The 2025 PGA Championship is nearing its midway point, and we should be in for a wild weekend at Quail Hollow Club, even if the 18-hole leaderboard featured a plethora of players that might not be too familiar to the casual golf fan.
Jhonattan Vegas, a four-time PGA Tour winner, led the way after Round 1, shooting a strong 7-under 64 to become the first Venezuelan to ever hold a lead following any round of a major championship.
North Carolina native Ryan Gerard and Australian Cam Davis sat tied for second at 5-under, followed by a fivesome at 4-under, as Luke Donald, Ryan Fox, Alex Smalley, Stephan Jaeger, and Aaron Rai each shot 67 on Thursday.
Meanwhile, several high-profile players struggled to start the second major of the season. While Scottie Scheffler kept himself in the mix with an opening-round 69, playing partners Xander Schauffele and Rory McIlroy combined to shoot 4-over, with Schauffele shooting a 1-over 72 and McIlroy ending his opening round in a tie for 98th at 3-over.
Of the 156 players in the field at Quail Hollow, the top 70 and ties after 36 holes will make it through to the weekend.
Following the opening round, the projected cut line at the 2025 PGA Championship was 1-over, and McIlroy certainly wasn't the only big-name player on the wrong side of it coming into the second round, as Justin Thomas (+2), Sungjae Im (+2), Jason Day (+2), Rickie Fowler (+2), Shane Lowry (+2), Sepp Straka (+3), Patrick Cantlay (+3), Brooks Koepka (+4), Min Woo Lee (+4), Justin Rose (+5), Jordan Spieth (+5), Cameron Smith (+6), Dustin Johnson (+7), and Phil Mickelson (+8) put themselves in risky positions as well.
With the nearly perfect weather in Charlotte on Friday providing prime scoring conditions, the cut line will likely shift several times as the day progresses.
A year ago at Valhalla, the cut line was 1-under, marking the first time in PGA Championship history that it reached red figures as 78 players were under par after 36 holes, the most ever in any major championship.
We don't think it'll get quite that low this year, but an even-par line certainly isn't out of the realm of possibility, although 1- or 2-over seems more probable.