But it’s been a tough afternoon for both Shane Lowry and Graeme McDowell, who were among the early starters today.
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Stenson saved a shaky start in the rain at Baltusrol with a 3-wood that just landed on the front of the green at the par-5 18th and settled 3 feet away for an eagle, turning his fortunes and sending him to a 3-under 67.
McIlroy was nine shots behind after one round, and that doesn’t bode well.
Morning showers drenched the 7,428-yard layout so badly that play was halted for 41 minutes so the course could be rendered playable after water puddled on greens and fairways.
Whether he was in the lead was irrelevant to Stenson.
“My timing has been off on my putting on my strike”, he said. “Anything that could go wrong did”.
There was the surprise leader in Jimmy Walker who posted a 5-under 65 in the morning and the shocking round of 77 from U.S. Open champion Dustin Johnson and the rather surprising 74 from Rory McIlroy.
Shane Lowry’s hopes of making his Ryder Cup debut suffered another blow as the US Open runner-up missed the cut for the second major running following rounds of 72 and 73.
Phil Mickelson was headed that direction, too.
The left-hander, who started the day 1 over par, hit his drive so far left on No. 1 that its first bounce was on Shunpike Road and it appeared to hang a left on Baltusrol Drive. Wherever it stopped didn’t matter it was still out-of-bounds.
At least he knew where he was aiming. The PGA of America fixed it and apologized, though two of the three players made bogey. “Jordan was entitled to either play the ball as it lay, even if his stance was still in the casual water or, he could have elected to take relief again from the casual water under this different type of stroke that he then elected to play”.
Gregory told him he was satisfied with the drop, so Spieth was good to go. So did Reed, along with Johnson, Stenson and Masters champion Danny Willett.
Sharing third on three-under were England’s Paul Casey after 12 holes, Argentina’s Emiliano Grillo through 14 holes and American Jamie Lovemark after finishing the back nine. There was a total of five eagles on 18.
If he gets to Sunday and wins another major, Stenson would join Ben Hogan as the only players at age 40 to win back-to-back majors. Spieth has not played as well as he did a year ago, especially in the majors, but things are starting to click this week.
While Jimmy Walker recorded the lowest score, Martin Kaymer’s round might have been the more impressive of Thursday’s opening action at the PGA Championship. I’m just going to try and manage my time on the practice range and make sure I get plenty of rest and sleep.
Aaron Baddeley and Adam Scott were in a tie for 36th on even-par 70.
By getting the two lost strokes back, Spieth enters the second round in good shape. “I couldn’t ask for anything more than this”.
Lahiri said, “Putting has been the area that I need to work on”. “Like good shooters, just keep shooting”.
Spieth also got into the conversation with birdies on the 17th and 18th to make the turn at 4 under.
“It’s frustrating. I would have loved to have had a better year than I’ve had so far to this point, but I know there’s always time to play well at the end of the year”.
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