From the boy who played golf with rocks and broomsticks, Jhonattan Vegas is now leading the PGA Championship

Jhonattan Vegas leads after round 1 of the PGA Championship.

The opening round of the 107th PGA Championship took place in a surprising manner at Quail Hollow Club (USA). There was no outstanding face in the top after 18 holes. Jhonattan Vegas had the best score with 9 birdies and 2 bogeys to achieve a result of 64 strokes (-7), leading by two strokes over the two pursuers Ryan Gerard (USA) and Cam Davis (Australia).

Despite a slow start, Vegas birdied five of the last six holes at Quail Hollow Club, including an emotional 27-foot putt on the ninth, which was also his final hole of the day.

“With the conditions, I honestly didn’t think I could score that,” Vegas said, referring to the heavy rain that had just hit Quail Hollow. “But I was lucky to start late. The course dried pretty quickly after the rain, and I took advantage of that.”

Vegas started the day on hole 10, getting off to a shaky start with a bogey on the first hole and then another mistake on the challenging par-3 17th. However, he quickly regained his rhythm and birdied half of the remaining holes to take the lead.

One of Vegas's turning points came on the 11th hole (his second hole of the day), when he saved par from 16 feet. "I didn't want to start with a bogey-bogey, because that could have taken the whole round away," Vegas said. "The par save on the 11th was huge, it kept me in the frame of mind and opened up a lot of scoring opportunities."

Vegas, 40, has won four PGA Tour titles in his career, most recently at the 3M Open last July. He is also the only Venezuelan to have won on the PGA Tour and is now the first Venezuelan to lead (or co-lead) after a round at a major.

When asked about his journey to golf, Vegas laughed: "That's a long story. I don't think we have enough time to tell it all." But then he shared a short story, a journey that started with his father's love of golf.

“My dad lived near a golf course and worked as a caddie when he was young. Later, he learned to play and became passionate about the sport ,” Vegas said. “When my dad married my mom, the whole family lived near an oil company’s nine-hole golf course. Thanks to that, I had the opportunity to approach golf very early.”

From broomstick and rock golf sessions, Vegas gradually developed a love for a sport that is not traditionally Venezuelan.

“Venezuelans are not known for golf, but I think I was really blessed to pursue this path,” Vegas said. “That's why I'm here, and I'm at the top of the leaderboard after the opening round of a major.”

Scottie Scheffler shot -2 strokes but did not reach the top after 18 holes of the 2025 PGA Championship.

While Vegas caused a surprise, the big stars failed to live up to expectations in Round 1. The top 10 of the world's professional golf rankings were completely absent from the top 10 in the opening round of the PGA Championship, the first time this has happened in a major in at least 30 years.

Rory McIlroy, the 2025 Masters champion and four-time winner at Quail Hollow, shot a 74 (+3), no birdies in his final 12 holes, and fell to 98th. Scottie Scheffler shot a 69 (-2), the best of the world's top 10 golfers, but still finished T20. Xander Schauffele, the reigning PGA Championship champion, finished the day with a 72 (+1), temporarily finishing T60.

Other stars also played poorly: Jon Rahm and Collin Morikawa both finished T30 (-1), Bryson DeChambeau played even par in 46th place. Hideki Matsuyama, Wyndham Clark and Patrick Reed all shot +1 (60th place). Justin Thomas (+2) finished 73rd, Brooks Koepka disappointed with a +4 (112th place) and Jordan Spieth fell deep with a 76 (+5), ranked 125th.

Trong Dat

Source: https://tienphong.vn/tu-cau-be-choi-golf-bang-da-va-can-choi-jhonattan-vegas-gio-dang-dan-dau-pga-championship-post1742764.tpo