Australia’s Min Woo Lee is in a share of the clubhouse lead in the first round of the PGA Championship after firing a three-under par 69 at Aronimink Golf Club in Pennsylvania.Lee is joined at the top of the leaderboard by South African Aldrich Potgieter, who spent much his childhood in Perth, Japan’s Ryo Hisatsune and Germany’s Stephan Jaeger, while several others from the afternoon field hover around the same number.
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Australian duo Jason Day and Cameron Smith also made strong starts with the major champions shooting one-under par 71s.
Elsewhere, it was a tough opening for some of the game’s biggest names with Rory McIlroy closing his round of 74 with four bogeys in a row.
“S***” was the only way the Masters champion was able to describe his day as Bryson DeChambeau found the going even harder – the LIV star shot 76 with five bogeys and a double bogey.
Lee, a back-nine starter, birdied the fifth and seventh to briefly lead alone before a bogey at the eighth.
The 27-year-old carded five birdies for the day with his highly-regarded driving and short game on point – sitting in the top six in the rankings from stroke gained off the tee and around the green.
“Played great. Drove the ball really well. I think every major you have to, but especially this course, the rough is pretty juicy, and you don’t want to attack the greens over in the rough just because you can get some flyers or you can get some lies that sit down,” he said.
“So drove it really well and pretty happy with that side of the game. I thought I played pretty solid all day, didn’t get myself in too much trouble. There’s tough holes out there,
of course, but yeah, played really well.”
LEADERBOARD: Live scores from the PGA Championship
Min Woo Lee of Australia plays his shot from the 14th tee during the first round of the PGA Championship at Aronimink Golf Club.Source: AFP
Lee arrived at the second major of the year in red hot form after shooting 64 in the final round of last week’s Truist Championship.
The West Australian missed the cut by a long way at The Masters, but that result appears to be an aberration in the world No.31’s year.
He has three finishes of tied sixth or better on the PGA Tour season as well as three other top 20s, including in his last two starts.
“Yeah, it’s great. I think we’re all trying to get off to a good start,” Lee replied when asked how it feels to put himself in contention early in the tournament.
“I think over the last few months I haven’t done that. I think just a little bit of a mindset change, go out there and be aggressive instead of — you know that saying of you
can shoot yourself out of a Thursday, but I think I’ve nearly taken that too far and played a little bit conservative.
“I’m hitting the ball really good, so why not go at some pins and make some putts?
“It’s great to start off well. We’re all trying to do that. It’s tough, but I think it was kind of the right time to put the foot on the pedal a little bit and hit some shots that needed to be more aggressive than not.”
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Half the field was still on the course, Scheffler among the latest starters, while world No.2 McIlroy finished, having no problems with his right foot but plenty with his golf swing.
McIlroy, a back-nine starter, closed a two-over par with five bogeys in his last six holes.
“I’m just not driving the ball well enough,” McIlroy said. “It has been a problem all year for the most part. I miss it right, then I want to try to correct it. And then I’ll overdo it, and I’ll miss it left.
“It’s a little bit of back and forth that way. So that’s pretty frustrating, especially when I pride myself on driving the ball well.
“I just need to try to figure it out. I honestly thought I had figured it out.”
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An unlikely quartet did solve Aronimink’s trademark undulating greens, including 23-year-old Hisatsune, who made seven birdies, four of them after each bogey in his round in only his fifth major appearance.
“I’m very lucky, especially with a lot of birdies and a lot of bounce back, so it’s comfortable to play,” Hisatsune said. “I’m so happy.”
Potgieter, a 21-year-old South African making his sixth major start, made six birdies, including a 43-foot putt at 11, in his PGA Championship debut.
“I hit it on the right spots, especially on the greens,” Potgieter said. “I didn’t feel like I had to putt over some of these big slopes we had.
“I definitely left myself in really good positions on the green, made some long putts, so it was nice the putter was warm.”
Jaeger birdied five of the first nine holes but struggled on the back nine. “On the front I hit some fairways and made some nice putts,” Jaeger said. “Kept it together on the back. It’s just playing a little harder. I’m definitely happy with the round for sure.”
Sitting one stroke back on 68 were England’s Daniel Brown, who holed out for eagle from 102 yards in the 11th fairway, plus Americans Sahith Theegala, Max Greyserman and Xander Schauffele, a two-time major winner.
“I made three birdies in the first four holes and was feeling pretty good,” Schauffele said. “Then started to play a lot worse golf for the next six holes. Then got a little bit better again. So I got the full experience.”
American Jordan Spieth, who would complete a career Grand Slam with a victory this week, fired a 69.
“I feel like I played better than I scored, which is frustrating because you want to get the most out of your round,” Spieth said. “Just go out there tomorrow and try to make a few more putts.”
Others on 69 included five-time major winner Brooks Koepka, two-time major winner Jon Rahm and South African Garrick Higgo, who was issued a two-stroke penalty for being late to the first tee.
“I wouldn’t have been late if I knew I was running late,” Higgo said.
Spain’s Rahm holed out from the fairway for eagle with a wedge from 101 yards at the second hole.
“What can I say? It was a phenomenal shot,” Rahm said.
A far less phenomenal shot from the former world No.1 was when he hit a volunteer with a divot after taking a swing out of frustration.
“Yeah, it hit him, and unfortunately it hit him in the shoulder and then the face. Which I couldn’t feel any worse,” Rahm said.
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Australia’s Adam Scott played the front nine in even par, the same score as countryman Travis Smyth as he neared the turn.
In just his second major championship, the Asian Tour and former LIV golfer made an eagle at the par 5 16th – his seventh hole of the day.
Ripper GC member Elvis Smylie was finding things a little tougher at +2 after 12 holes.
Meanwhile, DeChambeau’s nightmare opening included an interesting moment with a rules official.
The LIV star missed the second fairway, which doglegs to left, a long way right and his ball ended up on some steps that lead up to a grandstand.
DeChambeau then had back-and-forth with a rules official to figure out where he could take relief, and could be hearing saying: “I am so confused right now.”
Cameron Smith had a similar experience on the 18th, his ninth hole of the day, when he pulled his drive next to the ESPN broadcast booth and was forced to move wires and take relief from the temporary structure to play his second shot.