait 6 on the 18th hole loaded a fixed second round for Vegas. He ended 1 under 70 and left the course with a two-stroke lead. After winning almost four strokes in the first round in the field, he cooled in the second and almost lost one blow. His piece from tea to Green remained exceptional.

I would be stunned if Vegas is a winner of the PGA championship with Wire-to-Wire.

Uggeti: Data Golf gives Vegas a 9.4% chance of winning. This means that Vegas himself is only the second favorite with a two-stroke lead into the weekend. Scottie Scheffler (23.4% chance, three shots back) and Bryson Decimbeau (9% chance, five shots back) round off the top three.

The fact that Vegas is not only hanging around in the second round, but also under par and still on the leadership is impressive. However, if I disabled his actual opportunities, I would tend to 5%if not less.

“I have the feeling that my game is very complete, but I just couldn't put everything together in a major,” said Vegas on Friday. “I think I was patient enough not to go down to myself because I didn't play well with Majors. It is just a kind of things that you just have to learn about yourself and what it takes to play well.

It would be a great story, as Mark explained, but if Vegas raised the Wanamak trophy on Sunday, it will be one of the most unlikely main prizes that we have seen since Jimmy Walker did it with the PGA in 2017. Maybe even more unlikely.

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Which players outside the top 10 could still win?

Schlabach: I chose Dechameau to win before the tournament started and he is still in a stroke at 3. The captain of the LIV Golf League resigned from a level Par 71 in the first round and scored a 3-below 68 on Friday. It is bound for 17th place, five blows behind Vegas.

Dechambeau hits the ball in Quail Hollow wide; He leads in drive removal (331.6 yards) on the field and strokes have won the tee. It was not surprising that his coup was solid. But Dechambeau's iron play is still a little bit like it is with the Masters, and he is not satisfied with his chipping (he lost almost two strokes on Thursday and was a little better on Friday).

“You have to have your iron very precisely this week, what we all know how good my wedges are so that it is a bit more difficult for me,” said Dechameau. “That's okay.

“It's a great test. I just have to put on a little more and always play as I am. It could easily be 7, 8, or I could even be a par. So just go on and I think a 65, 64 is out there today and I definitely saw it out there, I just didn't reach it.”

Uggeti: There are many big names that lurk outside the top 10, and if a tournament still seems to be relatively wide, this could be everyone.

Nevertheless, I suspect with a course like Quail Hollow that the cream will continue to rise. And despite his recent fights in some big championships, no one is as good to do it as Jon Rahm. The Spaniard has put together two calm but extremely solid golf rounds and sits in 2 under, six shots behind Vegas that go to the weekend.

“I think I'm in a good position,” said Rahm. “In addition, I have the feeling that I get better and safer with the swing. I made a lot of good swings out there today and gave myself a lot of chances.”

The discourse on Rahm at the Majors has been about his inability to be able to get into disputes since the win of the 2023 Masters, but it is easy that he seemed to be one of the most consistent and dominant players in the game at the time. He continues to plant top 10 surfaces on LIV, but they want to measure them and I would not surprise me to see him at the top this weekend. He could use it.

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How far is back to be in a fight?

Uggeti: Is it too much to say that someone who has made the cut could run a run? Probably, but this setup, like many PGAs in the past, has kept the ranking quite close together. Even with Vegas at 8 under, players like Collin Morikawa (even Par) and Rory McIlroy and Xander Schuffele (1 over) were able to go low and take a run. For me, the real leader of the tournament is currently Scheffler at 5 under, but that also means that Scheffler has to break out, and that doesn't seem likely either. Players such as Morikawa, Schauffele and McIlroy have to shoot in the mid to 60s to achieve a shot, but it is not the possibilities.

A step -by -step trailer is that 1 is probably too far back under. Four shots behind Scheffler and seven shots behind the leader offer a big task.

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Who is your choice in the weekend?

Schlabach: I selected Scottie after the first round, and with a 3-below 68 he was a stroke a better blow, which was good enough to leave him for fifth place in a tie. In the second round he improved in almost every metric, except for driving (six out of 14 fairways met).

“I like the position in which I go to the weekend,” said Scheffler. “Obviously I wish I was a little further in the ranking. I think I got a lot out of my game in the past few days. I had the feeling that the round continued to get better, and I was able to make some important pictures on the track to give myself a few opportunities. I'm looking forward to the weekend.”

Matt Fitzpatrick, the 2022 US Open winner, is the only other golfer in the top 10 that won a major. Vegas, Matthieu Pavon, Michael Thorbjornsen, Alex Smalley and Sam Stevens do not stop Scheffler when he receives an indictment.

Uggeti: Scheffler feels inevitable, especially since he had no round in which he played like the undisputed No. 1 player of the world. However, part of me keeps returning to Bryson. He was anything but perfect this week and is still fighting against his approach (77th in the field), but it also seems to find a round in which everything clicks. The journey remains an incredible weapon, he only has to keep it in Fairway more often to have a chance.

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Which player who was missing the cut was the greatest disappointment?

Schlabach: There are many solid decisions, because many of the best golfers in the world, Justin Thomas (3 over), Hideki Matsuyama (3 over), Ludvig Åberg (3 Over), Justin Rose (9 over) and Russell Henley (10 over) will not be in Quail Hollow.

I would probably go with JT because I thought he had a real chance this week to make some noise. He won at the RBC Heritage three weeks ago and conquered his first major at the 2017 PGA championship in Quail Hollow.

Thomas only met 13 out of 28 fairways (4 out of 14 in the first round) and 16 of 36 greens. He made nine birdies, but also had far too many mistakes.

Uggeti: I will go with Aberg. He had come up and down this week, but it still seemed as if Quail Hollow was going to set up well for his game. Instead, he ended the 145th place in the strokes won: driving and 86. In the approach. The sample size is small and maybe the bar was set too high too quickly, but these are now two missed cuts in two PGA championship appearances for Aberg.