PGA Championship’s ‘Big 3’ yields only one contender — so far — at Quail Hollow
If anyone hadn’t been paying close attention to Rory McIlroy’s performance Friday afternoon, figuring it would be an easy time for the defending Masters champion, the happenings on the final hole provided the perfect snapshot.
McIlroy scrambled just to make a bogey on Quail Hollow’s 474-yard, par-4 No. 18, struggling to the point where he couldn’t get his first two shots on the fairway. It was a microcosm of how things went for McIlroy, who typically sizzles on the course. He finished with his second round with a 1-over 69 heading into moving day on Saturday.
McIlroy’s super grouping featuring Scottie Scheffler and Xander Schauffele put the top three ranked players in the world in the same pairing, and only Scheffler played like one of the best on the planet. Scheffler fired a 3-under 68 to climb into a tie for fifth place with Max Homa and Ryan Gerard at 5-under after the initial 36 holes.
“I like the position I’m in going into the weekend,” Scheffler said. “Obviously, I wish I was a little bit further up the leaderboard. 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. Looking forward to the weekend.”
Akin to McIlroy, Schauffele also had issues with his overall game, carding a 68 to finish at 1-over along with McIlroy to barely make the cut. Schauffele and McIlroy finished right on the line, which is something many wouldn’t have expected given their success on this course and likely why McIlroy declined to speak afterward and offer up any thoughts about his latest performance.
Scheffler, however, looked more in line with someone who’s currently the top-ranked golfer in the world to get himself into contention.
“I wasn’t far off the fairway to start the day,” Scheffler said. “Besides the first hole, I was like way off the fairway. Besides that, I was at least close to the fairway. It just felt like a couple bounces here and there. My tee shot on three bounced a little left, tee ball on seven bounced a little left.
“So, I was close out there. It was just that I didn’t give myself as many opportunities as I would have liked to early in the round. But I was still able to shoot under par on the front nine. I kept a clean card, made some nice up-and-downs. Overall, I was pleased with the score I posted today.”
McIlroy and Schauffele struggled mightily, and Schauffele’s putter didn’t help him out much, particularly at No. 5, when he needed two attempts on the green to sink it into the cup. McIlroy’s putter betrayed him at No. 5, too, when also he needed two strokes to finish the 252-yard par-3 even.
Still, although he had trouble getting up and down, McIlroy had his moments. A great second shot at No. 6 left him inches from the cup and he tapped it in to remain at 1-under a third of the way through his afternoon.
At No. 7, Scheffler and Schauffele each ran into a bit of trouble.
Schauffele’s approach shot from the left bunker landed in the water, forcing him to take a drop. Scheffler’s second shot hit a tree branch, but still found the fairway helping him reach the green on his next stroke to finish the 552-yard, par-5 hole even. And Schauffele made a great save after taking a drop, nailing a putt to keep from dropping another stroke following a bogey at No. 6.
Scheffler didn’t worry too much about the play of McIlroy or anyone else in the super group, though. His focus was on the task at hand: Getting his mitts on the championship trophy.
“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 threes in my face, I’d probably have to adjust something because it’s more of a one-on-one game.
“In golf there is — outside of us two — there is 154 other people in the field this week. It’s a big field and there’s a lot of guys. I think mostly we’re competing against the golf course at times, especially the first two rounds. If it was late on Sunday and he was making a charge to get three ahead of me, maybe I’d have to change something. But in the second round, it doesn’t really make much of a difference to me.”
This story was originally published May 16, 2025 at 8:23 PM.
