And that’s it for today. A difficult one for Rory McIlroy and plenty of the other big names and very hard to tell who wins from here. It’ll be fun finding out. Scott will be back to tee things off tomorrow. Thanks for reading.
Late news: Vegas birdies his penultimate hole and takes the lead at 6-under. TV coverage ended a while ago but I can tell you he holed from 18 feet. Bye!
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A quick count and there are zero major winners in the top nine and just four in the top 29. A strange leaderboard for now. Will it take on a different shape as the week progresses?
Vegas baby! It’s a three-way tie at the top as Johnny Vegas holes a six-foot birdie putt at 7. Can he squeeze out one more over his final two holes?
-5: Gerard (F), Davis (F), Vegas (16*)
-4: Donald (F), Fox (F), Smalley (F), Jaeger (F), Rai (F), Campos (16*)
There’s a double threat to the two leaders now. Rafael Campos advances his score to 4-under, just one back, with a birdie at 7. The Puerto Rican won last year’s Bermuda Championship. Vegas is through the back of the green at that same hole so an up and down from 75 feet would see him join Gerard and Davis at the top.
More 18th hole shenanigans. Morikawa and Thomas made a meal of the last, taking double bogey and bogey respectively. So can DeChambeau and Hovland come through the closing hole unscathed? Both find rough off the tee and can’t find the green in two, Hovland dunking his approach into sand. DeChambeau comes up just short of the bunker but rather scoops his chip and has work to do for par. Hovland splashes out to about six feet. Bryson takes aim with the putter but his 10 footer drifts right and that’s a bogey and an even par 71. It feels about what he deserved after a mixed display. Hovland’s par try stays left so he also gives one back. He’ll be the happier man though after a two-under 69.
A leaderboard update and you’ll notice that Jhonattan Vegas has joined the bunch on 4-under after a birdie-birdie blast at 4 and 5. He looks set to make a par at 6 so, with three holes to go, the Venezuelan still has a chance to join the lead.
-5: Gerard (F), Davis (F)
-4: Donald (F), Fox (F), Smalley (F), Jaeger (F), Rai (F), Vegas (15*)
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At his final hole of the day, Aaron Rai hits an approach from 232 yards to 15 feet at 9. Hole that and he’ll tie for the clubhouse lead but, no, it stays above ground. That’s a fantastic 4-under 67 though.
And there’s Bryson’s social media clip of the day. He hits an 8-iron (vidiprinter: eight-iron) to the 227-yard par-3 17th that flirts with the hole. Back on the tee, DeChambeau even raises his arm in expectation to celebrate the ace but it misses by no more than an inch or two. The kick-in birdie will take him to -1.
Viktor is doing it in two by twos today. There’s probably a pun in there about Noah’s Ark but it’s late and inspiration is deserting me. Anyway, the point is his scorecard from the fifth shows two pars, two birdies, two pars, two bogeys, two pars and now two more birdies at 15 and 16, the second courtesy of a greenside chip that disappears from 50 feet. Hovland is back to -3.
Morikawa swallows a double bogey at 18. That second into water costs him two shots and he drops from -3 to -1. Thomas can’t complete the miracle par but a bogey is okay. A 2-over 73 wasn’t the aim but it looked at one stage that he was going to post in the mid-to-high 70s.
Justin Thomas is clambering into the stream by 18, his left sock off and trouser leg rolled up. This could go all sorts of wrong. A rock blocks his backswing so he’ll have to chop down on his ball which is embedded in the grass just outside the wet stuff. And, wow, he executes it superbly, floating the ball onto the green and about 12 feet away. It’ll be either the par of the day or a fairly acceptable bogey on one of the course’s hardest holes.
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Pumped by his birdie at 15, DeChambeau blasts a 362-yard drive down the middle of 16. But at 18, two of his Ryder Cup colleagues are having a moment. Justin Thomas and Collin Morikawa both find water to the left of the green. Morikawa drops and will escape with a bogey at best. Thomas may be thinking about some sort of socks off escape.
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Two big blows and Bryson is on the green in two at the par-5 16th. Surely a second birdie of the day beckons. He gets it but only thanks to holing a 12-footer after racing his eagle attempt way past. Back to even par and he’ll have another very good chance for birdie at 16.
Hatton birdies 18 and completes a fine day’s work. That’s a 3-under 68, currently good enough for tied eighth.
Perhaps there could be a late twist in the race to be first-round leader as Aaron Rai has moved one back. The Englishman completes a hat-trick of birdie-4s on Quail Hollow’s three par 5s and is now 4-under with two to play. He’s no stranger to first-round leads actually, topping the 18-hole board three times on the PGA Tour in 2023. And how about this for a fun fact: today is the 60th birthday of Brazilian footballer Rai, a 1994 World Cup winner with the Samba stars and a legend at PSG.
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Unless I missed it, The TV didn’t show Tyrrell Hatton making bogey at 17. We can only imagine what happened after he missed four-foot par putt. But, like a golfing John McEnroe, Hatton is expert at turning rage into a positive and a brilliant approach at 18 gives him the chance to close with a birdie and post 3-under.
The fast finisher on the course right now is 2020 PGA champion Collin Morikawa. The winner at Harding Park has birdied 14, 15 and 17 to vault into the top 10 at 3-under.
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Bogey finish for Cam Davis. The outright leader finds the fairway at 9 but his approach leaks right and into dense rough. He’ll need a chip and a putt to finish in front but his par attempt slides by and it’s a dropped shot. A shame but a five-under 66 to share the 18-hole lead with Gerard will surely delight him. Here’s your leaderboard which, if scrapping punctuation, makes for an enjoyable three-ball featuring a Welsh snooker player, a Kiwi RL international and an American actor – Gerard Davis, Donald Fox and Smalley Jaeger.
-5: Gerard (F), Davis (F)
-4: Donald (F), Fox (F), Smalley (F), Jaeger (F)
Hatton drops an f-bomb as his tee-shot at the tough par-3 17th doesn’t draw enough and misses the green right. It’s not a bad leave though and he has the short-game skills to get up and down from there. The Englishman remains in great position at 3-under, currently good enough for tied seventh.
Up at 16, Justin Thomas is fortunate that the rough is so thick long and left. He tugs his approach and it’s heading for a watery grave until the dense grass keep his ball dry. And we all know what happens next. Yep, he hoists up a chip that only just misses his nostrils and then tip-toes up the bank to watch his ball trickle into the hole for the most unlikely of birdies. That’s three in a row and he’s back to +1.
Cam Davis is still out in front at 6-under but he’s missed the chance for more birdies on two of the easiest holes, 7 and 8. He’ll need to par his final hole, a tough 531-yard par 4, to post the new clubhouse lead and one that surely won’t be matched today.
Justin Thomas was +4 after six holes and has swallowed another couple of bogeys since. But four birdies in the last nine, including back-to-back gains at 14 and 15, have returned the two-time PGA Championship winner to a more respectable +2. Can he stay there or even sniff out another birdie along the Green Mile? For now, Thomas is just one worse off than DeChambeau who chunks another greenside chip, this one at 13 rolling back into the rough and condemning him to a second bogey of the day. That’s not too bad a count but Bryson has managed just a single birdie so far.
Tyrrell Hatton plays the par-5 15th as the birdie gods intended: fairway, green in two, great lag, tap in. That nudges the Englishman to 3-under and just three of the lead. Now for the Green Mile. Keep it cool Tyrrell. Keep it cool.
Ludvig Aberg is going nicely at -1. And his score should get even better soon as he’s just driven the short par-4 14th. The Swede has played in just five majors but already has second and seventh at Augusta along with 12th in last year’s US Open. Back at 12, it’s a second straight bogey for Hovland, who falls back to -1 while Bryson two-putts from a whopping 85 feet to remain at even par.
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Rory went 11 years without a major and Adam Scott has gone 12 since his memorable Masters win in 2013. But the veteran Aussie, still one of the sweetest swingers in the game at age 44, is up to tied third thanks to a birdie at 14. That clean card (four birdies and ten pars) puts him just two behind compatriot Cam Davis, who has to two-putt from 49 feet to make his par 5 at 7. Two holes to play for the leader.
DeChambeau and Hovland face tree trouble at 12. Bryson smashes his tee-shot down the right, the ball stopping near a cheery spectator who probably thought he was extremely unlikely to be featured on camera. There’s no clear path to the green from there. Viktor double crosses and will have nature in his way down the left. Breaking news before I save this post: Hovland finds a gap but his approach bounds through the springy 12th green so an up and down will be tough. DeChambeau sends one sky high over a tree and finds the front edge.
What of Grand Slam chaser Jordan Spieth? His hopes of completing the set of all four majors are fading by the hole. He’s bogeyed 9, 11 and 12 to drop to +3 and outside the top 100.
This is how the top 10 in the betting pre-tournament are currently faring. Mixed bag seems generous.
19th Scottie Scheffler -2 (F)
108th Rory McIlroy +3 (F)
51st Bryson DeChambeau Evs (10)
125th Justin Thomas +4 (12)
29th Jon Rahm -1 (F)
67th Xander Schauffele +1 (F)
51st Collin Morikawa Evs (12)
29th Ludvig Aberg -1 (12)
125th Joaquin Niemann +4 (14)
29th Tommy Fleetwood -1 (F)
New outright leader alert! Cam Davis curls in a breaking left-to-righter from 22 feet at the par-3 6th, his 15th, to hit top spot on his own at 6-under. As he’s playing the course the other way round, the Aussie doesn’t have the brutal Green Mile (16-18) to contend with. Instead, there are obvious birdie chances to come at 7 (533-yard par 5) and 8 (342-yard par 4). Davis was tied fourth in this tournament at Oak Hill in 2023 thanks to a closing 65 so he has some PGA pedigree.
-6: Davis (15*)
-5: Gerard (F)
-4: Donald (F), Fox (F), Smalley (F), Jaeger (F)
Fair play to DeChambeau as he holes his 12-footer for birdie at 10. Vital he got something from the par-5 to keep spirits up. And, wouldn’t you know it, from half the distance Hovland shoves his own birdie attempt wide and has to hole a tickly one for par to stay at -3. Up at 12, every time Justin Thomas hints at climbing back out of trouble he finds a snake again. After a birdie at 10, Thomas flubs his greenside chip and makes a bogey that drops him back to +4.
DeChambeau finds a bunker left off the par-5 10th tee so can only lay up. He wedges his third from 68 yards but there’s still work to do. From very similar distance, Viktor Hovland makes a far better fist of it and should make birdie. Maybe that’s why Hovland is -3 today while Bryson is lumbering around at +1.
Bryson gets more views by larruping a ball over a house and whooping a lot but golf’s real star on social media has to be Michael Kim. The American offers some brilliant insights and he’s just posted this after a solid even-par 71.
- MUD BALLS (had 5 nasty ones)
-Played the par 5s 2 over… one bogey because of a poor tee shot and let’s not talk about 10…
- Back is improving but still can’t quite swing it the way I want and leading to some pull draws as I go over the top to protect my back.
- I don’t quite understand why they didn’t shave the rough left of 14,15,7 even. Easy changes to make certain holes more challenging since it’s a “major”
- Rough left of 14, helped me make a birdie as the rough stopped my ball and chipped in from there.
- Did I mention mud balls? It’s prob going to get worse tomorrow
- I know quail has been getting lots of heat but it’s a good course. It really hurts that we see it every yr as a signature event and literally nothing is different to separate itself this yr as the PGA champ. You’re going to get a good finish. It can’t be that easy when the world 1-2-3 finished over par as a group.
Movement at the very top as Cam Davis holes for birdie to tie with clubhouse leader Ryan Gerard. The Aussie makes his latest birdie at 4, the hole where Eric Cole just drained his tee shot. Time for a leaderboard upate:
-5: Gerard (F), Davis (13*)
-4: Donald (F), Fox (F), Smalley (F), Jaeger (F)
Eric Cole makes a hole-in-one
Eric Cole makes an ace at the 186-yard par-3 4th hole! Beautiful stuff from the American and that eagle, courtesy of a swish of his 7-iron, returns him to even par. He also had a hole-in-one at the Zurich Classic pairs event last year.
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Bryson’s length advantage is shown by him reaching the green at the 531-yard par-4 9th with a drive and a flick of a 9-iron. Madness. But those extra yards aren’t translating into a lower score so far and he’ll have to hole at 25-footer for birdie to turn in even par.
The Datagolf rankings are seen as truer reflection of golf’s pecking order these days as, unlike the OWGR, they award points for performances on the breakaway LIV Tour. And that means due to a flurry of LIV wins, Joaquin Niemann is ranked the ninth best golfer on the planet. But the 26-year-old Chilean just can’t bring his game to the majors. He’s played in 23 but has never managed anything better than tied 16th. How about this week, then? He’s a big hitter; Quail Hollow should suit. Once more, it doesn’t seem to be happening. He’s had a double bogey 7 on his card already and is +2 after 11 and in tied 91st. What’s Spanish for baffling?
Viktor Hovland has improved his chipping in the last couple of years and he flops a lovely effort over a bunker and onto the green at 8 and that’s tap-in birdie territory. When he does the necessary, it will take the Norwegian to -3 and into the top 10. No birdie for Bryson at the same hole though. His chip from the gnarly stuff only just clears the sandtrap and he two-putts from the fringe to remain at +1.
No PGA Championship winner this century has been worse than 44th after the opening round. If you’re in North Carolina and see Rory, you better whisper that stat: he’s currently tied 116th. Note that anyone at even par or worse is currently outside that magic top 44 zone.
Bryson could only make a par 5 at 7 and at the drivable par-4 8th he’s leaked one short and right of the green. Tough to make a birdie from there but he’ll need a red circle to get back to even par for the tournament. Justin Thomas was out in a miserable 4-over 39 but looks all set to get one back at 10.
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What happens to a PGA Championship leader? Is it a moment in the sun or the foundation for a title win? Here are the finishing positions of the last 11 players to have had a piece of the lead after 18 holes in this tournament.
1-4-8-17-4-17-1-6-7-44-1
The three players to have gone on to lift the giant Wanamaker trophy after holding the 18-hole lead are Xander Schauffele last year, Brooks Koepka in 2019 and Jimmy Walker in 2016. In fact, all of them went wire-to-wire. Hard to see Ryan Gerard doing that to be fair. If you’re wondering who the R1 leader was that finished in 44th, that was Thorbjorn Olesen at this very course in 2017.
Bryson has to move some cables before playing his second from behind a tree trunk at 7. He bunts one out into the fairway and could still make a birdie-4 from the fairway at the first of the course’s three par 5s.
Meanwhile, Aaron Rai comes within whisker of joining Gerard in the lead but his putt from 16 feet at the 17th horseshoes out. Perhaps after chipping in the last, he won’t be too upset by that.
Breaking down this Quail Hollow course, it falls into three sections. Holes 1-6 are downright tough. Holes 7-15 feature three par 5s and two short par 4s at 8 and 14 and is the stretch to make your score. And then it’s a case of hanging on down the Green Mile (16-18). Bryson DeChambeau has had to dig deep in that first section, holing a good par putt at 6 to stay at +1, so can he now get his scoring boots on as he starts the favourable run of holes? We join him behind a tree at 7. Oh.
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We’ve made mention of the Green Mile plenty of times so far. That’s the tough closing stretch from 16-18 and the numbers back it up. Sky Sports splash a graphic showing that the morning wave played the Green Mile in a collective +92 and the rest of the course (1-15) in +32.
So, it’s quite funny that as soon as the graphic disappears off screen, Aaron Rai makes a mockery of it by chipping in from deep rough at 16 for his third straight birdie! The man from Wolverhampton was staring at bogey there but flashes the widest of smiles as his flop shot over a bunker tracks towards the cup and drops to take him to tied second and just one off the lead.
The Strokes Gained stats make some interesting reading. Luke Donald is ranked 1st for SG: Putting so far while Scottie Scheffler is 105th and Rory 144th in the same category. McIlroy ranks only 70th for Approach and 76th Off The Tee so the putter wasn’t the only culprit in his 3-over 74 today.
Tyrrell Hatton’s first top 10 in an American major came at this event in 2016. He’s had a solid majors career since then but tied fifth remains the best of his six top 10s at this level. The fiery Englishman has the class to win one though and maybe this is the week. He’s started well: -2 after 8.
J.J. Spaun was runner-up at The Players Championship in March and also second at another Florida event, the Cognizant Classic, two starts before that. He’s the hottest player on the course at this moment after four birdies in his first seven holes but the second hole of The Green Mile (16-18), the lengthy par 3 17th, gives him a bit of a reality check and the bogey drops him back to -3 and out of the top five.
-5: Gerard (F)
-4: Donald (F), Fox (F), Smalley (F), Jaeger (F)
Some wholesome words from our leader Ryan Gerard. Here’s the first question from his press conference.
Q. Your first PGA Championship, your home state and you went to school and college in this state. What does it mean to you? To me it reads like a Hollywood script. Tell me about it. It must be amazing for you.
Ryan Gerard: “It’s a lot of fun. It’s really cool. Obviously it’s nice being where I came from. You know, I feel very comfortable here. There’s a lot of people here that I know and I’ve been fortunate enough to play this golf course a few times. And all of that is fantastic, and it’s definitely helped in the preparation. But overall I just feel really comfortable. I love being here. It’s a fantastic place. North Carolina in general, they show out for their guys in light blue. I heard so many “Go Heels” Today and just appreciate everyone that’s supporting.
“It’s nice when everyone is cheering you on. But it is kind of cool. I’ve seen so many people that I know this week that I know is going to be here and just a lot of people that are wearing the light blue, UNC logo shirts and everything out there. It’s a big family of UNC Tar Heels where we all root for each other and support our own and I’m appreciative of all.”
“Bit of a ropey start for DeeeChambeau,” says Laura Davies, putting emphasis on the first syllable for enjoyable effect. Indeeeed, it is. Bryson is +1 after 4 and has just duffed a chip at 5. Another bogey? No. The current US Open champion can roll his rock as well as smash drives and drains a 12-footer to save par. But the Justin Thomas horrow show continues and he’s found water at 7. He’s having a great season, with a win and a second in his last two starts, but he’s had some bizzarely bad rounds this season. One came in the opening round of The Players Championship although he followed that disastrous 78 with a 10-under 62!
It’s been a great start for Ryder Cup captains Luke Donald (67) and Keegan Bradley (68) and now ‘Captain America’ is on the move. That would be Patrick Reed, who earned that moniker after his exploits for the USA in their heated battles against Europe. Reed finished solo third in The Masters last month and he’s just made back-to-back birdies at 4 and 5 (18-foot birdie putt) to move to -1. But another American Ryder Cup star, Justin Thomas, is falling apart. He had to hole a testing par putt at 5 but another one’s gone at 6 and the two-time winner of this event is now +4 after 6. Lots of time to repair the damage, of course, but that’s a horror start.
Defending champion Xander Schauffele had to settle for a 1-over 72 and, again, mud balls was a hot topic.
“Had a ridiculous mud ball there on 16 with Scottie. We were in the middle of the fairway, and I don’t know, we had to aim right of the grandstands probably. I’m not sure. I aimed right of the bunker and it whipped in the water and Scottie whipped it in the water, as well.
“It is what it is, and a lot of guys are dealing with it, but it’s just unfortunate to be hitting good shots and to pay them off that way. It’s kind of stupid.
“I wouldn’t want to go in the locker room because I’m sure a lot of guys aren’t super happy with sort of the conditions there. I feel like the grass is so good, there is no real advantage to cleaning your ball in the fairway. The course is completely tipped out. It sucks that you’re kind of 50/50 once you hit the fairway.”
Surely as the course dries, it should get easier. Schauffele isn’t having it.
“The mud balls are going to get worse. They’re going to get worse as the place dries up. They’re going to get in that perfect cake zone to where it’s kind of muddy underneath and then picking up mud on the way through. I mean, you just keep - I don’t know, maybe it hit it a little bit lower off the tee, but then unfortunately the problem with hitting it low off the tee is the ball doesn’t carry or roll anywhere, so then you sacrifice distance. It’s a bit of a crapshoot.”
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Can’t see any Rory quotes yet but here’s what Scottie Scheffler said after a nice recovery game him a 2-under 69. Right now, your World No.1 is in a tie for 15th.
“Today I feel like I did some good things out there and did some things I could improve on. I had a couple sloppy bogeys, I felt, early in the round. You know, I had the early bogey there on 11, which was a little sloppy, and then I had one on like maybe the third short hole that was sloppy as well.
“Overall I did a good job battling and keeping a level head out there during a day which there was definitely some challenging aspects to the course and did a good job posting a number on a day where I didn’t have my best stuff.
He also talked about mud balls which played a big part in his double bogey at 16.
“It’s one of those deals where it’s frustrating to hit the ball in the middle of the fairway and get mud on it and have no idea where it’s going to go. I understand it’s part of the game, but there’s nothing more frustrating for a player. You spend your whole life trying to learn how to control a golf ball, and due to a rules decision (no preferred lies) all of a sudden you have absolutely no control over where that golf ball goes.
“But I don’t make the rules. I just have to deal with the consequences of those rules. I did a good job of battling back today and not letting a bad break like that, which cost me a couple shots, get to me. Did a good job battling after that and posting a decent score.”
Pressed again, he added: “When you have overseeded fairways that are not sand capped, there’s going to be a lot of mud on the ball. I don’t personally think that hitting the ball in the middle of the fairway you should get punished for.”
Thanks Scott. It’s quite a Liverpool leaderboard isn’t it. Gerard (okay, what’s a single ‘r’ between friends), Bradley and even a Hall, Harry not Brian of course, in the top 20. Where are all the Arsenal and Man City players? Not good enough.
Ryan Gerard shoots 66
Ryan Gerard’s par effort never looks like breaking right, as he thought it should, and rolls a couple of feet past the hole. But he tidies up thereafter, and despite a bogey-bogey finish, that’s a very fine start for the young local hero. He leads the way at -5, and with the wind picking up a bit, and the greens further hardening, he may still be there at the end of the day … but you can see how that pans out with David Tindall. See you tomorrow.
-5: Gerard (F)
-4: Donald (F), Fox (F), Smalley (F), Jaeger (F)
Ryan Gerard wedges over the flag, his ball screeching to a halt, 14 feet past the flag. He’ll have a gentle left-to-right slider coming back. This will have a big bearing on the taste of his lunch.
Ryan Gerard is in danger of shipping another shot or two here, a fantastic round in danger of becoming simply very good. There are worse problems, admittedly. But on 18, he finds a fairway bunker down the right, then thins his iron straight into the face of the trap. He’s fortunate that it still escapes, pinging up and out and rolling 100 yards up the fairway. But he’ll now need to get up and down from 89 yards if he’s to save his par.
Ryan Gerard gives a shot back with a three-putt bogey on 17. Just 23 putts so far for his round, so that’s a bit of an outlier. See also: Keegan Bradley, who had gone round blemish-free until dropping his first stroke of the day at his last hole, the 9th. But the US Ryder Cup captain will be pleased with his opening round of 68, just the one shot more than his European counterpart Luke Donald. You’d have got a good price on those lads posting those numbers today.
-6: Gerard (17)
-4: Donald (F), Fox (F), Smalley (F), Jaeger (F)
-3: Noren (F), Poston (F), Hisatsune (F), Echavarria (F), Fitzpatrick (F), MacIntyre (F), R Højgaard (F), Bradley (F), Lower (16*)
-2: Scheffler (F), Hall (17), Bhatia (17*), McCarthy (17*), Mitchell (6*), Spaun (4*), Young (2*)
It was a difficult morning for several former champions. We’ve already reported the travails of Rory McIlroy; the three-time winner Brooks Koepka shot 75, 2010 champion Martin Kaymer carded 78, and fiftysomething barrier-breaker Phil Mickelson slumped to 79. By comparison, the 2008 winner Padraig Harrington and 2015 champ Jason Day will be relatively OK with their two-over rounds of 73.
Cameron Young – who tied for third at Southern Hills in 2022 - has made the most outrageous of starts. First up, he rakes in a 63-foot monster on 10. Then he follows that up with another birdie putt from 27 feet on 11. That’s two greens, two putts, and he’s already his putt totaliser reads 90 feet and four inches.
Robert MacIntyre nearly makes a putt from the fringe at the back of 18. That would have been a bonus. But he’s happy enough to tap in for par, and sign for a fine opening round of 68. Just the one bogey, and that early on at 2. Also back in the house: Matt Fitzpatrick, also highly content with his opening salvo of 68.
Bryson DeChambeau has the big-hitting game to win here all right … and he announces his intention by crashing a monster drive down 1. But some bad news for another of the pre-tournament favourites as Justin Thomas double-bogeys 2, having always been out of position after flaying his tee shot into the woods down the left of the fairway. He’s +2 in short order.
Another wayward drive by Rory McIlroy; another bogey, this time on 9. He signs for an extremely underwhelming 74. Already out of it? Very possibly. Ah well, he’ll always have Augusta. His playing partner Scottie Scheffler certainly isn’t done, though: he launches his approach from 215 yards to two-and-a-half feet, and knocks in his second birdie putt in three holes. Despite being woefully off his game for long periods, the world number one has demonstrated exactly why he’s got that status, fighting his way back to post 69. He’s -2. Par for the third member of the marquee group, Xander Schauffele, and the defending champ signs for a one-over 72.
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Stephan Jaeger does extremely well to limit the damage on 18 to bogey. He splashes long from the greenside bunker, 30 yards to five feet, and mops up what’s left. He signs for an excellent round of 67. And he wouldn’t have had a share of the lead anyway, because back on 15, Ryan Gerard lobs gently from the fringe to the back-right of the green, and rolls out for eagle! That’s four birdies and an eagle since the turn! For the record, the PGA Championship nine-hole scoring record is currently held by Brad Faxon, who took 28 across the front nine at Riviera in 1995. He still needs three birdies to beat that.
-7: Gerard (15)
-4: Donald (F), Fox (F), Smalley (F), Jaeger (F), Bradley (16*)
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A reminder of that recently-updated super-elite list of players to have completed the career grand slam.
Gene Sarazen (1935)
Ben Hogan (1953)
Gary Player (1965)
Jack Nicklaus (1966)
Tiger Woods (2000)
Rory McIlroy (2025)
So after waiting a quarter of a century for a new member, could Jordan Spieth join the gang one month after McIlroy made it? He’s already got the Masters, US Open and Open in his back pocket, so the stage is set. And he’s opened his week today by splitting the 1st fairway.
Trouble for the co-leader Stephan Jaeger down 18. He finds the creek to the left of the fairway, then after taking his penalty drop, pushes his next shot into a bunker guarding the front right of the green. Bogey the dream here. Meanwhile the defending champion Xander Schauffele gets one back at the short par-four 8th; he’s +1.
Justin Thomas, who won this title on this track in 2017, begins his campaign. He splits the fairway. It’s safe to say he’s in form: his last four starts have brought two second-place finishes and a win at the RBC Heritage. He splits the fairway.
The co-leader Ryan Gerard pitches from the thick rough to the right of the 14th green. A bit too much juice, and while his ball thinks about stopping on the putting surface, it eventually topples off the other side, finally coming to rest next to a snapping turtle. “That’ll have your finger off,” advises 2002 winner Rich Beem on Sky. Hey, any old excuse to remember one of the great PGA Championship duels: Croc v Snake at the 2012 tournament at Kiawah Island!
Anyway, par for Gerard, and he’s still got all of his digits.
One of the shots of the day at the 227-yard par-three 17th by Robert MacIntyre. A smooth draw that lands softly and curls right to left around the back of the flag. But he can’t make the ten-footer coming back, never giving it enough on the left. But it’s par, and he’s in good nick at -3. Meanwhile back on 9, Jon Rahm pars and signs for a one-under round of 70. Warm good-to-have-you-back applause for a popular player who hasn’t really benefitted from his move to LIV.
Rory chips up to a couple of feet, and scrambles his par, but that’s nowhere near the level he sets himself. He wanders off shaking his head, wondering what’s gone wrong today. This was supposed to be his playground. Golf, huh. No par for Xander Schauffele, either. They’re both +2. But it’s a birdie for Scottie Scheffler, who hasn’t brought his best stuff today either, but has managed to gouge something out regardless. The world number one is -1.
So much for all that Rory McIlroy Country Club chat. The newest member of the career-slam elite has been wild and wayward all day. Adrift at +2, he needs a strong finish, but it doesn’t look like he’s going to get one. He pulls his approach at 7 up a lushly upholstered bank to the left of the green, then hits a flabby chip that slaps into the false front and topples back down a swale. A job on now to get up and down just for par.
This is Ryan Gerard’s first full season on the PGA Tour. The 25-year-old is a local lad – born in Raleigh, an alumnus of UNC at Chapel Hill – and he’s already posted two top-ten finishes on tour, including second spot at the Texas Open. He’s making his debut at this championship, and doing so with some elan. Nearly an ace at the 205-yard par-three 13th, and that’s a tap-in from a couple of feet for his fourth birdie in a row. That’s some sequence, and he’s joined Stephan Jaeger at the top.
-5: Jaeger (16), Gerard (13)
-4: Donald (F), Fox (F), Smalley (F), Poston (17)
-3: Noren (F), Hisatsune (17), Echavarria (17), MacIntyre (16), Højgaard (15*), Bradley (13*)
Alex Smalley was the last player to make the field this week. He was a last-minute replacement for Sahith Theegala, who withdrew last night with a neck injury. The 28-year-old from New York state has grabbed this opportunity with both hands, signing this afternoon for a 67. The high point of his round came late on, as he sent a 70-foot tram-liner into the hole at the par-five 7th for eagle.
Stephan Jaeger finds the par-five 15th in two. A couple of putts later, and that’s back-to-back birdies for the 35-year-old German, who has no record to speak of in the majors. But he now leads this one at -5. He’s going round with Bob MacIntyre, who rams in a 12-footer for a birdie of his own. The reigning Canadian and Scottish Open champion is in the hunt at -3. Meanwhile up on 17, Ryo Hisatsune rattles in a 45-foot putt from off the green for his fourth birdie in six holes. The rising Japanese star appears to like this tournament: he tied for 18th last year on debut, and he’s -4 right now.
-5: Jaeger (15)
-4: Donald (F), Fox (F), Smalley (F), Poston (17)
-3: Noren (17), Hisatsune (17), MacIntyre (15), Højgaard (15*), Bradley (12*)
Updated
Could Luke Donald, aged 47 years and five months, really do it? Well, why not? There are precedents. Here’s the list of the oldest major champions of all time, and it’s dominated by players winning this very championship. Imagine if one of the best players never to win a major somehow pulls this one out of the bag as a veteran? Dreaming is free, kids.
1. Phil Mickelson (2021 PGA, 50 years 11 months)
2. Julius Boros (1968 PGA, 48 years 4 months)
3. Tom Morris Sr. (1867 Open, 46 years 3 months)
4. Jack Nicklaus (1986 Masters, 46 years 2 months)
5. Jerry Barber (1961 PGA, 45 years 3 months)
6. Hale Irwin (1990 US Open, 45 years)
Luke Donald shoots bogey-free 67
The European Ryder Cup captain gets up and down from greenside sand at 18 to ensure there’s no blemish on his card today. Four numbers circled, though. That’s a fine performance by the 47-year-old veteran, whose best performance at the PGA Championship came in 2006 at Medinah, when he went into the final round tied at the top with Tiger, only to shoot a disappointing 74. He tied for third that year.
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Rory McIlroy’s driving has been all over the place today. Now he sends a big hook towards the punters down the left of 5. Maybe in one of the mighty bunkers over there. Xander Schauffele shoves his drive to the other side of the hole. Scottie Scheffler dunks his tee shot into a fairway bunker. The members of this marquee group have been dragging each other down all day. Bad golf, as any weekend hacker can tell you, is contagious.
Ryan Fox shoots 67
The 38-year-old from Auckland isn’t able to get up and down from the side of 9, and he finishes with a disappointing bogey. But it’s far from a disappointing round, and he scribbles his name at the bottom of a fine opening round of 67. Not a bad way to follow up his win at the Myrtle Beach Classic last week, his first on the PGA Tour. Very much in form, a first top-ten finish at a major is now in his sights. More?
-4: Fox (F), Donald (17), Smalley (17*), Poston (16), Jaeger (14)
-3: Noren (17), R Højgaard (13*), Bradley (11*), Gerard (11)
Jon Rahm rakes a long birdie putt across 5 and you can make an argument that, at -1, he’s the only truly huge star in red figures at the moment. The only other major winners in credit at the moment are Matt Fitzpatrick and Keegan Bradley, both at -3. It’s not happening for any of the big names at the moment.
McIlroy’s 30-footer (as it turned out) catches a piece of the hole so no birdie at 3 for the Masters hero. He stays at +2, seven back. Scheffler, after another weirdly poor approach, tugs an ugly par putt left and drops to +1. Not happening for the two pre-tournament favourites. They both have six to play.
And with that, I’ll hand you back to Scott Murray.
Rory’s in the rough again. It means he’s in tree trouble once more – this time at 3 - and has to manufacture another one under the branches. But imagination is one of his strengths and he fashions a low, bounding skipper that runs up onto the green. He’ll have a shot at birdie from around 25 feet maybe. Back at the top end of the leaderboard, six shots better than McIlroy, J.T. Poston birdies 14 and 15 to reach -4 and pull to within one of the leaders. Poston is a North Carolina local, his birthplace a city called Hickory.
There were two events on the PGA Tour last week. Sepp Straka won the Truist Championship, with Ryan Fox chipping in from 50 feet to beat a weaker field in the Myrtle Beach Classic. Fox is certainly riding the momentum today but Straka – along with McIlroy, the only two-time winner on the PGA Tour this season – is having a tough time. The Austrian wiped out two early bogeys with an eagle at 14 but he’s let shots go at 3, 5 and 6 to slip to +3 with three to play. Straka was tied seventh in this event in 2023 and joint runner-up in the Open Championship later that year so he has some pedigree in the majors.
Updated
Scottie Scheffler gets back under par. Despite finding the intermediate off the tee at the 454-yard par-4 2nd, the World No.1 hoists a deadly approach straight at the flag and holes the nine-footer for his birdie. Rory makes par. He has to hit a sawn-off second under some overhanging trees, finding the left of the green, and then two-putts from 30- feet to remain +2 after 11, now two behind Scheffler.
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And we have someone at the crazy heights of 5-under. That would be Swede Alex Noren after back-to-back gains at 14 and 15. Can he hang on over the next three holes (Green Mile) though. Noren’s only top 10s in 39 majors have come at the Open Championship (T9 in 2012 and T6 in 2017) although he was tied 12th in this event last year, his best finish in eight attempts.
And as I write this, Ryan Fox has joined Noren at -5 after a birdie at the par-5 8th hole, his 17th. The two are a shot clear of Luke Donald.
It’s a bogey for McIlroy at 10. The sand is quite packed after the rain and it’s hard to get any height on bunker shots. Rory’s swish from sand has to take the low road rather than the usual hoist up and plop down and after pulling up short he misses the par putt to drop to +2. And, next, a shout of ‘fore’ off the next tee although his lie in the rough doesn’t look too bad. Still, this isn’t the fast start so many were predicting. The contrarians are nodding sagely right now. Coming off that Masters win and being a four-time course winner at Quail Hollow seemed the perfect recipe. Too good to be true perhaps. Early days of course and let’s not forget that he opened with a modest 72 at Augusta.
Feel free to throw rotten fruit at me but I think having 20 PGA Pros in the field is ridiculous. Yes, there was the fairytale story of Michael Block and his hole-in-one alongside Rory at Oak Hill in 2023 but mostly they’re just clogging up the field. Three of them are propping up the leaderboard at a combined 24-over. Maybe just have a trio next time and put them out in a three-ball at the back of the field. Thoughts?
Here’s how Quail Hollow can punish you. American Patrick Fishburn was second on the very early leaderboard after two birdies in his first six holes. But he followed that with six straight bogeys and has just dropped another shot to slump to +5 after 15. For company, he has two multi-major winners in the form of Martin Kaymer and Brooks Koepka, the latter putting a huge hole in his hopes with a run of bogey, double bogey, bogey, bogey at 18, 1, 2 and 3.
Rory McIlroy isn’t at the races. From 173 yards, he hangs his approach at 1 (his 10th) out to the right and that’s straight into a huge bunker. Rory hates it. His head drops. Better news for Shane Lowry after he slipped to a miserable +3 after 10 holes. The 2019 Open champion has birdied 3 and 4 to return to +1 alongside McIlroy and, continuing the Irish theme, Seamus Power (14).
Updated
All the talk pre-tournament was of how long this course would play after the rain. A surprise then to see very short-hitting Luke Donald tied at the top alongside Nico Echavarria. The Colombian is ranked 158th (out of 185) for Driving Distance on the PGA Tour this season. Note that the four leaders have yet to play the ultra-tough Green Mile finishing stretch.
-4: Donald (15), Noren (14), Echavarria (12), Jaeger (10)
-3: Fox (15*), Puig (14), Fitzpatrick (10*), Højgaard (9*), Bradley (7*), Burns (7*), Lower (6*)
Updated
All the flags. The top 10 now comprises two Englishmen, a New Zealander, a German, a Spaniard, a Swede, a Colombian, a Dane and three Americans. Quite the international leaderboard.
Thanks Scott. This is a skittish start by both McIlroy and Scheffler. And an even worse one by Schauffele. With the leaders at -4, who would have that that this stellar three-ball would be a combined 3-over. At least they’re all through the Green Mile now (16, 17 and 18) having started at 10. Scheffler, who holds a testy par putt at 18, turns in even par, with Rory +1 and Schauffele +2. All have a double bogey on their card (at 16) although that wasn’t the back-nine symmetry they were seeking.
Rory McIlroy’s driver has been wayward today. Again it gets him in trouble, nearly finding the creek that winds down the left of 18. He gets a huge break, though – another huge break – as the ball snags in the thick rough along the bank. He powers a 9-iron pin high, and will have a look at birdie from 20 feet or so. He’ll have taken a par a couple of minutes ago, that’s for sure.
And with that, I’m off for the next hour. Here’s David Tindall to take you through it. See you again soon!
Ryan Fox walks in a 20-footer on 5, and we have a new sole leader of the PGA Championship … for a couple of minutes, at least, because Luke Donald soon joins him after picking up another stroke, this time at the gettable par-four 14th! Well, nobody expected this. Or this: down the other end of the leaderboard, three-time champ Brooks Koepka is unravelling at speed. Double bogey at 1, bogey at 2, and now he’s just carved his drive out of bounds at 3. If it can happen to Brooks, it can happen to anyone.
-4: Fox (14*), Donald (14)
-3: Puig (13), Noren (12), Smalley (11*), Echavarria (10), Jaeger (9), Højgaard (9*), Greyserman (7*), Bradley (6*), Burns (6*), Lower (5*)
McIlroy nearly chips in from the fringe on 17. He taps in with the blade of his wedge. Scheffler nearly drains a 65-foot putt. Par will do for him as well. Schauffele wedges to ten feet, and nails the par saver. Three brilliant pars on their own merit, but doubly good after the double-bogey-strewn fiasco on 16.
“Oh my God!” Scottie Scheffler isn’t on it at all, and he yelps as his ball only just gets over the pond at the waterside par-three 17th. Rory McIlroy gets a bit more aggressive, landing his ball in the centre of the green, but eventually thankful that there’s a thick collar running around the back of it, else it’d have scampered all the way down the bank to the water. Xander Schauffele bails out front right. The marquee group really struggling here, though to be fair these greens are hard to hold, and will only get more difficult as the day progresses and the sun beats down. The morning starters are most likely enjoying the best of the conditions. The word “enjoying” doing a lot of heavy lifting there.
“The three best players in the world, making an absolute pig’s ear of this 16th hole.” Nick Dougherty there, making his observations on Sky Sports. That’s because neither Xander Schauffele nor Scottie Scheffler get anywhere near the hole with their chips, having taken their penalty drops. Two putts from distance, and that’s a pair of double bogeys. They’d left themselves with tricky six footers to even make those. Rory McIlroy meanwhile whips a wedge down from the bank to the right, but can’t make the eight-footer that remains, and that’s a double as well. Scheffler is back to level par, while McIlroy is +1 and Scheffler +2. The start of the Green Mile, ladies and gentlemen, and the perils of a 535-yard par-four. “Chicken soup for the soul” for everyday hackers, suggests the mischievous Dougherty.
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Ryan Fox pars 3. There are no pictures on the card, suffice to say this one included a long bunker shot slapped straight into the face, and chip-in from the back of the green. When it’s your day, etc. He remains -3, where he’s been joined in that large group by David Puig (long birdie rake on 11) and Max Greyserman (chip-in from the front of 15).
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The marquee group begin their journey along the Green Mile, Quail Hollow’s famous closing three-hole stretch. Rory gets a big break on the monster 535-yard par-four 16th as he sends a big hook towards the water down the left. His ball hits a tree trunk and stays dry. But it’s not that big a break, because it’s snagged in thick oomska on a steep bank. Hacking out hard, his back foot gives way mid-swing and he can only advance the ball into the lighter rough nearer the top of the bank. He sends his third into rough to the right of the green, unwilling to take too many chances with the water again. Trouble here. Then from the centre of the fairway, both Scottie Scheffler and Xander Schauffele yank their approaches into the deep blue! On Sky, Wayne Riley speculates that those jaw-dropping unforced errors may be the result of mud balls, some of Quail Hollow still pretty saturated with the rain from earlier this week. No clean and place this week, despite it all. Everyone in trouble here.
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A pretty busy leaderboard. Stephan Jaeger and Rasmus Højgaard joining the party.
-3: Donald (11), Fox (10*), Echavarria (8), Jaeger (7), Fitzpatrick (6*), Højgaard (6*), Bradley (4*)
-2: Puig (10), Noren (10), Smalley (9*), Fleetwood (8*), Rahm (6*), Lee (6*), Scheffler (6*), Burns (4*), Lower (2*)
Texas wedges for both Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler, just off the front of the par-five 15th. Rory up first, and he leaves his a little short. That’s given Scottie the read, and he doesn’t need telling twice. Straight into the cup – well, with a little left-to-right slide – and that’s an eagle that catapults him up the standings to -2. McIlroy cleans up for birdie to move back into red numbers. Just a par for Xander Schauffele. Meanwhile a first backward step of the day for Tommy Fleetwood, with bogey at 17. He’s -2.
The 30-year-old Colombian Nico Echavarría is here as a result of winning the Zozo Championship in Japan last season. He’s grabbing the opportunity with both hands: birdies at 4, 7 and 8 whisk him up to the top of the leaderboard at -3. Meanwhile there’s a huge stroke of luck for Rory McIlroy at the par-five 15th; he nearly hooks his drive into the water down the left, but the lush grass grabs the ball before it trickles into the hazard. Not only does he have a stance, he’s also got a decent lie, and is able to swish his second towards the green, where it stops just short. He’d have taken this outcome when he was watching his tee shot sail towards the briny.
The marquee group end up making a bit of a mess of the short par-four 14th. Scottie Scheffler putts up from the bottom of the swale, but leaves himself ten feet short, and can’t make the birdie putt. A disappointing par after a fine tee shot. Rory McIlroy swishes a soft-hands wedge down from the bank to eight feet, but stabs erratically at the birdie putt and has to settle for par. So in a strange way, it’s Xander Schauffele who ends up the least frustrated: having found water from the tee, he does extremely well to pitch to ten feet or so from the dropzone, and though he doesn’t make the par saver, he’s limited the damage to bogey. All three are at level par for their round.
Luke Donald walks in a 30-footer on 10, and the English veteran joins the leaders at -3! Over to you, Keegan Bradley … and the battle of the Ryder Cup captains continues apace, as he sends his tee shot at the 206-yard 13th to four-and-a-half feet! In goes the putt, and anything you can do, etc. They’re joined by the 2023 US Open champion Matt Fitzpatrick, who birdies the par-five 15th. Fitzpatrick is going round with Jon Rahm, who also brides to move to -2. Quite the surprise leaderboard here!
-3: Donald (10), Fox (9*), Fleetwood (6*), Fitzpatrick (6*), Bradley (4*)
A third birdie in a row for Tommy Fleetwood! This one at 15, and Southport’s finest, so often the major-championship bridesmaid, grabs a share of the early lead.
-3: Fox (9*), Fleetwood (6*)
-2: Donald (9), Noren (8), Echavarria (7), Fitzpatrick (5*), Jaeger (6), R Højgaard (5*), Bradley (3*)
Updated
Anything the European Ryder Cup captain can do, the US Ryder Cup captain can match. Keegan Bradley joins his opposite number Luke Donald at -2, after making birdies at 10 and 12. Meanwhile a second birdie of the day for Rasmus Højlund, at 14, and the Dane moves to -2 as well. However the nightmare continues for Shane Lowry: bogeys at 15 and 16 and he’s +3 already, and playing with a face on. Last weekend’s final-green capitulation hanging over him like a cloud.
The defending champion goes fishing. Xander Schauffele pulls his tee shot at the driveable par-four 14th into the drink down the left. Rory goes the other way, his ball sticking in the thick rough on the bank to the right. “Argh! Didn’t get the kick left!” he cries in anguish. Scottie Scheffler, unflappable, nearly finds the greenside sand but settles on the fringe instead.
Scheffler’s short game is digging the world number one out of a hole. He chips to eight feet, a decent result seeing he was wedging blind from the bottom of the bank. He’s still got some work to do, but strokes home the putt with admirable chill, given it had plenty of right-to-left break. He remains at level par. Pars again for McIlroy and Schauffele. Not too many fireworks from the marquee group so far.
Reports of Scottie Scheffler’s recovery may have been premature. At the par-three 13th, he sends his tee shot down a swale 35 yards to the right of the green. On Sky Sports, Wayne Riley suggests that might have been very close to the hosel. Nick Dougherty also dances very carefully around the S-word. This is pretty strange, because that’s three genuinely awful shots now, two from the tee box, one from the middle of the fairway. He looks troubled. Mind, it’s still one up on getting your collar felt.
Tommy Fleetwood looks in the mood. He follows up that birdie at 13 with another at 14, steering in a downhill left-to-right swinger from 20 feet. Just 67 holes from destiny.
-3: Fox (8*)
-2: Donald (8), Noren (7), Fleetwood (5*), Greyserman (2*)
Here’s why Scottie Scheffler is world number one: the man is unflappable. He’s been all over the shop early doors, almost blading a shot from the centre of a fairway into a bunker, hoicking a drive deep into woodland. And now his approach at 12 takes a hot bounce through the back of the green. No matter! He clips a calm wedge back up, a perfectly judged chip that scampers into the hole. Bounce-back birdie and the early damage has been repaired in short order. He’s level par again.
Slow starts dept. Shane Lowry, perhaps still smarting from his 72nd-green meltdown at the Truist Championship last weekend, bogeys 13. He’s +1, as is Bob MacIntyre after dropping a stroke at 2. Rickie Fowler bogeys 12 and 13 to drop to +2. Patrick Cantlay follows bogey at 11 with double at 12, the latter the result of a wild drive into trees down the left; he’s +3. And Phil Mickelson flays his tee shot at the driveable par-four 14th into water on the left, but manages to salvage bogey, his second of the day after 12; he’s +2.
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Another birdie for Luke Donald! This one at 8, reward for a wedge sent from 70 yards to five feet. In pops the putt, and the 47-year-old moves to within a shot of the early leader Ryan Fox. There’s a huge group currently at -1, featuring some big names: the 2008 winner Padraig Harrington, his compatriot Seamus Power, Tommy Fleetwood, Jason Day, Jon Rahm, Matt Fitzpatrick, Rasmus Højgaard and the defending Xander Schauffele.
-3: Fox (7*)
-2: Donald (8)
Scottie Scheffler seems strangely out of sorts. He’s not faced with the hardest up and down at 11, but clips his chip into the ridge running across the green, taking all the momentum away. He’s left himself a putt from the best part of 15 feet. He can’t make the right-to-left slider and doesn’t look particularly happy. He’s +1. Bogey too for Rory McIlroy, who three-putts carelessly – an overly aggressive first putt doing the real damage - and slips back to level par. But a no-fuss par for Xander Schauffele, the defending champion remaining at -1.
Birdie for Tommy Fleetwood at the par-three 13th. He’s still looking for his first win on the PGA Tour. This would be a decent time to break that duck.
… but Scottie catches a break! A decent lie and a route under the branches to the green. He fires out low and sends his ball scampering towards the apron. That’s a decent result all told, and he’ll have a chance to get up and down from the front for his par. Rory meanwhile has found sand down the left of the fairway and Xander the fairway; both find the green in regulation, albeit not particularly close to the flag. Outside chances for birdie.
Scottie Scheffler always entertains with a little soft-shoe shuffle as he lets rip with the driver. But this time his feet are way too busy on the downswing, and he nearly loses his balance completely, yanking his ball down a bank to the left of 11 and towards some trees. That’s his second wild shot already. A slow start for Scottie.
Opening birdie for Rory McIlroy! He swishes out of the thick rough elegantly, from 30 yards to ten feet. He steers in the gentle left-to-right slider, and the pre-tournament favourite is immediately into red figures. Scottie Scheffler power-splashes out from the fairway bunker to a similar distance, but putts through the break and has to make do with par. Xander Schauffele gets up and down from the swale at the front without fuss and he moves to -1 alongside Rory.
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The 2015 champion Jason Day is re-emerging as a force in the majors, coming off the back of a top-ten finish at Augusta. The 37-year-old Aussie chips in at 11 to join the group at -1. Jon Rahm, in the group behind, rolls in a 30-footer on 11 and the two-time major champion is -1 as well.
Schauffele has an awkward stance, balancing on the edge of a fairway bunker. But he’s obviously been at the old core-strength exercises, because he stays steady and creams his second just off the front of the long par-five 10th. A good chance to get up and down for an opening birdie there. Not so much Scottie or Rory, the former sending a skittish second into a bunker 40 yards short of the green, the latter dunking his into the lush greenside rough. It’s sunny today, but it’s been raining all week in Charlotte, North Carolina, and that vegetation is juicy. A slight look of concern on both of their faces.
The morning marquee group is out. The new Masters champion Rory McIlroy, the defending champion and reigning Open champion Xander Schauffele, and the world number one Scottie Scheffler. Rory batters his drive furthest, but he’s in the rough down the right of the fairway. Scheffler a few yards behind him but in prime position. Schauffele in decent nick as well.
Ryan Fox often hovers around on the fringes of the action in the majors. Never quite putting four rounds together. No top-ten finishes as a result. Yet. The 38-year-old New Zealander opened with birdies at 10 and 13, and has just driven the green at the short par-four 14th. He’s left with an 84-foot putt from the fringe at the back, but cosies it up to four feet and makes his birdie putt. Meanwhile Alex Noren follows up birdie at 1 with another at 4, and the veteran Swede is on Foxy’s tail.
-3: Fox (5*)
-2: Noren (4)
-1: Donald (5), Poston (2), Fitzpatrick (1*)
The European Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald hit the first shot of this PGA Championship this morning. He started out with three pars, then at the 185-yard par-four 4th, sent a gentle draw to four feet, and tidied up for birdie. Donald never won a major during his pomp, despite reaching number one in the world, and the 47-year-old most likely won’t be breaking that duck this week. But just for a moment, he had his nose out in front early doors.
Preamble
Welcome to our coverage of the 107th edition of the PGA Championship from Quail Hollow Rory McIlroy Country Club (© Jordan Spieth, all rights reserved). No need for us to bang on, because look who’s out in 20 minutes or so. All tee-times USA unless stated, all times BST. It’s on!
Starting at hole 1
12.00 Luke Donald (Eng), Padraig Harrington (Irl), Martin Kaymer (Ger)
12.11 Taylor Moore, David Puig (Spa), John Somers
12.22 Nic Ishee, Kurt Kitayama, Alexander Noren (Swe)
12.33 Ryo Hisatsune (Jpn), Tom Johnson, JT Poston
12.44 Bud Cauley, Nicolas Echavarria (Col), Davis Thompson
12.55 Thomas Detry (Bel), Harris English, Michael Kim
13.06 Stephan Jaeger (Ger), Chris Kirk, Robert MacIntyre (Sco)
13.17 Laurie Canter (Eng), Thorbjoern Olesen (Den), Karl Vilips (Aus)
13.28 Rico Hoey (Phi), Si-Woo Kim (Kor), Sam Stevens
13.39 Robert Gates, Ben Griffin, Lee Hodges
13.50 Nick Dunlap, Harry Hall (Eng), Thriston Lawrence (Rsa)
14.01 Ryan Gerard, Greg Koch, Marco Penge (Eng)
14.12 Dylan Newman, Victor Perez (Fra), Daniel van Tonder (Rsa)
17.30 Michael Kartrude, Jake Knapp, Sami Valimaki (Fin)
17.41 Michael Block, Mackenzie Hughes (Can), Erik van Rooyen (Rsa)
17.52 Lucas Glover, Max Homa, Joaquin Niemann (Chi)
18.03 Tyrrell Hatton (Eng), Adam Scott (Aus), Will Zalatoris
18.14 Dustin Johnson, Collin Morikawa, Justin Thomas
18.25 Ludvig Aaberg (Swe), Patrick Reed, Jordan Spieth
18.36 Wyndham Clark, Joo-Hyung Kim (Kor), Hideki Matsuyama (Jpn)
18.47 Bryson DeChambeau, Viktor Hovland (Nor), Gary Woodland
18.58 Daniel Berger, Sergio Garcia (Spa), Russell Henley
19.09 Brian Harman, Justin Rose (Eng), Cameron Smith (Aus)
19.20 Brandon Bingaman, Sung-Jae Im (Kor), Davis Riley
19.31 Christiaan Bezuidenhout (Rsa), Takumi Kanaya (Jpn), Tom McKibbin (NIrl)
19.42 Beau Hossler, Keita Nakajima (Jpn), Timothy Wiseman
Starting at hole 10
12.05 Ryan Fox (Nzl), Justin B. Hicks, John Parry (Eng)
12.16 Andre Chi, Patrick Fishburn, Seamus Power (Irl)
12.27 Max McGreevy, Sepp Straka (Aut), Sahith Theegala
12.38 Rickie Fowler, Brooks Koepka, Shane Lowry (Irl)
12.49 Jason Day (Aus), Tommy Fleetwood (Eng), Phil Mickelson
13.00 Patrick Cantlay, Matthew Fitzpatrick (Eng), Jon Rahm (Spa)
13.11 Corey Conners (Can), Rasmus Hoejgaard (Den), Min-Woo Lee (Aus)
13.22 Rory McIlroy (NIrl), Xander Schauffele, Scottie Scheffler
13.33 Tony Finau, Max Greyserman, Nicolai Hoejgaard (Den)
13.44 Keegan Bradley, Maverick McNealy, Andrew Novak
13.55 Akshay Bhatia, Sam Burns, Denny McCarthy
14.06 John Catlin, Jesse Droemer, Garrick Higgo (Rsa)
14.17 Eugenio Lopez-Chacarra (Spa), Justin Lower, Rupe Taylor
17.25 Adam Hadwin (Can), Keith Mitchell, Bob Sowards
17.36 Eric Cole, Cameron Davis (Aus), Eric Steger
17.47 Brian Bergstol, Jacob Bridgeman, Austin Eckroat
17.58 Byeong-Hun An (Kor), Niklas Noergaard (Den), JJ Spaun
18.09 Dean Burmester (Rsa), Patrick Rodgers, Nick Taylor (Can)
18.20 Joe Highsmith, Aaron Rai (Eng), Cameron Young
18.31 Tom Hoge, Matthieu Pavon (Fra), Taylor Pendrith (Can)
18.42 Patton Kizzire, Matt McCarty, Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen (Den)
18.53 Richard Bland (Eng), Tyler Collet, Jimmy Walker
19.04 Jason Dufner, Shaun Micheel, Michael Thorbjornsen
19.15 Rafael Campos (Pur), Ryan Lenahan, Matt Wallace (Eng)
19.26 Brian Campbell, Elvis Smylie (Aus), Jhonattan Vegas (Ven)
19.37 Larkin Gross, Johnny Keefer, Chun-An Yu (Tai)
