– Jhonattan Vegas (-8) has already secured a spot in the final Saturday matches of the PGA Championship, regardless of what happens in the afternoon session of the second day of this second Major of the year, after signing a card of 70 strokes at Quail Hollow. It is likely, even, that he will play in the star match, despite having finished the round with an unpleasant double bogey on the 18th, which came after an unfortunate series of consecutive errors: the second shot went into the bunker, the sand shot was defective, and in the end, he even missed a very short putt…
Before this slip-up, he had reached double digits under par (-10): something never seen before. And not only because a Venezuelan had never led a major, much less with such authority. But simply because Vegas’s relationship with the Majors had been tough and difficult, even tortuous, until this very week in North Carolina.
Two facts in this regard. The first: before this PGA, the Venezuelan had played 16 Majors and missed ten cuts, with a 22nd place in the 2016 PGA being his best record and the only top 25 of his career in these events.
The second: precisely in this player’s most consistent season, 2017, when he reached his peak in the world ranking (Number 35), he missed all four cuts in the four Majors. Just when he was expected to perform the most and the best. It may be this week when they make peace, but until today the Majors and Vegas were at odds. They didn’t like each other. They weren’t comfortable with one another. That said: everyone’s timing is their own. It matters little or not at all that the Caribbean player has already turned forty, especially after scrutinising the statements he made today, once the round was over:
“You never know when things can align in your favour. I’m enjoying the process and I just have to keep going. If there’s one thing I’ve realised here, it’s that I have the game to compete in these big tournaments. I just have to do what I know how to do, and good things can happen. I feel that my game is very complete, but I’ve never been able to put it all together in a Major. I’ve had the patience not to get discouraged by not performing well in the majors.”
– Once the morning session of this second round, in which Vegas was playing, was over, the leaderboard remains very surprising. It’s not that there aren’t excellent players up there, starting with the Venezuelan and continuing with Max Homa (-5, after signing a 64 today, seven under), or Matthieu Pavon (-6 and a round of 65). But names are missing. The weight of the world top ten is missing. Even the world top 20. It’s true that Bryson DeChambeau (-3) has delivered a 68 and is already peeking into the hot zone with 36 holes to play, but it’s also very possible that he won’t even finish the day within the top ten. There, with the second round finished, are the rookie Michael Thorbjornsen (-4) or Christiaan Bezuidenhout (-4), and others like Taylor Pendrith, Richard Bland, or Davis Riley are also very well positioned… So there you have it: excellent players, who could say otherwise, but not exactly the ones you expect to fill the top spots on the leaderboard of a Major after two days. The world’s golf tyrants have time to set things right (Scheffler, for example), but for now, this PGA has turned out to be defiant and ‘of the people’, if the expression is allowed. In fact, with the second day still in play, we already find too many names from the group of illustrious, established, or serious contenders who have already been knocked out and won’t be around for the weekend.
The cut gives much to think about: Dustin Johnson (+12), Justin Rose (+9), Cameron Smith (+7), Will Zalatoris (+6), Dean Burmester (+6), Sungjae Im (+5), Patrick Reed (+4), Justin Thomas (+3), Ludvig Aberg (+3) Hideki Matsuyama (+3)… All these could be joined by some others who are in trouble in the afternoon session, such as Koepka, Cantlay, Min Woo Lee, or even Schauffele and McIlroy. Cold sweats.
