Jhonattan Vegas leads after first round of 2025 PGA Championship

Jhonattan Vegas (YouTube)

Jhonattan Vegas is the best Venezuelan golfer of all-time. He is a four-time winner on the PGA Tour, and literally the face of Venezuelan golf.

On Thursday, we saw the best of Vegas at a major championship. He posted a four round score of -7 and has a two stroke lead after the first round of the 2025 PGA Championship at the Quail Hollow Golf and Country Club in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Vegas had nine birdies and two bogeys in the opening round. He birdied the fourth, fifth, seventh, eighth, ninth, 13th, 14th, 15th, and 18th holes, and bogeyed the 10th and 17th holes. Vegas started on the back nine, and had five birdies on his last six holes.

There are currently eight golfers in contention. Cam Davis of Sydney, Australia and Ryan Gerard of Raleigh, North Carolina are tied for second place at -5. Then there are five golfers tied for fourth place at -4. Those three strokes back are former world number one Luke Donald of Hemel Hempstead, England, Aaron Rai of Wolverhampton, England, Stephan Jaeger of Munich, Germany, Ryan Fox of Auckland, New Zealand, and Alex Smalley of Rochester, New York.

At 40 years of age, Vegas was in the fourth final group of the day. Vegas played alongside Australian Elvis Smylie of Queensland, and American Brian Campbell. Smylie also finished under par at -1.

Donald was in the first group of the day as he teed off at 7am ET. He was golfing alongside former major champions Padraig Harrington of Ireland and Martin Kaymer of Germany. At 47 years of age, Donald has not made a cut in 2025. It is interesting that Donald is in contention when he is the captain for Europe at the 2025 Ryder Cup.