Charlotte (AFP) – Venezuela’s Jhonattan Vegas kept a two-stroke lead after playing the front nine in Friday’s second round of the PGA Championship while a host of rivals charged after him at Quail Hollow. World number 70 Vegas, who fired a seven-under par 64 on Thursday for his lowest major round, answered a bogey at the second hole with a birdie at the par-five seventh and began the back nine on seven-under. That was good enough to stay two ahead of France’s Matthieu Pavon, who made five birdies in the first 12 holes to reach five-under, and Americans Ryan Gerard and J.J. Spaun.
Vegas, chasing his first major title, needed a 12-foot putt to save par at the first, but missed a seven-footer at the second to make bogey. He responded with a seven-foot birdie putt at the par-five seventh to restore his two-stroke edge. Pavon, fifth in last year’s US Open for his best major finish, sank a 34-foot birdie putt at the second, an eight-footer to birdie the par-three fourth, a tap-in birdie at the par-five seventh, and another from inside three feet at the eighth. When he rolled in a 17-foot birdie putt at the 12th, Pavon reached five-under to share second.
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Gerard, who fired a 66 on Thursday, was set to start in the penultimate 10th-tee group. Spaun birdied three holes in a row starting at the third and answered a bogey at the sixth with birdies at the par-five seventh and 10th holes. His 10-foot birdie putt at the 14th lifted him into a share of second.
In a pack on four-under were Americans Max Homa, Alex Smalley, and Michael Thorbjornsen, England’s Aaron Rai and Luke Donald, New Zealand’s Ryan Fox, and Germany’s Stephan Jaeger. Homa, a 10th-tee starter, was having the best round of day two, going six-under through nine holes, shooting 30 — his lowest nine-hole stretch in a major — on the same side he shot 39 on day one. Homa opened with a tap-in birdie at 10, sank a 22-foot birdie putt at the par-three 13th, eagled the par-four 14th after dropping his tee shot inches from the hole, sank a 15-foot birdie putt at the par-five 15th, and chipped in from 49 feet to birdie the 18th.
Homa’s sizzling form continued with a 33-foot birdie putt at the third, but he missed the green at the par-three fourth and stumbled to a bogey. Rai endured a front nine roller coaster with three bogeys and four birdies, the last of them from seven feet at the ninth, before missing an 11-foot par putt at the 12th to fall back. Thorbjornsen sank a 13-foot birdie putt at the second and a five-foot birdie putt at the par-five seventh but closed the front nine with a bogey.
The rest were set for afternoon tee times. The feature group of the world’s three top-ranked players — also set for an afternoon start Friday — struggled in round one, with world number one Scottie Scheffler on 69, defending champion, third-ranked Xander Schauffele on 72, and Masters winner Rory McIlroy on 74.
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