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McIlroy begins defence of US PGA title

And that’s why he wanted to get off to an easy start. Weekley’s best major has been the PGA Championship where he’s finished three times in the Top 20.

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Where he plays next is unclear, although it is likely that his next event would be the Frys.com Open, which runs October. 15-18.

Thursday’s first-round performance, a 6-under-par 66, in the company of RBC Canadian Open champ Jason Day and Players Championship victor Rickie Fowler – surely this week’s greatest threesome never to win a major – was, in a word, overpowering.

“The wind picked up more than I thought it would on the incoming holes”. It’s only the first round. Spieth said he was pleading it for it to hit the pin, if nothing else to keep it near the hole.

[Fancy Stats: Why Justin Rose has the best shot to win PGA]. McIlroy (+1) made a bogey after a poor drive forced him to chip out into the fairway.

There was no chance of a repeat Thursday.

Johnson closed with five consecutive pars to maintain his good standing and avoid trouble, something he hasn’t always done in major championships.

He missed the putt, briefly tied Johnson with a birdie on the par-5 fifth hole, gave it back on the next hole and closed with pars. So, I am doing my first appearances at various Major courses, even though it is my second PGA Championships.

Rory McIlroy, the world’s number-one ranked golfer, is also getting plenty of attention as he returns to competitive play after injuring his ankle while playing soccer with friends, and had to miss The British Open a few weeks ago. “This was definitely the time to take advantage of the golf course“. By the end of the week, it was Zach Johnson who had his name on the claret jug.

David Lingermath of Sweden will start the second round in second place, a shot behind Dustin Johnson. He had the 36-hole lead at St. Andrews until he disappeared on the weekend. He wasn’t playing well at Firestone last week, either.

Johnson says he worked hard the last three days to get his game in order.

And it showed on a breezy morning. 11 and 12, respectively, after he started on the back nine.

He told swing coach Butch Harmon he was going to “send it” on just about every tee shot.

“Unfortunately, my foot just got stuck on the turf and went over on it. It could have been much worse”.

“Well, I hit it great today, but I made actually nothing”, said Woods, who totaled 33 putts on the superbly manicured greens at Whistling Straits.

He said: “I mean I’m not surprised at all that the narrative has went from me to Jordan and to both of us being here”. “And that’s something that I can bring in with me this week, knowing that, OK, it’s a big deal, but no matter what happens this week, only a very small percentage of the population really care”.

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“Since The Open I have gone back to using a putter that brought me some success last year, winning a couple of events and the one I took into Gleneagles”, he said.

Johnson surges to early lead