CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Scottie Scheffler wasn’t paying attention to all the drama next to him in a star-power group or ahead of him on the leaderboard Friday at the PGA Championship.
Scheffler kept doing his best with the swing he had, responding to his lone bogey with a pair of birdies until he was within striking distance of 36-hole leader Jhonattan Vegas and became a large presence on leaderboard filled with so much inexperience in the majors.
“I like the position I’m in going into the weekend,” Scheffler said after a 3-under 68 left him only three shots behind at Quail Hollow.
Vegas had the lead for the first time in a major and didn’t back down. He finished late Thursday with five birdies on his last six holes for a 64 and had what felt like only three hours of sleep. He was tired, but it didn’t show until the end.
He missed a 3-foot putt on the 18th hole and took double bogey. He still shot 70, and his lead remained two shots going into the weekend.
“Every chance you get to lead a major and play with the lead is never easy,” Vegas said. “So I feel proud of a solid round today.”
He was at 8-under 134, two ahead of Matthieu Pavon of France (65), former U.S. Open champion Matt Fitzpatrick (68) and Si Woo Kim, the engaging South Korean who made an ace on the longest par 3 at Quail Hollow on his way to a 64. Kim hit 5-wood on the 252-yard sixth hole, making it the longest hole-in-one in major championship history.
The real stress was next to Scheffler.
Xander Schauffele was in danger of becoming the first defending champion to miss the cut in the PGA Championship since Jimmy Walker in 2017. He was two shots over the cut line with seven holes to play when he made two birdies and handled the rugged three-hole closing stretch with pars to make the cut on the number.
That’s his 64th in a row on the PGA Tour, the longest streak since Tiger Woods made 142 straight cuts from 1998 through 2005.
“The cuts, it’s still a thing,” Schauffele said. “And I really wanted to make the weekend because I feel like I’m not playing this bad.”
Masters champion Rory McIlroy had four birdies through 10 holes and the gallery was starting to raise the level of noise. But then he began missing more fairways and making four bogeys, including the 18th hole for a 69 to make the cut on the number.
Turns out XM Sirius PGA Tour Radio reported McIlroy had his driver tested on Tuesday, it was deemed nonconforming and he had to use a backup. He ranks last in driving accuracy among the 74 players to make the cut.
McIlroy, who last month completed the career Grand Slam at the Masters, declined to speak to the media for the second straight day.
Scheffler marched on, hitting his stride late in the round, just like Thursday. He wasn’t even aware of McIlroy’s early run.
“When you’re out there competing, I’m mostly concerned about myself out there,” Scheffler said. “I notice what’s going on, but it’s not like another sport. Like if we were playing basketball and he’s hitting a bunch of 3s in my face, I’d probably have to adjust.”
The Grand Slam club most likely stays at six members the rest of the year — Jordan Spieth rallied with a 68 but missed the cut by one shot, leaving him a PGA Championship short of getting all the majors.
Phil Mickelson could still win the U.S. Open for the Grand Slam at age 54. He certainly didn’t look the part when he took four swipes at the ball to get out of a bunker on No. 12 and wound up with a quadruple-bogey eight. He made seven birdies in a round of 72.
Now it’s about 36 holes to chase after the 27-pound Wanamaker Trophy, which might feel even heavier to so many players in the mix who are newcomers to major pressure.
That starts with Vegas, whose career has been slowed by shoulder injuries in recent year. He got back on track by winning in Minnesota last year. Still, he has never finished in the top 20 in a major championship.
Pavon played in the final group of the U.S. Open last year. Fitzpatrick won the toughest test in golf at Brookline three years ago and is pulling out of a bad stretch of play.
A dozen others are relatively new to all this. Scheffler is not among them.
For the second straight day, it took time for the world’s No. 1 player to feel comfortable with his swing. All the while, he rarely got out of position and kept inching closer. He dropped only one shot and responded with two straight birdies on the back nine for a 68.
That left Scheffler at 5-under 137 along with Max Homa, who has been struggling with his game everywhere but the majors. He tied for 12th at the Masters, and Homa shot 64 at Quail Hollow, including a drive on the reachable 14th that settled a foot from the hole for eagle.
“Obviously, I wish I was a little bit further up the leaderboard,” Scheffler said. “I think I got a lot out of my game the last couple days. I felt like, as the round went on, my swing continued to get better and I was able to hit some key shots down the stretch to give myself some opportunities.”
Ten players were at 4-under 138, a group that included three players who a week ago had no assurance they would be in the field.
Michael Thorbjornsen (70), the former No. 1 player in the PGA Tour University ranking when he was at Stanford, got in when Vijay Singh withdrew. Ryan Fox (71) won at Myrtle Beach last week for his first PGA Tour title, getting him to the PGA Championship.
Alex Smalley (71) didn’t get in until Wednesday with another withdrawal. He got within one shot of the lead with three birdies in a four-hole stretch around the turn, and still was two behind until bogeys on the last two holes.
But it starts with Vegas, the affable Venezuelan who already has piled up 13 birdies in two rounds and has 36 holes ahead of him to see if he can lift the trophy.
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