HAY WARD, Calif. – Stephan Jaeger shot a 12-under 58 on Thursday in the Web.com Tour’s Ellie Mae Classic to match the lowest score in major tour play.
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Spieth also had to play through the harshest conditions two weeks ago at the British Open.
The final major of the year began Thursday when NY club pro Mark Brown hit the opening tee shot in the PGA Championship.
Jimmy Walker aimed to reclaim some of his 2014 magic entering this weekend’s PGA Championship.
The German carded a four-under 66 in the opening round at Baltusrol on Thursday to be a shot behind leader Jimmy Walker.
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.
Knost and Ikeda both bogeyed the hole and although Knost birdied the 11th before play was suspended due to a waterlogged course, he was understandably less than pleased with the situation. His game didn’t look much better when he had to scramble for par on the par-5 17th. After the frustrating start, the 46-year-old rallied for a 1-over 71 with three birdies over his last seven holes.
QUOTEWORTY: “My wife and I were just joking, ‘Hey, you’ve already won two majors. And a couple birdie putts coming in there, which 3 under in a major is always good”.
“I do know that on Sunday with a chance to win, it will feel bigger”, he said.
British Open champion Henrik Stenson had a second straight 67 and was third alone, one stroke ahead of Martin Kaymer, who had a 69, Patrick Reed, who had a 65, Robert Streb, who was 3 under through his first nine holes, and Brooks Koepka, who was 3 under through 11 holes.
“You feel like you’re killing yourself and you’re giving it all you’ve got and you’re just not seeing it. Sometimes hard work doesn’t pay off. But over time, it will I think”.
The “first-name-only-necessary” threesome of Sergio, Jordan and Bubba (it’s Garcia, Spieth and Watson if you need the last names) had a total of two birdies through the first seven holes.
The PGA Championships featured morning group of Phil Mickelson, Rory McIlroy and Jason Day didn’t get off to a great start at Baltusrol Golf Club.
Last year’s runner-up frequently aired his frustrations after missing a number of fairways, but he dug deep and finished with a flourish as birdies at 16 and 18 salvaged a respectable level-par 70. “If you miss the greens in the wrong spot, you re going to have trouble getting up and down”. Instead of having the gallery around the 15th tee and the gallery lining the 17th fairway move out of the way, he hit a wedge over them into deep rough.
Down: Garcia/Spieth/Watson. None in the popular afternoon group went under par and made just four birdies combined through 17 holes. He pulled his next shot into the gallery, chipped it to about 10 feet and missed. And he ended his round by chopping up the par-5 18th, the easiest at Baltusrol, for a bogey. “Maybe I’m a little bit slow in terms of that”. “There’s no real answer”. He never really got comfortable putting downhill.
There wasn’t an empty seat in the bleachers on the 10th tee when Mickelson arrived just before his 8:30 a.m. start, they cheered wildly for him.
Gaffney hit just nine greens in regulation.
Mickelson said of all the support the people in New Jersey and NY have given him over the years, “today was the day that it helped the most”.
“I don’t think it has much to do with the years”, Kaymer said.
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The second-round hole location sheet provided to the golfers for No. 10 listed the cup as being on the left side of the green when it was actually cut on the right side.
