A familiar name was atop the leaderboard halfway through Thursday’s first round of the 97th edition of the PGA Championship.
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Tiger Woods battles some angulation.
This year, however, it’s Dustin Johnson. McIlroy (E) shook off the bogey on one by two-putting for birdie.
This week, amid all the talk and all the questions and all the very conspicuous local-rules postings, all Johnson did was fire a 66 to start Thursday, good enough for the clubhouse lead.
It’s just one of Johnson’s major near misses. So I am quite keen on making up not only for that but also for a lot of other things that are dependent on this week, as also the next few events.
“I thought I did a great job of just staying patient, hitting the shots that the course allowed me to hit”, Johnson told reporters. I didn’t feel like I was too much in control.
At the US Open in June, Day was just three off the lead when he collapsed with vertigo during his second round. “It’s only the first round, we’ve still got a lot of golf to play”.
In-form New Zealand golfer Danny Lee is two shots off the pace after the opening round of the PGA Championship. Johnson (+2) drove his ball into the water off the tee, which led to another bogey. Johnson didn’t think it was a bunker and the 2-shot penalty dropped him out of a playoff.
“Solid”, Day said of Johnson’s round. He’s driving it longer than anyone else and he’s driving it straight. But a poor chip left a longer birdie putt that anticipated and he missed.
Hole 17: McIlroy (-2) hit his tee shot to 12 feet, but never really gave his birdie putt a chance and settled for par.
A bogey on 14 was wiped out by a birdie on 16 but Woods, who has won this championship four times, missed the green with his approach on the 18 and made the turn 1-over.
Englishmen Justin Rose and James Morrison, Denmark’s Thomas Bjorn and American Brendan Steele returned 69s while Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama, who got to five-under before bogeying three of his last four holes, was among a group bunched on 70.
He had 33 putts in all. I just had to remember to hit it hard.
“I can’t do anything about the past”.
This is Woods’ 70th major as a pro. Barring a fine recovery on Friday, he will make it three missed major cuts in a row. “If you go over the last two years, I would say it’s probably a toss-up between Jordan and myself”.
Rory McIlroy and Jordan Spieth, who between them have won four of the last five majors played, were among the late starters in a high-profile grouping with British Open champion Zach Johnson. They will face freshening winds that will definitely make the course play tougher than it did for the morning wave of players.
“Beautiful (early) conditions”, said Kuchar, a seven-times victor on the PGA Tour whose best PGA Championship finish in six previous appearances was a tie for 10th here in 2010.
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The former US Amateur champion is now ranked 57th in the world and is in contention for a place on the worldwide team at Presidents Cup in October.
