A half hour after sunrise and two minutes following the first tee shot on the opening hole of the 98th PGA Championship at Baltusrol Golf Club on Thursday, Jason Day, defending champion, pulled into his reserved parking space by the clubhouse.
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Kaymer’s 66 was the best score of the afternoon starters as the wind picked up ahead of possible thunderstorms, the former world number one carding five birdies and a single bogey.
But in two holes and, more to the point, two short missed chances of a birdie, his head went down and his chances went south. When McIlroy departed, he was nine shots behind the first-round leader, the American Jimmy Walker, with England’s Ross Fisher on four-under, and although world No 2 Dustin Johnson was to fare even worse, with a 77, that was hardly a consolation.
On the Web.com tour’s Ellie Mae Classic, being played at TPC Stonebrae, Josh Geary is tied for 100th after shooting a one-over par 71 in his first round.
American Jimmy Walker produced the goods on Thursday to claim a one-shot lead after the opening round of the US PGA Championship.
Rory McIlroy opened with a birdie-free 74.
DYN-O-MITE: Walker, who missed the cut twice in his four events, matched his best round in a major and is leading one of the big four tournaments for the first time. It hasn’t worked out that way, but throw out the victory and Grillo still has had a very solid rookie year.
“I thought I was going to get shut out”, Spieth said about going 15 holes without a birdie.
“I wasn’t swinging freely, ” he said. And I don’t want to make myself too important, you know.
The momentum he had to start the PGA Championship was there. It’s only a matter of time before he wins again and it may well could be this week.
“On Sunday with a chance to win, it will feel a little bigger, so I look forward to having that chance”.
I remember walking off of No. 3 and a guy said, ‘Hey, you’ve got a lot of golf left, you’re not out of this, let’s get going.’ He’s right.
Mickelson, who briefly joined McIlroy at four over, battled back to one over with three birdies in five holes.
Sullivan, who is on course to secure his Ryder Cup debut this season, said: “I’m buzzing with that start”.
Lee birdied the first two holes, added another on the fourth and made five straight on Nos. Then in his first start as a tour member, he managed to get into a playoff with Kevin Na that he won. “The people helped to really kind of pick me back up”. “I felt pretty good but I didn’t hit enough fairways to score out here”.
Summerhays arrived to the course on Saturday and played a couple practice rounds with Daniel Summerhays to prepare for the tournament. No. 3 Jordan Spieth, a two-time major champion, is even.
Fisher, whose sole top-10 finish in a major to date came in the 2009 US Open, said: “I struck the ball well all day, especially from the tee, and picking up birdies on 17 and 18 was obviously a lovely way to finish”.
“We see them a fair amount like out West on the coast and some of the greens up here (Northeast)”, Haas said.
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SURPRISE OF THE DAY: Rich Beem, the 2002 PGA champion who spends most of his time as a Sky Sports commentator, opened with a 69. It is more of a mental thing as well, I maybe need to be a little more assertive and not so tentative.
