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Key events
The leader Stephan Jaeger sends his tee shot at 12 into a fairway bunker. He does extremely well to crack his second into the heart of the green, but he’s left with a long uphill putt, and leaves it a knee-knocking distance short. The par putt dies off to the low side on the right, and that’s a shot gone.
-3: Jaeger (12), Cauley (11)
-2: Potgieter (16*), C Smith (11*), Brown (11), Lee (10*), Detry (9), Schauffele (8*), Fox (8)
Xander Schauffele does pretty well to limit the damage at 17 to bogey. His chip back to the green, from miles wide left, nearly bobbles off the other side, but the fringe knocks his ball back, snooker style off the cushion. Two putts later and he’s -2. Meanwhile poor Bryson DeChambeau’s misery continues, as he shortsides himself in a bunker at the front of 18. Back-to-back bogeys, his third and fourth of the back nine, which he’s played in 39 strokes. He’s +4 and looking extremely downcast.
Alex Fitzpatrick goes from bunker to bunker at the par-three 14th, a slapstick route to double bogey. And then on 15, he finds himself in more greenside sand, and whistles his wedge out 30 feet past the flag. He swipes the sand a couple of times in great frustration. Bogey, and that’s three shots gone in short order. He’s +1, and how quickly a good day’s work can unravvel.
We’re just over four hours into the first day’s play, and finally somebody has made a birdie at the 245-yard par-three 8th. Ryan Fox with the reward for sending his tee shot to seven feet. And there are more crowd-pleasing antics on the 11th, where Dan Brown holes out from 102 yards for the first eagle of the week! The 31-year-old Englishman is making his major championship debut Stateside, though he finished in the top ten at the 2024 Open. Both Fox and Brown are -2.
Jordan Spieth finally gets something going. He steers in a 25-foot right-to-left curler on the par-five 16th, and that breaks a run of pars. He moves to -1, and the career slam is ON. There’d not be many more popular winners. Meanwhile his playing partner Jon Rahm gets up and down from the bunker he’d dunked himself into, scrambling his par to remain at +1. And a par for Rory, who stays at level par.
There is some entertainingly wild play going on. The sort that makes your weekend hacker feel a bit better about life in general. Jon Rahm dunks a chip out of thick rough into a greenside bunker at 16. Meanwhile up on 17, Xander Schauffele tugs a wild hybrid 50 yards wide left of the green. These are the best players in the world, and they’re putting themselves through this so we don’t have to.
Bryson does wonderfully well to clip his third from the filth at the side of 17 to a couple of feet. That required soft hands. A steely look in his eyes, though: straight ahead, expressionless, the look of a man seething inside. He’s +3. But a bounceback birdie for Cameron Smith at 1, and he’s -2 again. That’s a fine response to consecutive bogeys.
DeChambeau gets his drop away from the stand to the right of 17, but he’s still got work to do. He’s in deep rough and shortsided, with a hump to get over as well. Cam Smith did so well to whip up to 16 feet … but Bryson can’t match the achievement, his whip up and out landing just before the fringe and disappearing into more greenside rough. Trouble here, because now he’ll be doing very well to limit the damage to bogey. Meanwhile birdie for Xander Schauffele on the par-five 16th, and the 2024 champ returns to -3.
Bryson DeChambeau takes his time over his tee shot at the long par-three 17th. He switches out one iron for another, then moves his tee peg from one side of the box to the other. Then carves a wild shot into the punters down the right and towards a grandstand. He’ll doubtless get a drop, but he’s in a similar position to the one that did for Cameron Smith a while back, so there’s work to do. He doesn’t look happy, having struggled today from the off.
We’ve not heard much from Rory McIlroy of late. That’s because he’s been pootling along quietly since that bogey-birdie start. He teases a huge 60-foot left-to-right swinger on 15 to tap-in distance, and remains at level par. Meanwhile Cam Smith limits the damage on 18 to bogey, a staunch effort given that duck hook.
Cameron Smith drops on dusty ground between a generator and a skip. Throw in his mullet and fluffy moustache, and it’s quite the mise-en-scène of blue-collar heartland chic. As close as major championship golf gets to a John Cougar Mellencamp video. One for the kids there. Anyway, he chips back into the centre of the fairway, taking his medicine. But he’ll have to get up and down from 181 yards if he’s to scramble a par and avoid dropping two shots in as many holes.
Stephan Jaeger bounces back from his first dropped shot of the day with birdie at the par-five 9th. The German hits the turn in 31 strokes, regaining sole leadership of the tournament in doing so. Meanwhile a birdie for Alex Fitzpatrick, who tickles a downhill 20-footer into the cup on 13, and the in-form Sheffield star is back near the top of the standings again.
-4: Jaeger (9)
-3: Cauley (8)
-2: A Fitzpatrick (13), C Smith (8*), Greyserman (7), Schauffele (6*), Snedeker (5)
In other Fiasco News, Cam Smith sends a snap-hook dangerously close to the OB markers down the left of 18. He’s ended up behind a grandstand and a couple of buildings. He’s so far off piste he might get a favourable drop, with all sorts of man-made, tournament-specific obstacles in his way. Skips, cables, outhouses, goodness knows what else. Godspeed to the match referee as he wanders over to make his ruling.
Garrick Higgo’s best finish at the PGA came last year at Quail Hollow: a tie for 55th. Not the highest bar to clear, but the 27-year-old South African has put himself behind the eight-ball from the get-go this week, turning up late for his tee time by one minute. He was on the practice putting green at the time, an area deemed not close enough. That cost him a two-stroke penalty and so he opened with a double-bogey six. In the circumstances, he’s done extremely well to hit the turn in 35, level par, having birdied 3 and 9.
Cam Smith is the best part of 30 yards right of the 17th green. The pin’s on that side, too, so he’s not got much of a shot. He does exceptionally well to lash a vicious lob into the heart of the green, the best he could do, but it’s not enough to save his par. He can’t make the 16-foot putt coming back, and the bogey takes him out of the leading group and back to -2.
Xander Schauffele heads in the other direction, the result of dunking his tee shot at the par-three 14th into the bunker front left. And Cameron Smith is in a spot of bother on the 17th, carving his tee shot at the long par-three wide right. But for now …
-3: Jaeger (8), C Smith (7*), Cauley (7)
-2: Brennan (9), Greyserman (6), Schauffele (5*), Fox (5)
… and the leaders are now joined by Bud Cauley, who sends a 50-foot right-to-left swinger into the cup at 7 for his third birdie of the day. That was travelling. Had it not hit the hole, the 36-year-old journeyman from Florida might have been taking another couple of putts to get down. But here we are. He’s -3.
Cameron Smith has been tucked away, out of sight, mind and form on the LIV tour, for a while now. Missing the cut for six majors straight hasn’t helped matters. But he looks to have finally rediscovered the mojo that took him to the 2022 Open. He’s just added to those birdies at 10 and 13 by walking in a long putt across the par-five 16th, and he joins Stephan Jaeger and Xander Schauffele at -3.
One of the great up-and-downs from the career-slam-chasing Jordan Spieth on 13. Having sent his tee shot into deep nonsense down the left, he’s unable to reach the green, effing and jeffing as his second shot squirts almost straight right. Shortsided and behind a bunker, he whips over the flag to 15 feet, then rolls in the par saver. Scrambling is going to come at a premium this week, and there’s nobody better than the master escapologist Spieth. He’s level par.
A third birdie in four holes for Xander Schauffele. The 2024 champion now has a share of the lead, because it’s a first bogey of the day for Stephan Jaeger, at the long par-three 8th, all 245 yards of it.
-3: Jaeger (8), Schauffele (4*)
-2: Brennan (8), C Smith (6*), English (6), Cauley (6)
Rory McIlroy crashes a 352-yard drive down the middle of 12. By the looks of the graphic flashed up on the screen, that’s at least 30 yards further on than anyone else so far today. But his wedge is underhit, toppling back down a ridge running across the huge green, and his first putt isn’t all that either. In the end, after all that, he does well to tidy up for par. He remains level. Aronimink’s swales and large undulating greens are posing the world’s best players all sorts of puzzles and problems, and it’s captivating stuff. Whoever wins this week will have a short game to die for, their ball on the end of a tight leash.
Bryson DeChambeau’s travails continue apace. Having found the thick stuff with his iron off the 13th tee, he flies the green with his second, and is forced to hack out from more nonsense over the back. He can only bundle his ball to within 20 feet, and there goes another stroke. A very average start from the two-time major winner and prospective YouTube magnate: he’s +2. So much for playing it safe. Bomb and gouge, Bryson, bomb and gouge. However his playing partner Ludvig Åberg makes a fine birdie, taking advantage of a lucky break when his errant drive settled on rough trampled down by the gallery. A wedge to 12 feet and a putt later, and he’s back to level par.
These lads are spraying it around everywhere. Jon Rahm into the gallery down the left of 12. Ludvig Åberg into the trees down the right of 13. Bryson DeChambeau takes an iron for safety on 13 … and sends it into the thick rough down the right! That is absurd. You know what, this PGA is going to be a lot of fun.
Bounceback birdie for Rory McIlroy! He plays the 11th in fuss-free fashion: tee shot down the middle, wedge to three feet, putt into the centre of the cup. That’s wiped out his opening bogey, which was his first at the PGA Championship for five years. And up on 12, there’s some escapology from Ludvig Åberg, who sends his second over the back and into thick rough, down the bottom of a bank. He’s shortsided too, with the flag nearby, very little green to play with. But he whips out, ball sailing high but landing soft, rolling out to kick-in distance. That’s an outrageous par, and his wide smile tells the story. He knows that was damn good. But he’s +1 after a three-putt for bogey at 10.
Stephan Jaeger keeps on keeping on! He pours in a 25-footer on 6 to double his advantage at the top of the leaderboard.
-4: Jaeger (6)
-2: Hall (8), Brennan (6), C Smith (4*), Schauffele (2*)
No such problems – yet – for Stephan Jaeger. The 36-year-old German has made the cut on each of his previous PGA Championship appearances, though a tie for 50th is the best finish he’s managed. But he’s going very nicely this morning. Birdies at 1, 4 and 5, and he’s the first man to reach the -3 mark. Meanwhile the 2022 Open champion Cameron Smith birdies 10 and 13, while Xander Schauffele, who won this title in 2024, opens with back-to-back birdies at 10 and 11.
-3: Jaeger (5)
-2: Hall (8), Brennan (6), C Smith (4*), Schauffele (2*)
Bryson’s touch is all over the shop. He overcooks his downhill 30-foot putt from the fringe at the back of 11 … and the ball catches the slope of the green, rolling 60 feet past! So nearly off back down the fairway! That leads to an inevitable bogey. Also dropping a shot: Jon Rahm on 1. His approach disappears down a swale to the right of the green, and he can’t get his ball back up with his first chip. Rory also bogeys, the result of that errant drive and skulled wedge, and for a course supposedly there for the taking, Aronimink sure is baring its teeth.
It Can Happen To The Best Of Them dept. Rory McIlroy’s ball, having hit a tree down the right of 1, comes straight down and disappears into thick rough. He lashes at it with great force, but the ball only squirts out of the cabbage, a topper that dribbles 100 yards down the fairway. We’ve all done it, Rory on fewer occasions than most. But here he is. So much for his pre-tournament claim that “strategy off the tee is pretty non-existent”, huh. And there’s no blaming a blister on his pinky toe for that one.
It’s safe to say Bryson doesn’t have his distances dialled in yet. Having come up short with his approach into 10, he overhits his wedge into 11. Then asks his caddie: “Was that short?” Once he works out where he is, he should salvage his par with a couple of putts from the fringe at the back, but it’s an uncertain start for the two-time US Open champion.
Here comes Rory! And immediately the back-to-back Masters champion tries his best to prove the drive-it-anywhere predictions a lie, carving his opening salvo at 10 hysterically towards a tree down the right. Clack clock! His ball pings back towards the fairway but disappears into thick rough. He’s going round today with Jon Rahm and Jordan Spieth, the latter chasing a career slam of his own.
Bryson DeChambeau wastes his fine opening drive. A very average wedge into the 10th, then a severely underhit first putt, and he does well to tidy up from five feet for par. No such luck for his playing partner Ludvig Åberg, who three-putts his way to an opening bogey.
Michael Brennan is making his PGA Championship debut this week. The 24-year-old from Virginia tied for 24th at the Masters last month, and won his first title on Tour in Utah last October, and now he’s joint leader here, albeit with the usual fairly major early-Thursday caveats. He’s up there at -2 with Harry Hall, who finished in the top 20 last year at Quail Hollow. A neat start for the 28-year-old from Cornwall, with birdies at 5 and 6.
-2: Hall (6), Brennan (5)
-1: A Fitzpatrick (7), McCarthy (6*), N Hojgaard (6), McKibbin (3), Jaegar (3), C Smith (3*), Harman (3*), Cauley (2), Greyserman (1)
The course’s main defences are the many bunkers potted around the property, and the huge greens, which will take some working out. But some overnight rain has lengthened the track a wee bit. It’s a bit drizzly this morning, too, and it’s expected to stay cloudy for most of the day, with a chance of more showers and a little wind. The forecast for the rest of the week looks better, though: sunny with light winds for the most part. Should be a fun week.
Aronimink could prove a playground for the big hitters, with accuracy off the tee not a deal-breaker. There’s plenty of scope to whistle drives hither and yon: Rory McIlroy has described “strategy off the tee” as “pretty non-existent”, while Scottie Scheffler says “you can hit it pretty far offline” and still “kind of get away with it”. Good news for the likes of Bryson DeChambeau, then, though to be fair he blasts his opening tee shot, at 10, down the middle of the fairway. Gary Woodland won his US Open in similar circumstances; the popular veteran, whose win at the Houston Open a couple of months back was one of the feelgood stories of the year so far, is level par through his first two holes, 10 and 11.
Here we go, then, and let’s begin with the aforementioned “on-song Matt Alex Fitzpatrick”. He only got his PGA Tour card last month, courtesy of winning the Zurich Classic with his older brother Matt. That gave him a two-year exemption Stateside, plus secured his invite to this tournament. Since then he’s made the top ten at the Cadillac Championship and threatened to win last week at the Truist. Now he’s become the first player this week to reach the -2 mark, opening with birdies at 1 and 2. Admittedly he went out in the very first group, and he’s since dropped a stroke at 5. But he did do that, and he’s currently one of several players under par. Early days and quite a bit of golf yet to play, of course.
-1: A Fitzpatrick (5), McCarthy (5*), Hall (5), Hoge (3*), Brennan (3), Glover (2), McKibbin (1), Jaeger (1), Smith (1*), Brown (1)
Preamble
Welcome to our coverage of the 108th PGA Championship. It’s only the second time the tournament has been held at Aronimink Golf Club, about 30 minutes west of Philly; the first time was in 1962, when Gary Player won the first of his two PGA Championships. The world number one Scottie Scheffler defends, the Masters champion Rory McIlroy goes for stage two of the calendar grand slam, the in-form Cameron Young looks to make it 11 wins in a row for the USA, and the equally on-song Matt Fitzpatrick attempts to become the first English winner since 1919 (!). Many other narratives are available, and will pan out over the next four days. So let’s waste no more time, because the early starters are already out there. It’s on!
The tee times (BST). Starting on the 1st …
1145 Braden Shattuck, Alex Fitzpatrick, Ben Griffin
1156 Francisco Bide, Harry Hall, Ryan Gerard
1207 John Keefer, Rico Hoey, Nicolai Hojgaard
1218 Shaun Micheel, Michael Brennan, Garrick Higgo
1229 YE Yang, Jhonattan Vegas, Matt McCarty
1240 Lucas Glover, Tom McKibbin, Stephan Jaeger
1251 Daniel Brown, Adrien Saddier, Harris English
1302 Jacob Bridgeman, Bud Cauley, Alex Noren
1313 Chris Kirk, Max Greyserman, Kristoffer Reitan
1324 Maverick McNealy, Thomas Detry, Padraig Harrington
1335 Ryan Lenahan, Ryan Fox, Kazuki Higa
1346 Jared Jones, Michael Kim, Ryo Hisatsune
1357 Tyler Collet, Kota Kaneko, Brandt Snedeker
—
1715 Andrew Novak, John Parry, Jordan Gumberg
1726 Ben Polland, Kurt Kitayama, Nico Echavarria
1737 Akshay Bhatia, Ricky Castillo, Michael Thorbjornsen
1748 Luke Donald, Jesse Droemer, Stewart Cink
1759 Hideki Matsuyama, JJ Spaun, Max Homa
1810 Ben Kern, JT Poston, Russell Henley
1821 Adam Scott, Corey Conners, Daniel Berger
1832 Viktor Hovland, Collin Morikawa, Shane Lowry
1843 Chris Gotterup, Robert MacIntyre, Tommy Fleetwood
1854 Cameron Young, Keegan Bradley, Justin Thomas
1905 Scottie Scheffler, Matt Fitzpatrick, Justin Rose
1916 Zach Haynes, Alex Smalley, Chandler Blanchet
1927 Bernd Wiesberger, Sudarshan Yellamaraju, Andy Sullivan
… and starting on the 10th …
1150 Aldrich Potgieter, David Puig, Denny McCarthy
1201 William Mouw, Chris Gabriele, Taylor Pendrith
1212 Tom Hoge, Bryce Fisher, Joaquin Niemann
1223 Keith Mitchell, Billy Horschel, Ian Holt
1234 Gary Woodland, Jason Day, Sam Burns
1245 Wyndham Clark, Cameron Smith, Brian Harman
1256 Patrick Cantlay, Min Woo Lee, Sahith Theegala
1307 Si Woo Kim, Derek Berg, Joe Highsmith
1318 Bryson DeChambeau, Ludvig Aberg, Rickie Fowler
1329 Xander Schauffele, Brooks Koepka, Tyrrell Hatton
1340 Rory McIlroy, Jordan Spieth, Jon Rahm
1351 Daniel Hillier, Ryan Vermeer, Max McGreevy
1402 Paul McClure, Mikael Lindberg, Angel Ayora
—
1710 Michael Block, Rasmus Hojgaard, Dustin Johnson
1721 Mark Geddes, Steven Fisk, David Lipsky
1732 Sungjae Im, Austin Hurt, Casey Jarvis
1743 Andrew Putnam, Michael Kartrude, Matt Wallace
1754 Martin Kaymer, Elvis Smylie, Davis Riley
1805 Jason Dufner, Haotong Li, Jimmy Walker
1816 Nick Taylor, Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen, Jordan Smith
1827 Emiliano Grillo, Patrick Reed, Pierceson Coody
1838 Brian Campbell, Adam Schenk, Christiaan Bezuidenhout
1849 Marco Penge, Sepp Straka, Patrick Rodgers
1900 Aaron Rai, Travis Smyth, Sami Valimaki
1911 Sam Stevens, Jayden Schaper, Garrett Sapp
1922 Timothy Wiseman, Matti Schmid, Austin Smotherman
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