2025 PGA Championship takeaways: Max Homa’s conviction, Scottie Scheffler’s steadiness lead Round 2 standouts

CHARLOTTE — Following an 18-hole stretch at the 107th playing of the PGA Championship highlighted by mud balls that led to differing opinions and plenty of clubhouse controversy, Round 2 was highlighted by a man rising up the leaderboard who has dealt with his fair share of adversity. Amid a challenging two years that has featured changes to his swing, equipment, apparel, coach and caddie, Max Homa looked like a man unchanged on Friday at Quail Hollow.

The six-time PGA Tour winner relished in the Carolina pines and stood as tall as they did posting his best major championship round to date. A 7-under 64 — three strokes better than his prior best and the 11th-best major championship round since the start of 2023 — pushed Homa’s name from outside the top 70 to inside the top five. He now sits 5 under, three back of leader Jhonattan Vegas, while pushing himself to the front of everyone’s mind as he charts another climb out of the depths of despair. 

“It’s been difficult because I felt like I was so broken and whatever the swing change was going to be was going to be some grand thing, like something I’ve never done before. We were just like not finding anything on this range session,” Homa said. “Everything he says makes sense, and it’s very right, but it didn’t feel like me. … 

“It was hard for me because I’ve been very lucky working with John [Scott Rattan] and working with Mark [Blackburn]. They’re brilliant people, and you listen to brilliant people, but at some point you have to maybe get in there and just say, Hey, this technically might be right, but it doesn’t feel like I’m going to be able to do this. He was really great at that and kind of ebbing off of that a little bit. Like I said, it feels more like me. It looks more like when I swung at my best.”

Homa has been convincing himself (and trying to convince others) that he is not insane, and in fact, much closer than recent results indicate. When he sat down with CBS Sports ahead of The Players Championship, Homa expressed frustration and implored that strong performances were around the corner. He said it would take playing golf — not changes to his golf swing — to do so.

“It probably doesn’t help me at all, if I’m being honest,” Homa said of his willingness to open up. “… I grew up a fan of sports, as so many are, and I always found it really — like interviews and things to be so thought provoking as a fan to get a little insight. We are entertainers, and without the fans, we would be just playing golf with some buddies.

“Yeah, I just try to be myself. Sometimes I wish I would probably keep some things in, but at the end of the day, we owe a lot to them. It’s not so hard to be transparent. It doesn’t hurt me in any way.”

Homa was an early exit in Ponte Vedra — one in a stretch of five missed cuts in a row — but he reappeared at Augusta National with a hint of himself. Not in two of the final three major championships and plummeting to world No. 81 at the time of the Masters, Homa made the most of his opportunity and finished T12, which secured an invitation into next year’s tournament.

Despite describing his play as “a bit like smoke and mirrors,” it showed a sliver of potential and started to convince not Homa but rather the onlookers that he may not be too far away. The fan favorite still has plenty of convincing to do with 36 holes left in this tournament while attempting to overcome among a leaderboard that features world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler and reigning U.S. Open champion Bryson Dechambeau.

Conviction is found through the hardest of times, and when it comes to this sport and this game, there are no times more difficult than weekends at major championships. For all the convincing Homa has attempted — both internal and external — since he last felt like himself on the course, his game will do the talking from here on out.

Whether his new swing can withstand the late-tournament pressure of a major remains to be seen. Whether his putting prowess remains consistent will be tested. Whether his effort Friday will work a long-term solution or just a flash in the pan at Quail Hollow is unknown. What’s clear is that Homa is convinced he can win this golf tournament, and that alone may hold more weight than anything anyone else can say.

Scheffler’s steady hand

Scheffler has flashed the totality of his game through the first 36 holes, and it has propelled him to the first page of the leaderboard in yet another major championship. Even without his best stuff, which he is most definitely without, his ability to call on certain aspects of his game at the precise right time remains a stunning skill.

Scheffler missed three straight greens in regulation in the middle portion of his front nine Friday and successfully got all three up-and-in. The two-time Masters champion implored he did not hit a good shot until his second into No. 14, at which point he went on a run that looked awfully like the Scottie Scheffler we all know.

His final five holes were exquisite; he played them in 2 under, gifting the field a stroke in the form of a missed birdie putt from short range on No. 17. For the first 31 holes, Scheffler’s steadiness kept him afloat. If his closing stretch Friday evening was indicative of the player we are going to see over the weekend, the rest of the field is in big (!) trouble.

“I think, on the course in difficult setups like this, in major championships, you know you’re going to run into some bumps in the road, and there’s going to be challenges out there,” Scheffler said. “It’s all about how you bounce back from them. I didn’t really feel like I made very many good swings today until probably the 14th hole, and I was able to kind of put some stuff together coming down the stretch.

“I bounced back really well, I felt like, most of the day. I missed a fairly short birdie putt on 10. Came back, made a really nice par putt on the next hole. I hit a really poor iron shot on 13, made my first bogey of the day, bounced back with two birdies right after that. So just did a good job of staying in the moment, not letting the mistakes get to me and kind of just grinding out a decent round of golf.”

Bryson DeChambeau’s brain power

The big boy was running hot. He had just missed a 20-foot chance on the par-3 13th and failed to get up-and-down from the greenside bunker on the short par-4 14th. DeChambeau was fidgeting around as he waited on the next tee box — looking at the group behind to make sure they were cleared to go and looking at Gary Woodland like, Why aren’t you hitting?

With a steady drip heard in the silence of the fans, DeChambeau then cranked (or crushed) one of his best drives on the morning. He laced a beautiful long iron, and while he needed three putts for par, he kept his poise as he reexamined his initial eagle look. 

For all the theatrics when things go right, DeChambeau dug deep Friday when they were going wrong (which they rarely have the last two years in major championships). There is a real case to be made that he should be near if not at the lead number after 36 holes, but DeChambeau has accepted his position and he has accepted the work required moving forward.

“It depends where the pins are. The pins have been mostly on top of crowns this week, which has made it a very difficult test of golf,” DeChambeau said of the scoring conditions. “You have to have your irons super precise this week, which we all know how good my wedges are, so that makes it a little bit more difficult for me. That’s OK, though. It’s a great test. 

“I’ve just got to have my putting a little more on and keep playing the way I am. It easily could be 7-, 8-under right now, or I could be even par. So just keep moving along, and I think a 65, 64 is out there. I almost shot it out there today, and I definitely saw it out there, I just didn’t accomplish it.”

Viva Las Vegas

On Thursday, Jhonattan Vegas became the first player from Venezuela to lead at a major championship following the completion of a round. This came as he finishing a major round inside the top 10 on a major leaderboard for the first time. Still holding the top spot after 36 holes, he will be looking for more than his first major top-20 finish this weekend.

When thinking of the four-time winner’s record on this stage, it is hard to nod your head. It does not make sense when thinking of his game: long off the tee, hitter of a heavy ball, exquisite iron player. It should stack up during the four hardest tests of the season, but for whatever reason, Vegas has failed again and again.

While Vegas bemoaned the quick turnaround from Thursday afternoon to Friday morning — citing only getting roughly three hours of sleep as an obvious detriment — he may wish for that brevity Saturday. It will be roughly a full 24 hours between the end of Vegas’ second round and the onset of his third round. That’s a lot of time for the mind to wander, especially for a player who has never been in this position.

“It means a lot, right? This is kind of what we put all those hours for,” Vegas said. “You put all those hours to give yourself chances like this. Unfortunately I haven’t been able to do it throughout my career, but like I said, you never know. You got to keep the pedal down, keep your head down and keep working hard. You never know when things are going to turn your way. 

“I’m enjoying the process, and just got to keep going.”

The nonconforming driver

The news surfaced late, but it caused a stir and may have explained some of the issues from one of the top players in the game. SiriusXM PGA Tour Radio reported that Rory McIlroy’s driver head was ruled nonconfirming by the United States Golf Association earlier in the week and that he had to put a new one in place before the beginning of the tournament.

Thursday’s performance with the big stick was brutal as he hit only four out of 14 fairways, and Friday’s follow up was not much better; it nearly cost him a weekend tee time. McIlroy hit just six fairways in his second round as the left miss continued to creep into his bag.

He missed left on Nos. 11 and 12 before making bogeys. He ultimately entered the last with a bogey being all that was required to make the cut. Calling a spade a spade, McIlroy was extremely lucky his ball off the tee was dry as it bounced off a grandstand tent, over the creek and onto land. The five-time major winner escaped with a bogey the chance to repeat history at the site of his first career PGA Tour win.