World number one and defending champion Scottie Scheffler in action on the opening day of the PGA Championship at Newton Square in Pennsylvania on Thursday. Image courtesy pgachampiobship.com.
By Rahul Banerji
Defending champion Scottie Scheffler was locked in a seven-way tie for the lead on 3 under par 67 after day one of the PGA Championship at the Aronimink Golf Club on Thursday.
Alongside were Germans Martin Kaymer and Stephan Jaeger, South Africa’s Aldrich Potgieter, Japan’s Ryo Hisatsune, Min Woo Lee of Australia and fellow-American Alex Smalley on a day just 33 players in a field of 156 were under par.
Behind the gaggle sharing top spot were six players tied for seventh and 20 others sharing 13th place, a measure of exacting conditions at Aronimink were on the day.
For the first time at a major, four players of Indian origin were in the starting field.
Of the, Sahith Theegala was in the group tied for seventh on 2 under 68, Aaron Rai on level par 70, Akshay Bhatia had a 1 over 71 and Sudarshan Yellamraju opened with a 75.
Scheffler made two long birdie putts and handled the challenging rough and fast, sloping greens well to make it a 13th round at all majors that he held at least a share of the lead.
“Definitely the best start I’ve gotten off to this year, maybe besides American Express,” the world number one said later.
Tough going
“Your scores are definitely going to be lower if you hit the ball on the fairway, but it’s still really, really difficult to make birdies.
“At this moment, it’s anybody’s tournament,” he said.
Two-time Masters winner Rory McIlroy bogeyed his last four holes for a 74, while Bryson DeChambeau was one stroke worse off.
It could have been eight players in the lead but Garrick Higgo brought in a 69 that included a two-shot penalty for being late to the tee for his group’s starting time.
According to the Associated Press, not since Oakland Hills in 2008, with Jeev Milkha Singh and Robert Karlsson at 2-under 68, has the low score to par after the first round of the PGA Championship been worse than 3 under.
As it stood on Thursday, 48 players were within three strokes of the lead of while Patrick Reed was the only one in the starting field to bring in a bogey-free card.
Jordan Speith, looking to add the PGA Championship to complete his career Grand Slam, bogeyed two of his last three holes to join the group at tied 13th that included Brooks Koepka, Jon Rahm and Justin Thomas.
Late stumble
“Just didn’t quite finish the way I wanted to the last three holes, but under par was a good score,” Spieth said later.
“It was blowing really hard, and it was cold this morning. The course played very, very difficult. It was a good start. I’m going to need to improve on it, I think, each day.”
Like fellow-LIV star DeChambeau — who is in danger of missing his second straight cut at a major — Rahm looked at odds with the course till a hole-out for eagle and two birdies saved his round.
“Earlier in the week there was some chatter where people thought 15 to 20 under par was going to win. And I think that got to somebody in the PGA, and they did something about it,” he pointed out.
“Have you been out there? Have you seen this course?”
While DeChambeau struggled with his driver and Aronimink’s fast, sloping greens, McIlroy had similar issues off the tee as he opened with a bogey, hitting just five fairways on the day.
“I started missing fairways,” he told reporters later.
“I missed the fairway right on four, the fairway right on six, the fairway right on seven, fairway right on nine.”
“From there, it’s hard. I didn’t have great angles either. Then obviously you start missing it just off the edges of these greens, it gets tricky.”
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