Rory McIlroy pulls through, Victor Perez misses PGA Championship cut

"We continue to learn," wrote Matthieu Pavon on his Instagram account last May, as he left the Quail Hollow Club course, which had crushed him (+17) during the Wells Fargo Championship. The Bordeaux native is learning quickly. While he had not done better than 74 during his last visit to this legendary North Carolina course and 71 on Thursday at the opening of this PGA Championship, Matthieu Pavon planted a 65 (-6) on Friday, without any erasure .

This performance will allow him to approach the "moving day" in 2nd place, shared with Matthew Fitzpatrick and Si Woo Kim. Author of the best card of the day with Max Homa (64), the South Korean added an improbable ace on the 6th, with a fairway wood on this Par 3 of nearly 225 meters.

This pretty little group finds itself two shots behind the leader, Jhonattan Vegas. If his first name seems to be written in a jumble, his game is well established. The Venezuelan (40 years old), who has already won four titles on the PGA Tour but has never finished in the Top 10 of a Major, would have had an even greater margin on the rest of the field if he hadn't let two points slip on the 18th, after an ill-timed comma on a short putt and while he had until then only committed two bogeys since the beginning of the week.

Given the pressure, the weekend could seem very long for him: "Playing in the lead is not easy." He will start this Saturday in the final round with Matthieu Pavon, the last Frenchman in the running since Victor Perez did not make the cut (+3). Starting from the 10th and still in the game on the last holes, the Tarbais saw his last chances disappear on the 7th, where he missed a small putt for the birdie that would have brought him back to one shot of survival (73, 72).

Everyone needs luck, even the best sometimes. Rory McIlroy left nothing to chance for 10 holes, which he devoured with genius (4 birdies). Back under par after his worrying 74 the day before, the Northern Irishman seemed to be definitely on the move. And then, the machine seized up (bogeys 11, 12) and frustration made him throw his club into the grass at the 13th. Another surge (birdies 14, 15) before having the cut line on his backside after a gap at the 17th.

When his drive from the 18th, released to the left, hit the fairway stand, many thought the ball would end up in the small stream at the edge of the rough. It stopped a meter away. Despite an uncomfortable stance, the recent winner of the Augusta Masters pulled through, rescuing his par brilliantly and his future in the tournament with it (69). The same scares for Xander Schauffele, the defending champion, tense as ever on his last downhill putt synonymous with a cut (71).

Scottie Scheffler hasn't experienced this kind of stress and is well in the running (-5) without having played very well so far. He'll have to be damn strong to deny the world number 1 the trophy on Sunday, even if the leaderboard is incredibly dense (35 players in six shots). These first two rounds have done some damage, however. The list of big names already out of the tournament is long. Shane Lowry, Sepp Straka, and Jordan Spieth are only one shot away.

Justin Thomas, Ludvig Aberg, Hideki Matsuyama, Thomas Detry, Rickie Fowler, Patrick Reed, Sungjae Im, Jason Day, Brooks Koepka, and Justin Rose were a little short of it. 2021 tournament winner Phil Mickelson got stuck on the 12th and had to try four times to get out of the bunker. A hefty score at the finish (+9). When things don't work out...