PGA Championship 2025: What to know about the long shots taking over Quail Hollow

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The unexpected was everywhere at soggy Quail Hollow Club on Thursday.

The eight players who shot 67 or lower Thursday entered the week with a combined four major championship rounds inside the top five in the last ten seasons. As a group, they were a combined 436 over par in the majors since the beginning of 2016.

The two Ryder Cup captains, Luke Donald and Keegan Bradley, were a combined 7 under. The 12 players in the automatic qualifier spots for their teams (six each side) were a combined plus-12.

Here are the top numbers to know from an unpredictable Day 1 at the PGA Championship.

1. With fellow University of Texas products Scottie Scheffler (world No. 1) and Jordan Spieth (seeking final leg of grand slam) teeing it up, who had Jhonattan Vegas as the low Longhorn in Round 1? Now 40 years old, the four-time PGA Tour winner shot a brilliant 64 on Thursday afternoon, the lowest round of his major championship career by three strokes. Vegas is the first man representing Venezuela to lead or co-lead after any major championship round, all-time.

This was the 45th round of Vegas’ major career. Before Thursday, he had never been better than tied for ninth after any round. Vegas was one of just two players in the field Thursday to gain five strokes or more tee-to-green. Vegas also putted brilliantly, gaining 3.77 strokes on the field putting. He entered the week ranked 130th on the PGA Tour this season in that metric.

Jhonattan Vegas saves the best for last 🙌

The Venezuelan takes a two-shot lead after Round 1. #PGAChamp pic.twitter.com/25ptIgvQW0

— PGA Championship (@PGAChampionship) May 16, 2025

2. North Carolina native and former All-American at UNC Ryan Gerard fired an opening 66 in his first career PGA Championship round. Before Vegas’ late surge up the leaderboard, it looked like Gerard might be the first player since 2007 to hold a share of the lead following his PGA debut. Gerard was the only player to gain more strokes tee-to-green than Vegas.

Aussie Cam Davis also opened with 66, one shot off his lowest career round in a major. Davis, who won 2 points for the International Team at the 2022 Presidents Cup at Quail Hollow, had arguably the best round of his career on the greens, gaining nearly six strokes putting, a field-best.

It was a stark contrast from how Davis has putted in the majors recently. From the beginning of 2022 through this year’s Masters, there are 86 players with 20 or more rounds in the major championships. Davis ranked 72nd in strokes gained putting in that span, losing about 0.18 strokes per round to the field.

Davis’ best career major championship finish came at the 2023 PGA at Oak Hill, where he finished in a tie for fourth.

3. Donald didn’t win a major championship during the prime of his career, which featured 56 weeks as the No. 1 player in the Official World Golf Ranking. His closest call has to be the 2006 PGA at Medinah, when he entered the final round tied with Tiger Woods for the lead. Woods shot a final round 68, while Donald struggled to 74 and a tie for third place.

Now ranked 871st, with no made cuts in four official worldwide starts this year, Donald was an invitee to this year’s Championship by the PGA of America. So naturally, he shot a bogey-free 67, his lowest first-round score in a major in 21 years.

Donald, 47, is the oldest player to go bogey-free in a round of 67 or better at the PGA Championship in 11 years. Jerry Kelly did it in the final round of the 2014 PGA at Valhalla Golf Club. Donald was the only man in the field to go without a bogey Thursday. The last time a player age 40 or older earned that distinction in a round at the PGA was in 2007 at Southern Hills, when then 43-year-old Scott Verplank had the only bogey-free score.

4. World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler birdied two of his last three holes to card a round of 69. It’s the 25th round in the 60s for Scheffler in the majors since the beginning of 2021, most of any player in that span.

Scheffler wasn’t equipped with his A-game Thursday. He hit just 11 greens in regulation with two of his approaches getting inside 15 feet. He was also just 5-for-9 putting from 5 to 10 feet away, losing strokes to the field on the greens.

Still, Scheffler did more than enough to keep himself in the championship going into Friday. In the last 20 seasons, there have been 14 different majors won by players who were five shots back or more entering the second round, including Rory McIlroy last month at the Masters (seven back).

5. Speaking of McIlroy, in his first major championship round as a grand slam winner, he staggered to an opening 74. Not much went right for McIlroy. He hit just four fairways, one week after ranking 66th of 69 players in the Truist Championship field in driving accuracy. McIlroy averaged outside 50 feet from the hole on his approach shots Thursday, just the third time in 51 career rounds at Quail Hollow he has done that. And he made only one putt longer than five feet, losing more than two strokes on the greens to the field. Other than that, it was a banner day.

No player has won the PGA Championship with a first-round score of 74 or higher since Payne Stewart in 1989 at Kemper Lakes. McIlroy is 10 shots behind Vegas — the only man in major championship history from ten or more back after one round to win was Harry Vardon at the 1896 Open (11 back).

6. Bryson DeChambeau showed flashes of brilliance before ultimately winding up with an even par score of 71. One of the most impressive shots came from DeChambeau on the 227-yard par-3 17th, where he missed an ace by mere inches. On the previous hole, DeChambeau pounded a drive 362 yards, the longest by anyone at 16.

DeChambeau’s Achilles’ heel was his short game. He ranked 145th of 156 players Thursday in strokes gained around the green, with non-touring pros making up a chunk of the names behind him.

7. While many of the marquee names scrapped to the finish line in the first round, there were plenty of highlights. There were five putts made of 50 feet or longer. At the 2017 PGA, there weren’t more than two such putts holed in any single round.

Eric Cole made an ace on the fourth hole, something only done one other time in more than two decades at PGA Tour-sanctioned competition at Quail Hollow (Joost Luiten at the 2017 PGA). It was just the second ace of Cole’s PGA Tour career — he made one last year at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans.

8. The Green Mile — holes 16, 17 and 18 — lived up to its reputation. The holes ranked first, second and T-4th in difficulty, playing to a combined 171 strokes over par for the field. The brutal stretch yielded nearly as many doubles or worse Thursday (27) as birdies (29). The 17th and 18th combined had a green in regulation rate of just 37.5 percent.

To keep up this week, players will have to take advantage of the two holes immediately preceding The Green Mile. The 14th and 15th played 111 strokes under par in the opening round, with the field making birdie or eagle at a 45 percent clip. The eight players at 4 under or better entering Round 2 were a combined -14 on holes 14 and 15 on Thursday.

9. Of the previous 35 PGA Championship winners, 34 were within six shots of the lead after the opening round. The lone exception in that span was in 2011 when Keegan Bradley was eight back entering at Atlanta Athletic Club.

Historically, the PGA Championship has had the most winners among the four men’s majors who fell behind in Round 1 before making a charge. Over the last 50 years, 14 PGA winners have been outside the top 20 after the opening round. That’s five more than any of the other three (U.S. Open 9, Masters 6, The Open 6).

(Photo of Jhonattan Vegas: Kevin C. Cox / Getty Images)

This news was originally published on this post .

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