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Contested each May, the PGA Championship is the second major championship in golf’s annual rotation, and perennially features the strongest field in the men’s game based on the Official World Golf Rankings. Known for dramatic finishes and notable champions, the Wanamaker Trophy—which has been awarded to the winner since 1916—is inscribed with names such as Rory McIlroy, Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Jack Nicklaus, and Gary Player.
The 2025 PGA Championship is set to take place between 8-11 May at Quail Hollow Club. The reigning champion is Xander Schauffele.
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championship. This is the 700 a.m. starting time. Now on the tea, please welcome the 2025 European Rder Cup captain from England, Luke Donald. Now 47, former world number one. He gets us underway. And it is a challenging start to this tournament, Andy. One is all you want. 504 yards today. Dog leg slightly left to right. Aim it right in between those two bunkers in the distance. And we’re off. That’ll do. Now on the tea, please welcome the 2008 PGA champion from Ireland, Padre Harrington, World Golf Hall of Famer, three-time major champion. Podrick still going to have a grip at this. Yeah, he has this theory takes three really hard swings. He feels like his fourth one is the hardest. Thank you. He can still move it out there. This could be a good golf course for him. He finds the fair way to start. Now on the tea, please welcome the 2010 PGA champion from Germany, Martin Kimer. Where’s the time go? It’s 40. Another former world number one and twotime major champion. That’s leaking a bit too far to the right. [Applause] So this trio of European Stars is off and this 107th PGA Championship is indeed underway. ESPN Plus and the PGA of America proudly present the 2025 PGA Championship. [Music] We look forward to bringing you the first round being here all throughout the week and the story lines are clearly defined. Last major we saw Rory join the most exclusive club in the game. He completed the career grand slam. Since then, Scotty has had a win down in Texas where he tied the PGA Tours all-time scoring record trying to win a third major. JT trying to win his third PGA championship. He’s been a winner since Augusta National. Jordan Spe has his ninth swing at it trying to join the career slam. And a storyline certainly not today, but it has been since we arrived on the grounds. It has rained quite a bit. A bit about 5 in since the weekend. 5 in according to Andy North. I trust your weather instincts always with Andy North. Scott Vampel with you. And Andy, we love the story lines. The biggest one here this week is that we have not had the normal runup to Thursday in in terms of being out there. But because of the familiarity here, how different is it than it would have been if we were somewhere we haven’t been much in the past few years? I think first of all, the players are such creatures of habit. They really do like to go through their routines. Not many players played at all on Monday. Tuesday was some players got some golf in. Wednesday, they probably played more than they would have liked to on a Wednesday. That’s usually a day you really kind of back off a little bit. But I think the key is the conditions were so soggy. Even if you went out there, it’s not at all the golf course we’re going to see. So the players who have been here multiple times, they understand how to get it around the key to this golf course. Put it in the fairway off the tea. If you can do that, you can be aggressive and then putting these greens. And that’s going to be the biggest thing. It’s such a big ballpark. And part Harington who’s out there now made the comment. I believe it’s to Dave Fleming. is the wetest golf course he said he’s ever seen. It’s a bit like a sponge if you used it to sort of soop up a spill and didn’t ring it out. As you step, it’s splashing and so already a big golf course. It’s not going to roll a lot. I have to think that narrows the field to to who could win this week. Is that how you see it? You you watch those T- shots. Luke Donald’s ball actually rolled about 15 yards. That’s a huge good sign. So, I think I think it’s going to be really an interesting week. Uh, I think there’s some great scorers out there, but it’s an odd combination. You’re playing out of kind of soft fairways into some firm greens. These greens with all this rain still firm. So, it’s going to be interesting if the players can get the ball close to the hole. We will be tipping our cap to Keith Wood and his men and women from this staff who prepared this immaculate golf course. And boy, they’ve had a challenge to get it ready. Thankfully, the sun is out and it does appear that we have got a pretty good chunk of runway here with some weather that figures to be really nice. The sun’s going to be shining. It’s going to be warm as we prepare for the year’s second major championship. And we talk about storylines and boy, we’ve got them. And we’ve got the one and two players in the world in terms of the World Golf Rankings arriving on form. Marty Smith, Jeff Darlington going to talk about them. And Marty, I want to begin with you. and and Rory, we saw that damn burst of emotions as he fell to his knees at Augusta National. You visited with him that evening and I know you’ve talked to him since. Where’s his head as he arrives on the grounds this week? Yeah, Scotty, good morning. He’s supremely confident. And it’s interesting because he’s in such a unique position. He’s achieved every dream he ever had at just 36 years old. And he told me here on the range this week that with that comes tremendous emotional freedom. But he’s being very intentional that that confidence he now feels coming back to a golf course at which he’s had historic success, he wants to make sure that confidence doesn’t become comfortable because comfortable, he said, has a distinct way of becoming complacent. And he’s right in the middle of his prime as a golfer. There’s a lot more tournaments to win potentially including the PGA Championship this weekend. He told me earlier this year there’s no golf course in the world that sets up better for his game than right here at Quail Hollow Club. He’ll tee off at 8:22 alongside Xander Schoffley and world number one Scotty Sheffller. And with more on Scotty, here’s Jeff Darlington. Jeff, good morning. Good morning, Marty. If anyone had any wonder whether Scotty Sheffler would find his winning form. If Scotty Sheffller himself had that same wonder, it was squashed two weeks ago at the CJ Cup when he won with authority. 31 underpar, won by eight strokes. And he did tell me that he feels like he can ride that momentum into this major championship. He spent the last month or so really since the Masters in Dallas getting some rest. He feels like he is very rested coming here. Now, I also asked him about the idea that he is not quite as familiar with Quail Hollow as the rest of the field, having not played in that annual tournament as often. He did mention though that he played in the 2022 President’s Cup. He got four practice rounds in there. He also got four tournament rounds. He said that is plenty for him to be familiar here. He also, by the way, showed up a day earlier. He got here on Sunday, played nine holes, and he feels like this is absolutely a golf course where he can win. Scotty arriving in that burnt orange that is familiar to Texas. I think folks connected the dot of the different orange from a year ago. Still inexplicable and hard to fathom what happened, but that was that was long ago. That was long ago. We’re here now. And Andy, as you as you narrow the lens to just world number one and number two, it’s a massive field here this week and any of them could win. But when I asked you on Sports Center to pick me a winner, you said, “Give me those two.” And since you’re you, I’ll give you those two. Is that is that how you view this week? You handicap it from it’s those two are on their own level. I think I think they are almost every time they play in the same event. They’re they’re so much better than I think everybody else if they play to their ceiling. They really are. You look at uh the rankings, they’re they’re number one and two in almost every single stat. They they just they pass the eyeball test. They do the things you expect them to. And then you look at this particular golf course and Rory has had such success here. He’s so long and with the softer conditions the far is he can carry the ball so much farther. He there’s a lot of guys that are long but he’s long in the air and that is huge this week. Yeah, you’re going to have to flight the ball carry it a long long way. Andy, you’re making the comparison between the two. It really is stunning. I mean ones and twos next to your name. uh that’s going to have you low and uh at one or two on leaderboards. Uh is there one stat this week that you think that the winner is going to have to be in the one or two in order to be one on the leaderboard? You know, we talk we get to major championships, we talk about the greens and how difficult they are putting. These are tough greens to putt. There’s a lot of undilations in there. So much like Augusta National, the guy can hit great approach shots. Best iron player, the best iron player in the world, Scotty Sheffler. And it’s worth reiterating that it was remarkable how much water the golf course took and how wet the fairways were. Even in the midst of all of that rain, you’d see a player walk up and they’d look at you and say, “Watch this.” Drop the ball and it made a sound and it bounced. About the golf course itself, of course, it’s uh it’s well known to these players and certainly well known to the folks at home. It’s a tour stop and a major venue for the second time. fourth longest layout in PGA championship history, better than 7,600 yards. There’s water in play on six holes, including the last five, most notably those last three, which are so very difficult. It’s a brute eight par4s of at least 450, which is tied for the most in the last quarter century in this championship. Good morning and good night. How about you start off with the second hardest hole, you finish on 18. And it’s not just 18, it’s also the 72nd hole come Sunday when you’re trying to win this wana maker. Uh that’s a significant challenge. The first hole, the hardest opening hole of the PGA since Wingfoot back in 97. Interestingly though, they did shorten it just a touch from the last time we played a major here. However, they did back up nine and 16 significantly. There were some bunkers out there that they didn’t want guys flying. Although I think Rory could probably still still carry it over 16. We’ll see. Let’s move ahead to the green here at one which is surrounded by three bunkers. And Padrick’s found one. Back in 2017, this first hole was the most difficult green to hit in regulation on the golf course. A third of the field now. That’s a beautiful play. That’s a nice It’ll be interesting how the players handle the bunkers cuz there’s been so much water. The texture maybe is a little bit different than they’re used to. I think as it dries out, they’re going to be beautiful surfaces to play out of. Walking the golf course yesterday, you took notice of just how compacted that sand was. Uh although you can see the way that they they rake them here down at the bottom, which is where the balls should settle in. Well, I think the way they’ve got these raked is that the ball that hits up into the lips is going to roll down into the middle of the bunker. So, they may not play as difficult as people think. Donald found greenside bunker to the left of the green. has been a really a really good bunker player. So much softness in that swing. Captain the European side to a victory in Italy and will be playing a road game up in Beth Paige and they know it. He is a very very solid team too. It is that it is that we’ve already said hello alongside Andy North. Great to be with Dave Fleming, Matt Barry with us as well on the golf course. Billy Kratz, Susie, John McInness. We saw Jeff Darlington as well be doing some interviews. Tom Carp is with us, pardon me, from the PGA of America should we have any questions regarding the rules, but it is a it is a long day of golf for the players. It’s a labor of love for us. We are off and running. Great to be with you here on ESPN Plus. We’ll see you later today on ESPN. It’s just a blast to cover these majors. And it is so nice to see a shadow. We haven’t seen a shadow for 5 days. Yeah, the sun came bursting through the clouds on on Wednesday. We all looked at the sky and said, “What is the glowing orb that we see?” Here’s Kimer. We’ll try to ground out a par. We talk so much about 16, 17, and 18 and how difficult they are. One, two, and three are only two ten of a shot easier than those other three holes. So, the start is very, very difficult. And we’re seeing that shown right here as Kimer who knocked his T-shot to the right of the fairway will make at least bogey. And this is a look overhead. See the routing of the golf course. This golf course has been changed multiple times over the the 60 70 years that it’s been here. Give Johnny Harris a ton of credit. He’s a guy that that that will tweak. He seeks counsel from the players, asks them what could be better. Always trying to strive to improve. You you you love to see that a place that’s already an elevated excellent golf course and he’s trying to always see if what could make it even better. You see Donald here now for par. That’s very nicely read. Big breaker. It’s a lovely up and down. Luke has not played a ton of golf. Has not made a cut in the five events that he has played again at this point. Ryder Cup is the focus of what he is doing and he was a brilliant captain try to win here in the United States. I don’t think people understand the time commitment that the captain puts in. Unfortunately, they get a lot of credit. They get a lot of grief if they don’t if things don’t go well. But they work on that project for basically 18 months and it’s every day they’re doing something. You understand what’s on Keegan Bradley’s plate as well. Of course, he’ll captain the US side has been playing and playing very well. Let’s see timer here now. That’s a nice save for boi. Limits the damage there, but you see couple of semi-lengthy putts. Both hold here. And let’s see if Podrick can get up and down as well. Played a gorgeous bunker shot out of that right bunker. These greens have got a lot of speed to them. And I I think it it’s almost shocking to the players when they’ve got so much moisture and you know they should be slower, but they aren’t. They’re beautiful texture. They’ve got a nice firmness to them. I think there’s going to be a lot of putts made if the players can keep the ball below the hole. This is another one of those golf courses if you get on the wrong side of the hole, putting becomes treacherous. Harrington rolls that in and his PJ championship gets underway with an up and down. Smile on his face. Brooks Kepka Pete Cowan is a fixture on the range for decades. Very learned eyes counsel that he provides. Brooks Brooks been grinding hard. was gonna have a chat with him about his beloved Florida Panthers. But there’s a look a man has when he’s working and there’s a look a guy has when he’s on the ranges hitting balls. He was working and so I said this is not the time to go talk about the Panthers. Although they did probably be in a good mood after what they did last night to Toronto. You know, when he shows up at a major championship, he’s able to elevate his game to another level. He’s had so much success. You wouldn’t be a bit surprised if he’s right in the middle of this Sunday. We got four days of major championship golf on ESPN and ESPN Plus. And we’ve got major champions stacked all over. How about the 738 time, fivetime major champion, Brooks Keepka trying to win the Waker for the fourth time, which would tie him. The guy named Tiger Woods for third all time in the tournament. Shane Lowry played so well last week. Cricket Club in Philadelphia, world number 10, looking for his fifth top 10 of the season. Looking for back-to-back top 10s in the PGA. He was six last year at Valhalla. Ricky Fowler played well in Philly last week, tied for 15th. We know he’s knocked on the door so frequently in majors still trying to knock it down. 749 group features the twotime PGA champion Bill Mickelson trying to get back into the mix. Historic win down at Kila, the oldest major champion ever. Tommy Fleetwood speak like Ricky, a great ball striker, a guy that when he wins a major won’t be a shock. kind of stunning he hasn’t just yet given the kind of world class ball striker he is Jason Day 2015 PGA champion also has one here on this golf course 8 a.m. group headlined by John Ron. Couple of major championships to his credit trying to regain the form that got him the US Open and a Mast’s championship. You talk about best not to win. Patrick Kentlay is a guy who has played a ton of class golf. The Quail Hollow, the breakthrough moment for Patrick Kentlay. That Fitzpatrick the US Open champion, but has not played the weekend in his last two starts in the PGA Championship. You want the best in the world, you got him at 8:22 Eastern time. Mroy Shaw Fle can’t ask for a whole lot more. Just heard Marty Smith a moment ago talk about the expectations for Rory. You wonder, does it free him up to put his foot on the gas or is he a man who’s complete now? He says he’s got a lot more championship golf to play. Love what Xander Schoffley did. Didn’t change a thing. Had been close. Continued in the belief in himself. Won not once but twice on the major championship stage last summer here at Valhalla and in the open championship. But Scotty Shepler of course a two-time major champion both at the Masters. World number one. When he plays to his ceiling, it’s a question whose best is the best. It’s hard to argue that Scotty’s ceiling could be higher than anyone else’s in the game. Xander Schoffley the issue here in the question I asked him straight up how you feeling had that rib injury missed some time only he knows for sure just how the body feels but he did miss a decent amount of time as he let his rib heal and kind of a off the radar top 10 at Augusta National. That’s the kind of the player he is. You he’s going to be part of it. as we get to the golf course. Fox third shot on 10 winner last week and Myrtle. This is a par five. So that you see the ball actually bounced short of the green up there. I mean that was a very nice play and have having the confidence to go ahead and play the bounce. Confidence you say? There’s a man that arrives full of it. And Roy is still receiving the agilation and the congratulation that he earned. I said, “I don’t know if it’s getting boring, bud, but congrats.” He says, “No, no, I think it’s okay.” As he receives his flowers, so to speak. We’re off and running here from Quail Hollow. Thanks for being with us all morning. That was a nice pace too, Michael. That was and without it being without it being frantic. I thought that was very good. It’s nice to have a calming effect in there. Andy, you in the open with the shadow comment. Brilliant sunscreen. I got to find my sunscreen. Shadows. [Music] Hit the green at the PGA Championship with ESPN Bet Sports Book. Start off the tournament with $100 in bonus bets when you make your first $10 wager. Download the ESPN Bat app and sign up with promo code birdie to get started today. [Music] And Brian Fox chipped in for birdie to win a three-man playoff trying to start the PGA championship with a birdie. That was last week. And a leader go for that red number one up on the board. 10 is a just under 600 yard par five that the players could possibly reach, but it’s a really nice way to get the day started if you start on the second nine. That is interesting. Just I mean you’re going to have to play them all as the saying goes saying goes because it’s true, but start on one, it’s so difficult. You start on 10 and it’s a par five that as we just saw you could reasonably start with a birdie. And there’s Scotty Shuffler. He’s on the green. just watched this guy walk around with our buddy Stanford Steve and it’s Monday and it’s raining and there’s not a lot of work necessarily getting done, but Steve said it just looks like that that guy looks like he’s always preparing to play a golf tournament, right? Just the way he carries himself and the and the work that he does. Well, I love the fact that he came in Sunday, got some work done when it wasn’t raining very much and then it, you know, poured so much on Monday that most of the players went through the motions of playing the golf course, but hitting shots out of the wet and stuff, it really didn’t do a whole lot of good. Most of the the practice Monday and Tuesday when it was so wet was all around the greens, pitching, chipping, bunker shots, uh hitting a lot of putts from different places. This is a difficult golf course in a lot of ways to putt longer putts because you’re always coming over some kind of a ridge and the speeds are really up the hills super slow, down the hills super fast. So getting the speed right is tough and it’s a point that I’m certain we’ll make quite a bit throughout this week. Just the familiarity that these players have with this place. No one more so than four time winner at Quail Hollow Roy Mroy. But it it you wouldn’t have felt I don’t presume the same level of stress you might have if you go to a place like an Oak Hill where these a lot of these players never been there even a Valhalla last year just didn’t have the same type of level of familiarity that this that this place does more with his third on the first when you can start hearing the ball as it pitches onto the green those are firm and as the g day goes on and The sun bakes these things, they’re going to get to be something else. Time for 12 last year. 31-year-old playing in his third PGA. And now Kimer on two. Good morning, Scott. Hi, Dave. First look at the beautiful second hole. You guys were describing the first hole left to right. Number two, big dog leg right to left. Back to one and pooch from the bunker. Another really nice bunker shot. 23y old. Excellent player. Beautiful look at the beautiful morning here in Charlotte. Beautiful practice facilities. Lot of room, chipping greens, bunker bunker play. The guys can get a lot of work in the the advances at this particular site have been amazing. The infrastructure around the golf courses fabulous for setting up big events. Johnny Harris is an Augusta National Major and you feel a lot of those touches that uh they have at Augusta National. No, no place is that, but you try to bring some of the feeling of that and provide the players the the best opportunity to get prepared. If if you have a golf course, you’re trying to figure out how to make it better. And there are a lot of places to look to make it better. and and Augusta National obviously is one of those places and Johnny Harris has been a member there for a long time and loves the game of golf. Give him an awful lot of credit turning Qualo into one of the great facilities we have. Randy Smith, longtime legendary Texas golf instructor. Scotty’s, if you look at some of his numbers this year, his putting may be even better than it was last year. So, as he’s excuse me, getting more comfortable, which we I thought at Dallas. I thought Dallas he looked like Scotty Sheffller for the first time this year. When you come to these events, folks always say like, “Give us a give us a dark horse.” I feel like I always say the name Septraka. When a man arrives off a victory in an elevated event, you can hardly say his name. It’s just Isra people will say maybe not. But could he be the last man standing on Sunday? I’d say he certainly could. He’s already won twice this year. Other than worry, he’s the only player to have won multiple times. Does everything nicely. Not exceptionally long, but beautiful golf swing. Puts it in play. Just looks comfortable out there. Now, one of the many Georgia Bulldogs out here you see in his PGA championship career, he has been in the top 10. You mentioned a couple of victories, multiple winners, Rory and Seth. Good list to be on. Go ahead. And I think he really looks more comfortable than he did a year ago and more comfortable than he was the year before that. He just looks like he’s finding his routine out here. He’s finding himself. I think he’s going to be a tough player to handle for a long time. That’s a monster stat right there. Second in shots gained to Sheffller. And can you momentum is is it real or people that will argue it’s a real thing in sports. Can you carry it from week to week? You see that winning the week before a major? You can do it, but it hasn’t happened a ton. I think it depends on the player. You look at the list of guys that we have here. These are big- time major winners. They know how to handle the success of winning. If if you win for the first time in your career the week before a major, no chance to win the next week because you’re basking in the glory of winning. You can’t believe you finally did it. no chance to do well. I mean, it’s hard to win. It’s and and it takes a lot out of you. And we see again, can pooch make it hand rolls that in. That’s lovely. Another up and in out of a greenside bunker. Already a relatively familiar with the majors. Played in four. See if Kimer can get I’m sorry. I I’m just talking a lot, Dave. I I I love the way you guys have set the stage for the morning. Downhill putt on two for Martin Kimer. You can talk again, Scott. Thanks. See if Moore can roll this one in. Yeah, you know, there’s nothing better than making a a four five-footer on the very first hole to save power after a nice pitch. Really kind of gets you into the rhythm of the game. Third for Patrick Fishburn, 114th ranked player in the world. We’re going to see the balls. Looks like it’s slowing down around the hole and then that last 18 in of run out. That’s the kind of speed they have, particularly going back down hills. They’re burning a couple of uh couple of top 10s in the PG tour’s first major. Alex Norin. He’s a player who has had an up and down career, but he’s really worked hard to get back into top 75 in the world rankings and playing some really good golf again. It’s his 13th appearance in this championship. So, a wealth of major championship experience. Here’s the par putt for Martin Kimer. I didn’t talk. I didn’t talk. I didn’t talk. He poured it right in. So bounce back from that bogey start for Kimer to 10. This is an awkward shot for Sheamus Power. He’s got to bounce it into that hill, try to take a little bit of speed off of it. You miss the greens on on this golf course in these runoff areas. The pitching becomes very difficult. 10 is a really interesting green in terms of where the whole location is and and you mentioned can you go for it? You can. I would think try to lay up to the number that you could get to the get to these hole locations depending on where they are. Yeah. Here’s Fox at 11. Good look at the second shot uphill at this par4. Sorry, David. We got a long day ahead of us. Don’t you worry. Whole location close to those two left greenside bunkers today in the first round. Some of the best players in the world are just minutes away from starting this PGA Championship, including that guy. Carries his own bucket of balls out there. You’ll love to see it. See power for his birdie. This is actually going back up a little bit. fairly straightforward. Was in the top 10 in Southern Hills. Had a chance to talk to him a little bit on Tuesday walking around the golf course. He lived here in Charlotte for a bunch of years. He’s now relocated to Vegas. You just love this city. Beautiful birdie. [Music] But what a gorgeous morning. This is exactly what PJ is hoping for. Get the golf course to dry out a little bit. It looks like we’ve got a couple of beautiful days ahead of us. It is going to get toasty warm out there. All the moisture coming out of the ground. It’s they’re talking maybe close to 90 the next couple of days. So, as it dries up, do wonder about the possibility of mud balls, but maybe more Friday than today. We’ll see. Yeah. See if can start his major. Just get a sense of how fast that was. A lot of stories this week, you know, be quite often we see a name we haven’t heard of or haven’t seen much of go out and shoot something low the first day, get that first round lead, but we’ve got an awful lot of class in this field. It’s said every year and with reason it’s as good a field as there is in the game of golf. There’s a look overhead at 10. And this is I I think I was talking to Justin Thomas about felt like his comments maybe got misconstrued when he said that his golf course is right in front of you. You just got to pound it out there. He wasn’t saying like wasn’t you don’t have to think tactically. It’s just that there it is. You see it. Straa’s taking a hack at it. But now he’s going to have to work hard to get up and down for a birdie. He does have a little bit of green from that angle coming in. Next will be Alex Molly who just got in because Deg Gala had to withdraw. He he withdrew last week. He’s not feeling well. So hopefully he can get straightened out. But a great opportunity for Alex. Saw his name up on the board during the practice round. You come and you prepare as if you have a chance to play. Now you’ve got to make the most of it. Taking it down the left side. I don’t know if you can get to the green. It’s going to be in the rough. The ball settled that one. Most of them are the grass is thick enough it sits up so you can get quite a bit of club on it. The depth of the rough isn’t significant. The thickness of it is Alex Noran for his opening birdie. Did he get it there? Yes. Boy, you thought what a start. A little bit short just kept creeping and creeping. That’s exactly how he thought he’d start the day. Sitting in his room last night imagining his his day ahead of him. Couldn’t ask for much more, particularly on the very difficult first to two. Yeah, this is a good look at what the players face. Taylor Moore hits the tree. This is one of the tightest driving holes at Quail Hollow. And if you don’t find the fairway, you could be in big trouble. Dave, it’s really important to put on the right hand side. There’s one big tree at the corner. When we were out walking the golf course, Andy, couple different cavies, their summary of hole two left is dead. It’s always an interesting strategy though. I talking to Keegan Bradley at Augusta National, how much he had played with Phil and Phil has all these charts of where you can’t hit it and Keegan said, “You you tell me where I can’t hit it and it’s like a magnet.” Exactly. Right. I’m I’m gonna end up hitting it there. to me in a positive way that the place you want to be is on the right side. All these X’s don’t go here. You’re all of a sudden your eyes looking over there. All right, we’ve got some spectacular pairings coming up throughout the morning hours and u awaiting the introduction and the beginning of their first round is our 7:38 time. It’s Keep Lowry and Fowler. They’ll be introduced in just a moment. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the 107th PGA Championship. This is the 7:38 starting time. Now on the tea, please welcome our 2018, 2019, and 2023 PGA champion from Florida, Brooks Keepka. That night I be a great feeling to step on a team in a major and hear him say three different years. Yeah, that’s a wonderful feeling. And boy, talk about a player who can raise his level when you get to major championships. You almost have a feeling he doesn’t care about anything else very much other than when he gets to these events. And we’ve seen him play some amazing golf. now on the team. That is not the start he wants. From Florida, Ricky Fowler. Good buddy of his in that live in that neighborhood down there in Florida where so many are. Ricky Fowler. Yeah, we just keep expecting him to have great weeks. He’s he hasn’t finished off a lot of tournaments very well this year after being in reasonable position. You know, the difference between 72 on a Sunday and 68 might be 20 or 30 spots. You know, you can have years where you feel like you’re playing pretty well, but you just never do anything with it. Expect him to break through here pretty soon again. There’s good example of how soft it is. Now on the team, please welcome from Ireland, Shane Lowry. This guy has a game that travels and and he seems like major championships. He’s I don’t care where it is. I don’t care which one of the majors, what style it is, this guy’s game adds up. He does a lot of things so naturally, it doesn’t look like he ever gets in his way and gets caught up. Now, this one obviously starting way too far left. He was my pick for a dot article he did early because I I decided not to pick the two guys everybody’s talking about. Andy picked five different people in in five different places. And and the reason that’s a bad idea, it’s not. I I tell you the same thing. No one. All you got to do is just keep saying names and if you get one right, say I said yes, I picked him. All right. To two. This is the third shot for Taylor Moore after ricocheting off the tree. So trying to get up and down and save par. And he’s put himself in a pretty darn good position to do so. And Dave, that’s one of the most difficult areas right of that second green. It is a big swale down there to 10. Green is third. I really feel like at the 10th hole with this right front hole location, if you can’t get it right up around the green, you better get a shot where you back far enough to spin it just like he did. That was beautifully done. His major championship debut could begin with a birdie. 211. Watch the putts roll on these greens early. I I think a lot of putts are going to go in. Not that one for Ryan Fox. And a lot of putts are probably also going to do that. Roll out. Yeah, it’s you know, you look up, you see it go by the hole. I think it’s going to be 18 in or so and it turns to be three feet or four feet. third for struck and it looked like it spun out of air kind of heavy that you know that’s a longer bunker shot. It’s hard to blast it far enough. He was able to get it on the green but that’s the one bunker on 10 you do not want to be in. Mroy and that glamour group coming 8:22. So they’ve still got a little more than a half an hour to get ready. You got all day to sit in, settle in, and enjoy. covering the first round of the PGA Championship. Quail Hollow. I think the memories I have from there and just the overall vibes that I get from the place, I just love it. The design of the golf course, too. The par fives for me are reachable. People talk about Augusta being, you know, tailor made for my game and and some ways I can I can see that. But, you know, I don’t think there’s a golf course in the world that sets up quite as well for me as Quill Hall. If I’m if I’m driving the ball well, if I’m driving the ball well at Quill Hollow, I I feel like I’ve, you know, I’ve got quite an advantage over the rest of the field. If you go back to courses that you’ve been to over and over again, it’s like, okay, well, I I know what to do here. I’ve done this before. And I and I think that that experience on a golf course is a is a big deal as well. Got his first win on the PGA Tour here at Quail Hollow. It’s funny to see that younger guy. We knew him well then, but he’s just he he’s now a man in full and with the slam in his back pocket and the vibes that he spoke of and his ability to drive it as well as anyone on the planet. Certainly a guy that could be a champion here yet again. Let’s see if Seb can make the long distance birdie coming that direction is much slower but good speed control. 211 from the second of the two fairway bunkers. This is Patrick Fishburn. It’s 325 to carry that second bunker. Dave, I think we’re going to see a lot of good shots played out of the fairway bunkers this week because the ball is not going to get up near the lips. It’s going to stay down on the bottoms, so there’s plenty of room and it’ll be nice and firm. They should be able to hit some great shots. Let’s see if McGrevy can cash in that great approach. This is downhill very quick. Boomer Sooner, 30-year-old from Edund, Oklahoma. Couldn’t ask for a better start. played it exactly as you draw it up. And that’s and that’s the beauty of this golf course. It’s it’s right in front of you. If you can put a game plan together and then execute it, you should you should be able to make a bunch of birdies to two after his birdie at the first. Very nice drive. Andy said premium on right side of the fairway. That’s where Alex Norin put the ball. Then he got a good look straight up the hill and spins back just a little bit but an excellent shot and he’s got it blow the hole and that’s the key to be making putts out here and it still keeps trickling moving. It was Yeah, that is one of the more slanted greens I would say at Quail Hollow from back to front. number two. Back to 10. All right. Yeah. Third shots and Capka prepares for his third. We say good morning to our friend John McInness. How are you, John? Excellent. Good morning, guys. Capka actually threw a really good line over there in the trees, but laid it up to here. 126 down the hill. This a wet shot. You think you should get close? That’s not the spot to miss it when that’s the danger going at that front right hole location. He’d like to a little bit past the hole, maybe a little bit left of it be your aiming point. looked like he was about a yard or two shy of where he was trying to land it and just fractionally off. But the penalty is that in so many of these runoff areas, this quail hollow has a lot of them like that where you think you’re going to be on the edge of the green and you might end up 15 or 20 yards [Applause] off about 8 yds closer. is much higher. And that’s I think the more logical play to put it a little bit left of the hole, not be quite as aggressive. He gave that telltale drop of the club to the shoulder. Didn’t look like he loved it at maybe a little bit of a pull. Here’s Ricky. He also got his first win right here on this property. Dangerous. Stay there. [Applause] barely so he can sprint up and mark. And meanwhile, back on the tea, Phil Mickelson. [Applause] This is a guy who’s still remarkably competitive and is not going to surrender his place in the game, nor should he. I just think that what he did at Kioa, if if that’s the final great moment in a career, it’ll stand for ever for what he did to four. Gentlemen, good morning. Good to be with you. The first look at the par three fourth 186 yards today. Luke Donald even for his round. He’ll have a good look at birdie. And now John Rob had a nice finish at the Masters this week. Bit of an enigma come major championship since moving over to live. Good course for his game. A long hitter. We’ll see what John Rob can do when he goes off this morning. 8:00 a.m. Eastern featured group here on ESPN Plus to 11. Well, Patrick Fishburn great shot out of the fairway bunker. Had a good birdie opportunity up the hill at 11. just stayed left. I think something to watch as we move forward is that Coyle Hollow has a lot of dog legs, a lot of left to rights, a lot of right to lefts, and there’s some of these corners that a guy like Rory can carry over the corner. Some other players might have to even hit 3-wood to keep it in the fairway like at the second hole to get the ball in position. see that uh Brooks has got the putter here, John. Well, that fringe is pretty moist still. He’s going to have to pound this to get it on the green. That was always going to be really hard to judge right there. And once you get up on the green, it slopes from players right to left. So that’s really really hard to get it up and in if you miss it on the right. What a great call, John, about just the moisture still in that collar. The fear would be to leave it short and unfortunately he just hammered it through. Well, he doesn’t play in the do a whole lot. They tee off at 1:00 on that lip tour. Not the de sweeper crew to 12. All right, Perry just off the green at 12. A good look for Perry. Does it go? How about that? Andy, no. Green, no problem. John Perry for Birdie to move to even got to love stealing one basically. Shane Lowry brilliant last week at Philadelphia. Sorry, John. Go ahead. I I just have always felt the front of this screen is so hard to read because it looks like it’s pitched back toward the fairway, but it’s cascading down from the from the clubhouse and it’s just a difficult read. Get back to 10 in a minute. Here’s progress on two. Yeah, he was a lot closer than 24 ft when the ball bounced and rolled up toward the hole and he spun it back to here. for a second straight birdie. Think that was a good evidence of what speed these greens are today because that didn’t have spin on it. That just was gravity taken at the last 10 or 12 feet. Yeah. All right. Now, Brooks, he hammered that one. Just a horrific start. Out of position off the tea and it’s really the the damage was I guess that third, wasn’t it, John? Yeah, I mean it almost inexplicable to miss it that far over to the right. It’s dead over there. He knew it. He’s been here before. You know, sometimes, John, you get the perfect yardage with a wedge. You feel like you can be really aggressive with it. And he probably missed his his mark by three yards at most. And then the slopes take him well away from the hole. Now Ricky. Should just be a little left to right in this, but he can hit it up the hill. Boy, that was a good looking putt. These greens have got a little bit of speed to them and they’re still got some moisture as the day goes on. We could see and we haven’t seen a player with one of those putts over a ridge to get there and those are the ones that are impossible to get the right feet speed. These greens are incredibly pure. You probably continue to hear us mention the name Keith Wood throughout the day, but I I you cannot overstate the job that that group has done to get this golf course ready. Now, Kepta, see if you can get this bogey in there. He limits the damage, but the damage done with that wedge. That third put him in a defensive place and we dropped a shot to start here on Thursday at Quell Hollow. About a half an hour away from Rory’s group which includes world number one and our reigning champion. You see what we have coming up for you as we continue on here on ESPN Plus. How about a trio of absolute superstars, Rory and that green jacket, newest member of the Grand Slam Club, four titles here as well. Xander Schoffler knocked the major championship door down at Valhalla. Added a clear jug. What a summer it was for him. I don’t know if you could say rounding out the trio when you’re the world number one. He’s a headliner in his own right. Scotty Sheffller looking to add another major in the first. It’s not a green jacket. What a Thursday morning we’ve got here for you at Quail Hollow as we off and running with our coverage PGA Championship on ESPN Plus. [Applause] Continue here from the 7 PGA Championship. We’re waiting for the introduction of John Ra, one of the very best players on the planet. We know that already in his ninth career championship, does have a top five to his credit. He’s got top 10s in all seven of the live events which have been played thus far around the globe. halfway to the slam. Want a Tory was a remarkable performance on that Sunday and has a green jacket as well. Rahm gets ready and he’ll be introduced now. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the 107th PGA Championship. This is the 8 a.m. starting time. Now on the tea, please welcome from Spain, John Rom. Andy, you talk about the length of this golf course. You’re going to need to be a brute, and this is a man that’s got that in the bag. Absolutely. He also has the ability to move the ball both right to left and left to right, which you need to do here on quite a few drives. Get it in the fairway on this first T- shot and get off to a good start. He put himself out of position at Augusta National with a 75 and was fighting to make the cut. And to his credit, he fought all weekend long that getting into the top 20 there, but that’s not what that guy’s trying to do. Fairley Ber starts at 308 yds. He’s got it in the fairway. Perfect start. Now on the team, please welcome from Florida, Patrick Kentlay. a very serious dude. Goes about his business. Played well last week in Philadelphia and he doesn’t want to be the guy that they talk about being the best player who hasn’t won a major championship. Not the moniker anyone wants, but he’s a player that you you surely would think it would happen soon. He’s got length. He drives the ball pretty darn straight. an example of that. Although it’s leaking [Applause] left just in to that bunker. Now on the team, please welcome from England, Matthew Fitzpatrick. When you win a major, it changes the way people look at you. And then I think there’s elevated expectations since since that happened. I don’t know that that Matt Fitzpatrick has played to the level that people thought he might after 3-1 up in Boston. Is that reasonable? I I think that is something that happens quite often. I personally I had that effect that I my goal was to win the US Open and when you won it all of a sudden you now accomplished this goal and was like I was a rudderless ship for a year. So I didn’t have You went through the motions, you played, you practiced, you did everything, but there just was something missing. And it takes something to get that spark again. And hopefully he can figure that out. Interesting. Can’t let that be a finish line, I suppose. Up to four. Brian, Luke Donald now to tie the lead at one under. Okay, so a good start for the RDER Cup captain. Birdies the fourth to three. Oh, captain by captain off very early here Thursday at Quell Hollow. Four are at one under including Alex Noran here. Look at three approaches through the years could be a whole lot shorter. I think this is about about the distance we’re going to see this week. It’s a brutal brutal hole and I think this this is the finishing of these first three holes that are so difficult. We see the start for Tommy Fleetwood. He’s such a great iron player. You you’d expect him to have a great week this week. And that’s a very sensible part. And the next club we see him use is the club for him this week. He had a million putts for birdie last week. Could not find the ones he needed. We see Fox now. Our first look at the par 31 13th. Some new teeing options here. and Fox taking dead aim. Uphill par three. I’ll have a downhill putt for birdie. Former PGA champion Jason 10. He has really fought hard to change his golf swing to take some pressure off his back. And we’ve seen him play some some pretty darn good golf over the last couple of years. Just not as consistently in the hunt as he used to be. 11 uphill birdie putt on 10 211. This is an uphill par putt for Max McGrevy. So so far we we’ve actually seen some putts at that whole location missed at 11 early back to 10. Long bunker shot for Phil. This is one of those 45 50 yarders. This ball should spin back. No it didn’t. That’s a bunker that you’re not going to get it up and in very many times out of that one to two. JT Poston his birdie putt. It should be pretty quick if anybody can handle it. JT is a fabulous putter. Nicely done. So Poston joins the group at one under par as this major championship gets underway. We’re about 20 minutes away from the group including Rory Mroy. And Marty, we welcome Marty Smith back in and say good morning one more time. And it’s a conversation that you had on Sunday night. I know you visited with him again. I I wonder how you balance the fulfillment of that of that. career goal, right? To join the Grand Slam. Now, six was what’s six. What’s six people? Six T six sex six, whatever it is. He’s now the sixth member of the Grand I don’t know. Don’t ask me, man. I I don’t have any idea. How do you How do you How do you measure that versus now I want to win 10 of these things. You know what I mean? It’s it’s an incredible weightlifted and he’s been very vocal about that. But Scott, it’s interesting. Rory has no interest in going back and watching the highlights of the most important, most incredible, most meaningful moment of his professional career. I talked to him at length here on the driving range this week about that emotional freedom that comes with that victory. But he told me, “Man, I’ve watched marquee victories back on TV before, and that’s all I remember. That’s what I see in my mind. And with Augusta, I want to remember it as it happened through the film strip of my soul. I want to remember what the patrons looked like. I want to remember what they sounded like. I want to remember how that 18th green felt beneath me as I screamed in euphoria. All right, Rory, maybe you don’t want to watch it, but those of us who love golf, we’ll be watching those highlights for the rest of time. Maroy trying to become just the sixth to ever complete the career Grand Slam. I’ve carried that burden since August 2014. It’s been difficult and I’ve tried to approach this tournament with the most positive attitude each and every time that I’ve shown up, but there’s talking about it and actually doing it. Four, please. Now driving, Roy. [Applause] Is it going to clear it? No. An early blow. I was unbelievably nervous on the first hole as you witnessed with the double. That is a six. Maroy led by two. They’ve only played one hole. Got to imagine what’s going through his mind right now. This is a disastrous start. See if you can get his name on top of the leaderboard. It’s a new leader, Bryson Dashambo. Just took him two holes. A very important early moment for Mroy. First chance for him to be aggressive all day long. He makes this. We could have another two-shot swing. Birdie for Mroy. It’s dizzing at the top of the leaderboard at the Masters where Maroy now suddenly is up by three. Onto the second nine. It’s the biggest nine holes of his life. Another one. Mroy pours it in. Backto back birdies for Mroy at nine and 10 as they make their way to the men corner. I thought I played the 13th hole smartly at least for the first two shots. Tory’s left himself the beautiful safest angle just 86 to the hole. It came out a little weak and a little right. Oh, Roy. Oh my goodness. So far from where he was looking 25 yds off line. Can’t explain it. And that’s a double. And seeing what Rosie was doing. And the change on the board. Maroy to 11. now in a share of the lead with Justin Rose. But at the same time, I knew I had 15 to play. Sixiron yesterday set up an eagle. Is this enough? Oh, here it comes. The shot of a lifetime. My battle today was with myself. It wasn’t with anyone else. So, to Birdie still to take the lead. Goes to tie the lead. Got a chance. Oh wow, what a putt. Go. Uh, go go go. And go. It did. What a shot. Perhaps the luck of the Irish. He’s leaning. Oh my goodness. Is there another twist in this 89th Masters? The questions have been asked repeatedly. When, if, how badly do you want it? All of those moments lead to this going to a playoff. After that disappointment, will he be able to regroup, reset? Harry basically said to me, look, you would have given your right arm to be in a playoff at the start of the week. So that sort of reframed it a little bit for me. Mentioned earlier this week the resiliency that he’s so proud of throughout his career. Needs to draw on that one more time. He’s managed to do it. Oh, hits right next to the hole. This isn’t going right. Might be going right at it. Should come back down off the slope. Oh my goodness. Now for birdie. [Music] The door is open again for Maroy to finish it off. The long journey is over. Maroy has his masterpiece. What came out of me on the last screen there in the playoff was 14 years of pent up emotion. To have my name in that club of winning the career grand slam. That’s probably going to be one of my my proudest achievements in the game. I’m not going to compare it to life moments like a marriage or having a child, but it’s the best day of my golfing life. It’s remarkable to relive all the twists and turns that were part of that journey and Jim Nance as he always does framed it perfectly. He had his masterpiece. So when you you you helped us understand Andy, you reach a milestone and what do you do next? What’s your sense of what you will see from him from here? I really am looking forward to the next five years. Can he win another three or four or five major championship? I think there’s that possibility. If this frees him up and he just goes out and plays like he can play, there’s no telling what he can do. But at some point in time, he’s going to hit, you know, do I want to practice as hard as I need to practice? Do I need to work in the gym as hard as I need to work in the gym? As his daughter gets older, you start getting more involved in all those kind of things. You’re it’s hard to focus on what you’re doing. You have to learn to practice differently. Uh, I one thing I really liked about earlier this week, it was going to be rainy here. He flew home Sunday night and went to the Bears Club Monday and got a good practice session in Monday. That’s a guy that’s determined to win more majors, not to just ride out the string as he goes goes through the next four or five years. and you see the the group he joins and it’s modern superstars, but it’s the history of the game all in one snapshot. You join the black and white pictures of the past and you join obviously Tiger and Jack that frames so much of how we view this great game. All right, to take the lead on his own speedy putt on 13. This with a capital S. It is super fast and exciting part. It’s a birdie with a capital B. Ryan Fox off a win just last week with birdie. Now we see Ron from the bunker on 10. Oh, it digs in its heels, but that’s a little bit uphill. And that’s the thing we’re going to have see the players struggle with this week. The uphill putts here are relatively slow. The downhill putts are super fast. So if you go for three or four holes and hit fast putts and they have to hit a slow one, it’s hard to do it now to four. After a par at the third, here’s Alex Norn at the par three fourth. So Norn an excellent look at birdie to tie the lead at two under. Well, Alex Norin is one of those guys you see him at Bears Club all the time practicing so hard. Now at 12, McGrevy his second. talked about how narrow the fairway is at two on the front. Same story at the 12th. No problem. The fairway or the green for McCree. He’ll have a boat. Lowest section of the golf course out there that was incredibly wet earlier this week. There were salmon spawning Monday afternoon. Well, this will be fun. Ryan Fox. This uh great short par for 14th coming off that downhill putt for birdie and he uses driver and carries it all the way to the green. Now it’s the deepest green in Quail Hollow. It’s 50 yardds from front to back. They’ve moved the tee up a little bit and here’s an example. They’re playing at 311 yards today. It can be 340 from that back tee. So they’ve moved up just enough to entice every single player in the field to try to drive it on the green. You lay it up in this area if you’re going to lay up short of that right bunker, but to this right front pin, everybody’s going to be trying to drive it on this green. Well, this 14th hole, Andy, uh the the stats, and I I do think it’s hole dependent. Going for it, laying up, but the stats will say that typically going for it yields better results over the course of a tournament. Last five tour event scoring average went for it just over three and a half strokes, laying up, played it slightly over par. And in the 2017 PGA Championship, 60% of the field attempted to drive the the green today. I think you’re right, Andy. Almost everybody’s going to be going for it. Yeah. Any the talking to the players watch watching them practice on that hole. If the hole’s down in the front part of the green, that’s when you go for it. If the pins of the very back edge or right up against the bunker, then you might think about laying up. I thought Rory’s explanation was interesting. You said analytically, when it’s in the back, you’re not supposed to go. I go for it anyway. I mean, you drive it like him, why wouldn’t you? How about this long distance putt from Fitzpatrick? And what a way to start with a a Thunderbolt. Matthew is one of those guys that it just looks like he’s going to make so many cuts. The ball’s rolling through the hole beautifully all the time. See Fishburn here on 13. Plays uphill. A great line. Well, that’s that’s a good spot. It’s going to be quick coming down there, but it’s it’s definitely makeable. Quite a bit of right to left in it. We’re less than 10 minutes away from Scotty Sheffler teeing off. He tied the 72 hole scoring record of the PGA Tour. Actually had a putt to establish it on his own, looking for his third major championship victory. First in strokes gained approach. That’s a stat that is a pretty good predictor of what Scotty can do. And we welcome in Jeff Darlington for more on Scotty as he pursues this wan maker. Good morning, Jeff. Good morning, Scott. You know, the more I’ve gotten to know Scotty Shuffler, the more I’ve realized that he walks this fine line of being this hyper competitive athlete and this guy with incredible balance in his life like few other athletes in the world. And it’s something that as he comes here to Quail Hollow, he’s discussed recently at length the idea that yes, he wants to continue to win golf tournaments at a clip like no other. But at the same time, he made clear he has his balance. Winning golf tournaments is great, but at the end of the day, that’s not what life’s about. I think with the way that I’m wired as a hyperco competitive person, you separate them, but at the same time, they’re intertwined because um when I’m out there, I feel like what I need to do is compete and play as hard as I can. When I’m out practicing at home, I’m preparing and doing everything I can because I feel like I’ve been given a a gift to play golf. But at the end of the day, the golf tournament’s over. You know, you take your hat off, shake hands, and you move on. And so, my faith is such an important part of my golf game because it’s not only an important part of my life, but it’s what helps me kind of realize that it’s not that big of a deal. You know, I’m called to compete. I’m not called to go win every single golf tournament. Do I want to win every single golf tournament? Of course. But at the end of the day, that that’s not what’s going to satisfy my soul. Now, just to be very clear on this, yes, he does have balance, but he has a competitive focus like few others as well. One thing I’ll point out that he is playing with Xander Schoffley and Rory Mroy and he said that he loves the idea of playing with those two because he loves the idea of competing to try to win golf tournaments along two others best in the world. Don’t have to look too hard to find me, right? Isn’t that what coach Prime says? You know, not hard to find. Well, those guys are going to be right in each other’s ey line all day long. just looking up. Does it feel like Scotty’s almost a little bit under the radar? Number one player in the world and it’s been so Rory focused. Well, because Rory comes in here having won the Masters and as we see Rahm starts with a par and because Rory’s won here four times, I mean the stories sort of lead themselves exactly right to the to the top of the fold of the paper. At 11, Tommy Fleetwood, you see two balls in that uh forward fairway bunker. And Andy, I think you’re right. I that’s it’s not that difficult of a shot even if you your T-OT finds its way into the bunker. They just look like they’re so much more dangerous than they are. Yeah. See Rory on his way to the tea. They’ll be there in less than five minutes to 12. McGrevy for birdie to move to one under. What a well played hole by Max McGrevy. He’s in the red now. One shot off the Fox lead. Raasmus Hoygard. Feels like we have Voyards on the leaderboard quite a bit, particularly early. He may have the firepower to get to this one. Just under 300 yards. Great call, Mr. North. [Applause] What a great eagle opportunity to 14. Well, this is an eagle putt for Ryan Fox after driving the green at 14. I have a feeling we’re going to see a lot of putts today from back towards that front hole. Judge the speed really, really well. That was very quick coming down there. Beautiful. So that should be another birdie for Ryan Fox. What a start for him to 13 birdie effort for Fishburn. It’s going to get there. It’s really fast. Just didn’t die left. was expecting it to fall a bit more. Just run it over the edge on every hole so far. 11. Well, looks like it’s sitting up for Jason Day off the green at 11. Jason Day is one of the players that uses club around the greens all the time and with such great success. I watched him at the Bears Club one day practice for about four hours and did nothing but chip one ball at a time. put it different places, chipped it, wrote down on his book what he did, went to the next one, tried another one. It was fascinating to watch. Hard work paying off. You want to give me a final exact If you’re one of these three guys, this is right where you want to be, right? You don’t want to have to look for them on the board. I You’re right here. I love the fact that PJ’s put one, two, and three in the world together as a as a fan and a gallery member. Are you kidding? This is what a day. Sun’s out. It’s about that time. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the 107th PGA Championship. This is our 8:22 starting time. Now on the tea, please welcome our 2012 2014 PGA champion from Northern Ireland, Rory Mroy. I asked you this on Sports Center last night, Andy. If there’s weight on the scale more important, having won most recently at Augustine or having won here four times, which which has more weight? You know, the obvious question is that they both have tremendous, but I think having great memories here, winning here four times, you there’s not a shot that you’re going to play this week that you haven’t seen before. I think that’s huge. just get it started off hitting the fairway. That’s does that it just changes this hole completely for him and it just trickles into now on the team our 2024 PGA champion from California Xander Schoffley. It’s going to be fun to see how Xander goes this week. He’s he struggled that rib injury. It’s probably the most difficult injury for a golfer to come back from other than some sort of a back problem. He has not driven the ball great yet this year. Told me earlier in the week as we walked the practice round, I’m feeling great. The one upside is you’re a little fresher than others just because you haven’t played as much. He’s he’s a major player. I mean, he’s a player that we’ve all picked to win multiple majors over the years. He does everything well. Because of that injury, got off to a shaky start of the year. He didn’t drive the ball great. His short game wasn’t as great, but now it’s trending the right direction. From Texas, Scotty Schoffler. [Applause] Really not a weakness in this guy’s game, is it? He is. Statistically, you look at the numbers, he’s the first player in 20 years to do the things that Tiger Woods did as far as hitting greens and dominating from tea to green. As Jeff Darlington just shared, he’s got ferocious faith and a ferocious will to compete. That’s a heck of a combination. I just love the way he goes about his business. Very seldom do you see him get excited and when he gets on the roll as we saw in Dallas, it was just stagn how well he hit the ball. It’s often a question in this game. Who’s best is the best? If everybody plays to their ceiling, who has more in the bag? That’s fascinating question to ponder. It really is. And we’ve had those discussions for years back to Tiger to DJ to whoever was number one at the time. I think at their best, these two players have separated themselves from everybody else quite a bit. I’m not 100% sure. All I can tell you, if if they’re at their best, I want to go watch them play. You just get greedy and you’d love to see them both play their best in the same week. All right, Minwa, a winner on the PGA Tour this year down in Houston. This is a Eagle putt on its way. And that direction on 10 is very very slow. It’s 11. Now Mickelson to save par at 11. Phil gets it to go. Nice save. The faster the greens, the more he likes them. He’s gone back to that blade putter that he used for so many years. After the great approach, Rasmus Voyard for Eagle just gave it enough steam. It’s just you can’t in your head make yourself hit that putt hard enough clearly because you just watched Mini hit a putt from a very similar line and leave it short and he did as well. All right, 14. Well, I already said he was going to make this birdie putt, Ryan Fox, and he did. He’s on a nice run. How about that? Last week. Great start. Three under. And I do think some of those early holes on the second nine. That’s some of the best scoring opportunities out here. This is Norin. There’s almost not a breath of wind out there. We’re going to see a bunch of birdies from off the green at three. Tom Johnson can love that. T9 in the club pro tournament. Meadow Club in Fairfax, California opened with 66 his first round in that championship. It’s early out there, but you know the folks out there are paying attention. They see their guy doing his thing to 14. It’s early at the Meadow Club, but I guarantee you they’re paying attention. Love that. At 14, Sheamus Power. And yeah, we’re I that perfectly slotted that driver at 311. This is a hole that looking forward to Rory playing it. It’s going to be a three medal. Probably he won’t even go with driver yesterday when they were teeing off from the the far back te location. Rory was using three metal. I he might have to back off the 3-wood. Wouldn’t that be a nice problem? That’s a fun hole. 14. And we go back to our feature pairing in the middle of the fairway and say good morning to Billy Crowd. How are Billy? I’m doing well, Scott. Guys sound good. Rory with a nice little bounce there at the end just inside the thick rough right in the step cut. But uh Scotty Shuffler is going to play first. Then it’s going to be Rory. Then it’s going to be Xander. Xander’s the one with the issue. If he’s going to go for this green and two, he’s going to have to start it down. the left hand side simply because of the lie. But I think all three players can get there. Andy, good break for Rory to be in that. See that white the taller flags a white going right there basically just inside the left edge of the green. Yes. Okay. Yeah. The tall ones, not the short one. There’s a short not one. There’s a shorter one. You like the taller ones? Both Ben Woodley and Rasmusard, as you might have guessed, were able to knock in their birdies. So we have nine red numbers. Fox the lowest at 300 under. Scotty his second. 287 274 to grab the front edge. He does such a good job of not putting the ball in places you can’t play from. You’d expect this ball to be aimed to the left center of the green, maybe even left edge. That was skinny, Andy. That was not hit well. Right in that bunker. Yeah, just see if we can take advantage of that good break. Clean line 275. That tree shouldn’t be any problem. Go left of that quick left. So both Rory and Sheffller, but they’ve missed it with an angle to be able to get the ball close to the hole. We saw Kepka miss it to the right earlier and that’s not the place to miss it. You coming down anywhere on the stance? That’ll get that that’ll get the straight kick slightly left. Billy is stance going to be okay. Well, I think because of where the ball is positioned and the ball well below his feet. I think he’s going to have to start this well left. It’s something that’s going to move 10 or 12 yards. [Applause] started the right edge of the green. It’s all for good. That right heel was just a little bit up in the air. A little awkward. Probably didn’t get it quite as solid as we’d have liked, but that’s going to test the short game right away. That’s a tough pitch. Ball well below the green. Green sloping away from you. So that’ll be fun to see how he handles that. Fox the winner last week. Hurdle is currently setting the pace very early here in our first round from going from not being in the PGA to winning to now leading the PGA. And our first look at the 15th and Fox. Is it going to trickle in there? Queenside bunker. Par five of course was 14 15 16 17 all playing around the water. It’s a par five that you can reach into with two good ones. Same could be said of 10. Although none of this trio is able to do that. Roy said earlier in the day he feels like he can hit it on all the par fives here. He can drive it on the 14th hole. It changes his power compared to everybody else. You see Xander Schoffling got that first major breakthrough last year at Valhalla. Zero top five finishes in the six start since he’s come back from that rib injury. dozen straight top 20s in majors, which is the longest streak of the last 20 years. We aired an interview he did yesterday that I thought was really interesting. He said he’s got because of the injury and not being where he wants to be. He has to almost talk himself into that we’re mid-season. I’m mid-season form. I’m ready to go. You know, which is how the players have to trick themselves into believing they can do it sometimes. 11. Another guy who likes to give himself pep talks. John Rom for birdie. Wow. Just right in the middle. I’m sure John was a little disappointed to par the par five to start his first round, but that’s a nice long putt for birdie. You had a good early call, Dave, about number of putts made. Just it feels like a day we’re going to see a bunch of them. These greens are so good. And again, despite all that rain, they really stood up well. But if they stood up well in the rain, if the sun stays out, just kind of wonder where we’re going down the road. You know, you know, we like firmness. That’s it’s you see the sparkle in our friend Andy’s eyes. It’s firm and fast. Well, it brings out the best in the players. You you only quality shots you’re going to get get the ball close to the hole. And I think that’s the key to major championships. It requires your best. All right, Billy, what are we looking at here? Well, we’re looking at uh right around 45 yards. Pretty clean line in the bunker. It’s just it’s going so much back up the hill from the front of the green to the flag stick. It’s hard to get it all the way there. That’s off the well done that 45 yd bunker shots about the max distance the player can to blast it and that was very well done. 14 Sheamus power eagle putt after driving the green. This is going to go right hard at the end and he got it. So we already have an eagle. They’re going to be action today at 14. with that tee up. Sheamus power a wild card to start his PGA. Back to 10. Lot of options for hole locations in a major championship. Love the PGA of America giving them a green light on 14 right out of the gates. We see where Schoff and Mroy will now play their third. If Billy, if you’re looking at these two players, which one do you think has the best chance of getting the ball up and in? Rory. Yeah. And you’d think the other way because he’s close. He’s in the fringe, but this is much easier. He’s got a lot of green to work with. Yeah. And uh I think the the grass around the golf ball between the club face and ball, I think that’s very negotiable and actually could be a benefit because it it’ll let him release it up that hill. Absolutely. Firmness of the greens, what he just saw from Scotty shot. Factor that all in. He’s left himself with a dirty puck. It’s up the hill. Very, very satisfactory from there, but not bad. That’s a a B. I was going to say seven or eight out of 10. All right. You would have taken some bees quite often though, wouldn’t you have brought home a bee? Everybody in the Vampel household is fired up. There you go, Scotty. Love to see it. Let’s see what Xander can do from here. Yeah, from this low area. This has to be clipped perfectly. That is perfect. That’s an A for X. That is That’s fantastic. Had to land it just at the fringe and that edge to kind of take a little speed off of it on that little ups slope. That was beautifully thought out and executed. Let’s take a look at the 13th hole. This year it’s well over to the right. We can’t have it where it was last time because they’ve got a hospitality tent on it. We see Brooks who started with a bogey on 10, 205 up the hill. Got the proper distance. New T’s on nine, 16, and different teeing options on 13 as well. Gives it a different look. And Keepa, I like the fact on par threes you you move the TE’s from left to right. Not always just straight forward cuz it really changes the angles. It’s an interesting point probably just the whole vantage point of the green and all the challenges of the angulation that would come into play. This trio all will have birdie putts on 10. And I think uh the pet that Rory has there’s going to be some influence coming off of that bunker that’ll move it a little bit to the left back up the hill. We’re seeing it and so is Roy. I love that C camera camera angle. You saw I was never anywhere but dead center. What a start for Mroy. One under par. You look at the texture of the of these greens. It’s almost like a billiard table. It’s very fine. They’re so smooth. We’re going to see a lot of If you’ve got the ball below the hole, you’re going to make a ton of putts. So Scotty will be next to play. You can see Ted Scott just kind of hold up just maybe an inch of break at most. I’ve got to say he’s one of the best green readers out here. I was going to say what what a pairing those two are. Oh, it’s been a great team. Aggressive stroke from scouter. I say went left. Yeah, I think that might have been a misread. I think they probably thought it was pretty straight. It definitely went left. He’ll have a few more chances. You You reckon? He seems to hit it about 15 feet from a hole every hole after that brilliant play with a lofted club. Xander and uh this putt should move a little bit towards the front of the green. I think we’re going to see it all day, Scott. Uh you know the elite short game that Xander possesses. anytime he gets in trouble. I think it’s certainly a short game can bail you out of trouble. It’s part of his game that is now trending the right direction again. Coming off an injury, you spend so much time just trying to get full swings to see if your body can do it, to see if your the injury is better. And maybe you don’t spend as much time chipping and pitching and putting The reigning champion begins with a birdie as well. On five, Alex Norin to remain two under. It’s the lip and he’ll surrender a shot. Now the third for Fox. Just a very straightforward bunker shot. Plenty of green to work with. It’s going to be some speed coming down the hill. He’ll be disappointed with that one. That he would have liked to get that one much closer. Let’s see if Brooks can erase the bogey from the 10th with a birdie here on 13. That’s a slippery one. Back to 11. I think Andy today it’s going to be interesting. We walked around with these players the last few days and they weren’t taking on those bunkers. I think today it’s drier, it’s warmer, they’re taking them on. And Rory is going to do that every time he’s got a chance. Well, you’re going to you’re going to see right here, Dave. 325 to carry. It’ll be interesting if that ball stayed up near the the face of the bunker or would it come back down? And here’s a look at the 11th. 465 yd par4. Andy. Yeah, it’s a You see the bunkers on the left. 319 to carry the last one. If you can get it in this fairway, this really turns into a birdie opportunity. So now Shoffley coming off his birdie. Let’s see if he can move it proper direction. a little right to left off this to you pretty Xander sneaky long. People don’t talk about him being one of the longer hitters, but he can move it out there. That’s a perfect spot. And you take the the the bunkers out of play when you go use that side of the fairway. [Music] This is a little bit more awkward T-shot for Scotty. He likes to work it left to right. This thing now curves right to left. Take it maybe at the bunkers, Dave, and just let it slide to the right. Yeah, maybe just a touch of breeze into his face as well. And big left. Quick left. You got trees, you got bunkers. That one. Have to see whether he’s got a window for his second shot up to the green at 11. Now Maroy looks like he’s in one of those fairway bunkers. Anders in great shape. Now at the drivable par4 14. Sea taking a rip. The water is in play to the left, but I’ve seen a lot of balls just slotted perfectly. You can’t do it any better than that. What a shot. That’ll be for eagle for Seb Straa. 14 today. Ahead to 15. And this to move to four under par. Sliding quickly from left to right. Walking quickly. Yeah. So we see Straa a winner last week. Great look for Eagle on 14, but Fox a winner in the other event last week on tour. Still the leader at 300 under to four. Here’s Etaria for birdie at four. Good roll early on guys. Again the greens geta moves to one under. Over to three. Maybe another look at another great roll on these perfect greens. Michael Kim, they’re pouring. I mean, they’re just the greens are so perfect and there a lot of greens that you you get on them and you look at them and they don’t your brain doesn’t match up with the speed. These greens look fast. They’re so pure that I think the guys are going to be able to click in and make a ton of that putts in that 15 to 25 ft range this week. We we heard lots of comments about these greens and I it was a compliment. It was not a criticism. Players caddies were on their hands and knees almost like you can’t find grain. There’s no grain in the greens. They just they just roll perfectly. Perfect. They’re totally redone in advance of the PGA Championship and they’re players mentioned that they just same same thing you’re saying Dave just amazed at the consistency and the again you have to be here to understand how much it rained and the fact that they stood up under the weight of that rain’s amazing incredible at the six longest par three at Quail Hollow and a very long pitch shot but well done that to judge that that is just spectacular One of the hardest greens to hit out here. All right, ahead to 14. We’ve already had one eagle. That was Sheamus Power. Sepraa should slide just a little bit from his right to left. Oh, look at here. Second Eagle already this morning. We’re not that far away from getting to watch Sheffller and Shoffley and Maroy play this hole. You’ve got a long par three on your hands over there today. I think that’s about right. Tee up 311 yds at Oakmont. There’s going to be a par three at the US Open that’s going to be about that long. That’s exactly right. It’ll be plus three. Three Bills most days. It was 305 the last time they played. Different. All right, Billy. Scotty Sheffller. What kind of trouble does he have left? Well, I think he he can grab certainly the right part of the green. I think he’s going to have to keep it right in the two bunkers. It’s just a matter of if he can kind of figure out from 157 yards just how quick it’s going to come out his obviously keep it a little low underneath the pine trees. So, he does have some tree trouble. Andy, I would say that the lowest branch in front of him on the pine tree is 20 yards in front of me. Okay. So, he just has to make sure it doesn’t ride up the club face and get too hot yet, which it can come in out of the rough once in a while. See that tree? Yep. Fair enough to that. Yeah, there’s a nice look. T-shot Scott is well left. into the trees. She shuffler in the perfect position and Rory if his ball went down in the middle of the bunker. That’s not a bad place. Yeah. Looked like it did. We’ll see. I got a seven. I think eight’s a little cute getting under that tree. Yeah, perfect. This if it’s wrong, it’s fine, too. There’s a great look at it. We’ve got shot from behind. So, we see the camera tower in the distance. Billy, he’s got to go to the right of that 5 yards or 10 yards or so. Yeah, you can see the trunk of a tree in the background there. That would be ideal. It’s kind of right at that tree. Andy just did exactly what you were saying. Try to put it out there in the front right of the screen. Still has chance to save power, but he’s a long way from the hole. So now Shoffley ready to go. Same yardage, 157. Pretty much just a stock 9 iron for Xander. Well, it was shaped perfectly, Andy. Took a pretty big first hop. Mhm. Still very doable. That green is firm. They’re all firm, but that we saw a lot of shots yesterday, even while it was still wetter, taking those big bounces. That looks pretty good, doesn’t it, Andy? Well, that’s just perfect. Firm sand after the rains. Yeah, far enough back, Andy. 146 yards. But he also looking right. Smart play. Very sensible from there. more at the camera tower that we’re looking at. Good play. Let’s stay there. Hang on. Hang on. Quite a bit of slant from the middle of the green down toward. Then once you get over that little ridge in the middle, it goes back away. Let’s take a look at this. Key is keep your feet solid in the sand. Don’t have a move. Nice clean hit. Just a three quarter finish. All ball, no sand. players were talking about a video of the machinery that they used to pound down the sides of those bunkers to get the ball to roll into the middle of the bunkers to 13. It’s interesting because it’s a very distinct look to 13 Fleetwood on a fantastic line. Thanks. Thank you. 205 yds with a front hole location. This is a birdie hole. All right, 14 John McInness. Brooks Keepka looking to jump start his round. Driver certainly seems like a lot of club for him. I agree. And that one’s looks like it’s heading left. Just a little left trying to fade back. Big bounce. There is a lot of grass on the slope. I believe it caught it. I do. I believe it’s it stayed up. And during practice rounds, they took note of the fact that it would keep the it would keep a ball up. It it not like 15 at Augusta where you just it’s going to roll in. It seems like it could keep you. The PGA have done a nice job on all these slopes off of these greens near the water. They’ve kept the grass long enough that I think it’ll stay there. Nice shot by Phil. Even better than Fleetwood. Sensational shot there from Mickelson to 12. John Rom for birdie. One under. Good roll out of Rom. Rolls just past the hole. He’ll have some work left to save par as we go to 11. All right, we saw a shot from the trees to here. He has to negotiate about 90 ft. Oh, it grabbed. Grabbed much quicker than he anticipated. Some some wobbly moments. I was so early in the first round for Scotty Sheffller, but made that par on the par five to start. Now he’s going to have to make that to save par to 16. It is time to introduce you to the famed green mile one. Final three-hole stretch here at Quail Hollow. That is Fox added 23 yards to this hole from 2017. And you see why it doesn’t yield many birdies. big green. But if you look at how it played in 2017, 5.4% birdie percentage yielded. That was the least if any hold 25 birdies in 2017. The 17 31 double bogeies are worse if you haven’t had enough. How about the 18th? Look at that scoring average. Highest of the week, guys. If you could put together a good number 1 through 15 for this tournament is decided 16 17 18 every time you play here over to 11. Maroy just outside 35 ft for birdie. Pretty much uphill all except for the last quarter of the putt. Then it go starts going downhill. Aggressive pace there from Rory. Billy, those are the kind of putts that I think are the most difficult out here where you have to come up over a little ridge and the hole’s cut where it’s now going away from you. It’s hard to judge the speed. 100%. Fleetwood can be aggressive with this one, man. Yeah, this is just what you want up the hill. Just looking right at it. Beautiful. No surprise. Pulls it right in. If you miss an eight-footer uphill this week, you’re losing shots to the field. Fleetwood takes advantage after the gorgeous T- shot on 13. All right, this is what we were talking about. That rough kept Kepka’s ball out of the water. And still plenty of green with which to work here, so he’s just fine. This group needs a birdie. Hasn’t seen one yet today. Low energy, but business is picking up. We’re not blaming you, John. He’s Mr. Energy. Yeah. Shoffley from the back of the green at 11. Yeah. Looking for this to move to his left. Oh, it just stayed mostly straight. Mhm. He actually thought it may turn a little bit to the right at the end. But that’s the speed you love to see at a major championships. There’s enough stress as there is. You don’t want to leave yourself a lot of those four and five footers for par. See if Phil can match Fleetwood. He’s muttering to himself as it leaked a little more left. The greens are so good. The cups are so sharply cut that they aren’t going to just drop lip in. You’ve got to hit hit him in the hole this week. Well, Billy, early in a a significant putt for Scotty Sheffler. Yeah. U opportunity wasted on 10, but uh pretty much the last third of the putt that he just saw from Rory, so line should not be a problem. Five start. not what he was dreaming of. We talk it so so much in major championships that the patience level you have to have is so important that you can’t get frustrated. The fact that you’ve started out with a bogey on your first couple of holes, there’s a lot of golf to be played and he has the ability to run off five or six birdies at any time. Well, Maroy, who did birdie the par five to start his round, now has to make this to save par at 11. Well, from what I just saw from the putt from Scott, he certainly can’t give the hole away. Pretty much the same line, isn’t it, Bill? Mhm. Yeah, I’m I’m kind of thinking maybe off center a fraction. Looks like he thinks it’s going to go left a little bit. Oh, it went right. So, you know, Scotty’s didn’t move at all. That’s well, this 11th hole. If you’re in the fairway, you it it feels like a birdie opportunity. If you’re not, maybe it’s going to play a little more difficult. Played well over par back in 2017 for the week. Maroy makes bogei to drop back to even. Now Sheffller has to make this for bogei. There’s one thing about Scotty. He’s not going to get too excited. He’s not going to get too ahead of himself. Clean this one up and go to the next one. Okay, five5 start for world number one. Our leader Ryan Fox at 16 54 ft for Birdie. Matt, this is one of those pots where you come up the hill, then you go back down the hill. It is the largest green here in Quailo Hollow. back to 13 and John Rob. Susie Whley is with his group. Good morning, Susie. Good morning, everyone. John’s had a pretty steady round today already, but wind’s blowing a little out of the left. To make sure and adjust for that 205 off the club immediately did not finish that swing away. Let’s see. Another one of those mode areas where the ball releases away from the green, but he’s got plenty of green to work with. That should be doable. 14. Is would this be the first birdie for this group? It would indeed. A little bleeder to the right. Hate put it in my shadow. Did not bother. It’s just nice to see shadows, John. It is indeed. Not a lot of those during the practice rounds to 12 and Xander Schoffley one under again. One of the narrower fairways. I was going to say from this elevated te kind of like a ribbon for the width of the fairway. But that’s good. One of the more difficult fairways to hit back in 17. Yeah, Andy under 50% 47%. Let’s take a look at this par4. Just a very slight dog leg to the right, but almost dead straight. Just an awkward angle. The key is to put the ball in the fairway. If you can get it past that big tree on the left, that really opens up. If you’re in the left edge of the fairway or the right edge of the fairway, the trees actually come into play. This one will be just launched. Well, that’s going to be wonderful. I like the idea that that was that was his f fairway finder, Bill. A little carver from left to right. Saw that a lot in the warm-up, Andy, this morning with the driver. Player who really needs to find the fairway here, Scotty. This fits his eye pretty well, Bill. Yeah, I think so. Okay, so all three players in our featured group find the fairway at 12. Some mud on Scotty’s ball. See how he contends with that. Missed the fairway on the prior hole. 11. No problem there. Out at eight. Donald for birdie. Another drivable par four. It’s been feeling left out with all the talk at 14. But Luke Donald makes birdie. Now he’s two under it. Yeah, that’s a lot more difficult to drive it on that hole than 14. It’s plays a little bit more uphill, a little bit longer. This is the Scotty. I like this play. Putting it up that ridge for Fishburn there which led to a birdie which moved him to two underpar. Get back to his story here in a moment to 14. I get to watch Phil take a rip and he lost that one left. Uh-huh. Idiot. That’s not close, man. out in the middle of the lake. But if you put it in the lake, you’re dropping it down there. You still have a great chance to save par. Susia, what kind of challenge is John facing here? Yeah, a little tricky. Look pretty damp down there. He’s going to have to throw this up and run it there with maybe a little skid to it because the greens have those subairs under him. That’s awfully good. All right, our first look at the famous par 317th. Ryan Fox three under par. What a T- shot that is. Maybe the most iconic look out here at Quail Hollow. That one shot. You see slips away at the back. 227 today, Dave. Over all that water. Playing long today. It’ll play at some different yardages over the course of this PGA Championship. They like to move that tea around. We got so many ways to experience the first round of this PGA Championship. Featured groups and holes now available on ESPN Plus. You can follow Kepka, Fowler, Lowry, Maroy, Shoffley, Sheffller, Mickelson, Fleetwood Day. You can watch those finishing holes. You can watch Rahm Kentlay and Fitzpatrick. All going on right now. Or you can just stay with us and watch us. We’ll show it all to you on a beautiful Thursday at Quail Hollow where there are birdies to be had. Excitement at the 14th. We’ll be back to Charlotte, North Carolina right after this. Incredible. Unbelievable. You ought to kiss that butter lady. It’s a He knew it. Absolutely gone wild. [Music] [Applause] [Music] with victory at Valhalla. Last year’s trophy buys you nothing once the tournament begins. Scoreboard is blank. The fear returns a new and all the golfers stand on the first tea. A lonely place where a reputation can’t help you at all. Welcome back to the PGA Championship. It’s time to do it again. Back at the PGA Championship, Scotty Sheffller, his second at the 12th. Well, from the right hand side of the fairway, up from 158. Matt, [Music] that was a massive bounce. So, Scotty off the back of the green. Let’s go to 14. All right. This is what Andy was talking about where even if you if you drive the ball in the water, you can drop and try to get up and down and save par. But Phil comes up short in that bunker. His hit. Now Rory at the 12th. 141 yards for Rory. Back hole location. [Applause] So that not going to stay up on the ridge. No problem finding the fairway for this group. But now 0 for two. Finding the green now to seven. And Alex Noran the signature holes out here. Par seventh. Great birdie opportunity using the putter from off the green for eagle. allow that to knock in to tap in for birdie. Back to our group at 12 and Xander. Bill, are they going to find the green here with one of them? Well, this green is a lot firmer than the previous two days. Not from a yard closer than Rory left to the flag. I mean, that first bounce is just huge. That was six, seven feet in the air. The first bounce with the wedge. 0 for three at the green with our featured group as we go to 11. Max Graser who birdie the 10th has a great chance to make it backto back birdies and he does. What a start for him in this PGA. Two holes, two birdies. All right, now Phil Mickelson. This is his fourth. So he’s got to make this for par and he’s definitely thinking he can. Just a magician out of the bunkers. Has there ever been a player in the history of the game who tried to make more bunker shots than Phil Mickelson? I don’t think so. Why wouldn’t you? He’s still on the short list of people you choose to say if someone had to make one, you’d probably pick him. All right, one of our club professionals, Corbridgeidge Financial Team of 20 is Andreqi. I think he opened up with 66 in the first round of their championship. Assistant pro at Deep Dale Golf Club. All right, just off the green at 12 from Mroy. Billy, what’s he dealing with? Well, I think he has the easiest of the three. I mean, he’s going back up the hill. Yeah. Yeah. More it looks as if he’ll get up and down at 12. Norin did make his birdie over at the par five seventh to 14. Playing with Phil Mickelson a little more conventionally playing this hole. Tommy Fleetwood for birdie. Yeah, Tommy Fleetwood can roll some of those kind of putts in. Definitely a player to watch, Andy. He can. His ball striking is just fantastic. So Roy did tap in for par. Now Xander off the green. Well, that’s pretty well played cuz that was right up against the taller cut. This green a massive slope back to front. So Xander in a good position to get up and down. And again, a bit of a surprise. this one of the hardest holes to hit the fairway. All three of these guys did that, Billy Kratchet, but all three of them had to contend with shots like this. Yeah, just a delicate little shot right there. Kind of a little stab, no problem. Yep. If there’s anyone that can handle that type of adversity, it’s Scotty Sheffller. So Sheffler off the green chips in for birdie gets out of some early trouble on the hole. Andy, well some of these greens that actually go away from you, it’s it’s easy to miss it on easier to make it from on the short side. You just chop down on it. Ball came out perfectly. So the world number one gets back to even par. He makes so many of those. Yeah, you almost expect him to at this point. There are no gaps in his game. He He does everything exceptionally well. That’s a nice little get back on track. So, Rory Schoffley and Sheffller, they’ll move ahead to 13. All right, now it’s John Rom’s turn to take aim at 14. That does not look like a driver, Susie. No. Yeah, just going with the 3-wood here. He’s been hitting it off the tea really nicely today. Oh, lucky. Lucky. Uh-oh. That could be a delicate shot. That will be very interesting coming down. Not a lot of green to work with. Well above the hole, not be able to spin it at all. Now Fox at 17 the par. Three over the water. Took that big bounce and made it all the way to the back of the green. That was for birdie. Every three on this hole is a good three. Run to the 18th T if you make a three at 17. Of course, remember JT on Sunday in 2017, he made a birdie. Second to last hole to help him win PGA Championship. All right, now it’s Matt Fitzpatrick on the T of 14. Yeah, going with the driver. Missed two drivers, 10 and 11. Found something on 12. This looks really good. Trying to find that slot and he did. Perfect. So, what’s that officially? the fourth player now already this morning to drive the green at 14 successfully. All right, after the good approach, a birdie now at 16 for Chi misses it to the right. So she’ll tap in for par again. Just 25 birdies at this hole in 2017 to two. Second hole, that big dog leg right to left. Ben Griffin for birdie. Seen those fast putts down the hill. Poston made one earlier. Now Ben Griffin does. Bounces back with a birdie to five. Stephen Jagger on five. This guy whose name is always on leaderboards. He’s had a great year. He’s played a lot of really solid events and wow, that’s how why he’s getting it done. Gorgeous approach there. That’ll be a top in birdie to 12. Grazeman second at 12. Did not find the fairway off the tea. That thick rough there to the left by the tree. And again, big green. Severe slope. Andy, that’s a good look at it there. This one might actually get off the green. There’s so much slope there in the right. walking around. Thought maybe they could put a hole location in that little bowl area. No chance. There’s way too much slope. Take a look. Pair of birdies on 13. We just saw Fleetwood roll one in. Six bogeies. This This is a T- shot that if you put it in the middle of the green, I think that’s really what your game plan is. Give yourself 20 25 ft. New T. That was an interesting point you made earlier for those that might have missed it, Andy, about it’s one thing to talk about moving a T forward or back just to add distance, but moving it left to right, particularly in a part three, really changes just the way you view it. I really do like that. It changes the hole dramatically. Changes angles to certain hole locations. It really makes the players think a little bit more. This is the par 36. Raasmus Hoygard. Another tough par three. I I beg your pardon. That was the 13th. I was close. It is a tough par three. Six is really tough. Earlier I was talking on your hall and I shouldn’t have because I was my hole and I was supposed to speak and I was I failed my to do my job. Let’s talk about 13. That’s why these guys were waiting. 13th place about six yards uphill. 205 Andy and uh not much wind. 6 iron for Scotty. Just a gorgeous morning to play golf. Another awkward saw the same kind of finish from John Rom and the same sort of result. There is plenty of green to work with. He’s he’s a good 15 18 yards off the putting surface. significantly uphill as we saw with Ross just a moment ago. Not right now. Not a breath of wind out there. And it’s wet. So, you’re going to get a little spin up, right? And Austin Kaiser been together quite a long time. Very, very comfortable and trusted relationship those two have. the green. If you work it just a little bit from right to left, it will get closer to the hole on the ground. Xander, that’s his shot. It’s a seven iron. And that is just right of the flag. Fantastic from Xander Shin, the reigning champion. We’ll have a look to move to two under par. It’s position A. Putting right up the hill. Very makeable. See if Rory can follow that. Certainly a whole location that fits his eye. That’s a 600 as well. I heard him ask for it to sit almost immediately. And that is going to be super fast coming down the hill. Brooks Kepka here on 15. drove it perfectly, then sort of made a mess of the hole to this point. Hit it left, pitched it to here. Remember, he made a bogey at the 10th hole, the other par five on this side. So, he hasn’t taken advantage of holes he should. Now, the challenge here on 14. Yeah, no kidding. This will be fun to watch. Yeah, this is where he left it when he hit the soft stuff. This isn’t any easy shot either, but super shot. trying to land it into that ups slope, it’s so soft. No way the ball’s going to bounce. Yeah, you just have even if you tell yourself, I got to get it up onto that plateau that the water looming in the background. Our first look at 18 when the PJ was here in 2017, it was the most difficult hole. Last year on the PJ tour, it was the most difficult hole. 494 yds creek down the left bunker, but it’s there’s more room there. It’s over 30 yards between the bunker and the edge of the fairway in the left. Ricky 15 uphill right and left. And that’s his first bird of the day. Needed one and got it. One more lovely putting stroke. It’s always been something that he could rely upon to 14. So this is now the third for Rob on the drivable par4. Gotchi just got it over that ridge and it almost gets all the way to the hole. Skipped in it so fast there’s no way he could land the ball on the green from out of that rough on the right. So he had to play it into that hill. Birdie for Jagger on five. He gave it to him earlier and that’s why back-to-back birdies for a guy that can be streaky streaky streaky. Keep an eye see how low he can go on a lot of leaderboards this year to 12. You saw Grman miss the green after missing the fairway. This just off the green for his third. And Andy, he’s going to run that back. He’s going to have work to do to make par. Any of these back hole locations are are are more difficult than the front ones. But with the greens firm, at least you can bounce it back there. out of 15. See what Tommy Fle could do here with his second. This is going to be reachable for a good portion of the field. Well, that area was awfully wet yesterday, surprisingly. So, but short right there is a good place to be. You’re just pitching right up the hill pretty for sure. It’s just interesting just how much water that was retaining through yesterday. All right, let’s see what Scotty’s got here, Billy. Well, this is the third green of a row, Scott, that he’s missed and having to do work. But, uh, tight little lie down here. Still a little soft. Again, contact has to be spot on. That bites quicker than he probably would have liked. Also, that’s what Billy was talking about, the contact. You got to be precise. And you’re going uphill just enough that it’s so much slower. You probably beaten that to death already. But it’s amazing the different speeds, the different directions you’re going on these greens. Great look here, folks in Charlotte. I think this weekend is going to be a scene out here. Boy, they are ra amped up and ready for this big time event. Great weather. to major and they are surrounding this 13th green. And you see Rory is pacing off what Billy Andy figures to be all you want. Challenging putt. Oh, very challenging for speed, especially um like Andy was saying, it’s going to be so quick coming down this hill. You see, right now, he’s just trying to find a spot where he can let gravity pretty much take over from there. I’m going to say it’s probably 12 maybe 15 feet right the hole where he’s looking and he’s he’s probably looking 8 10 feet in front of him is kind of how hard you want to hit it. Mhm. I think it’s a good call. birdie putt on its way. That’s awfully well judged. Not bad at all. Matt Fitzpatrick drove the green at 14. Got a good look from Patrick Kentlay’s ball just before him. And this will work its way to the right. That was a big miss in terms of the read. He still has a basically a tap in for Birdie. All right, back to 13 Xander. And I would say if they allowed you to come up and place the ball in the perfect spot, this would be it. basically up the hill. He can be aggressive as he wants with this. And as much influence as the slope that Rory was coming down, I think there may be a little bit of an offset from the bunker on the front left because your first thought is this has to go right to left, but the bunker is going to support it enough that maybe it won’t break as much. That’s what I think. Got a great look at it. that low angle. Watch how perfectly the ball will roll. Oh, it just snapped at the end. More speed would have helped. The disappointment after the excellent T-shot. Shley unable to get one closer and ahead to 18. Andy, you mentioned it. This fairway, it’s it’s 30 paces wide. There’s plenty of fairway, but there’s water left. There’s a bunker, right? And as grass, this is one of the fairway bunkers you don’t want to be in. It’s more difficult than a lot of the other ones cuz the you it will stay in the bottom, but there’s still enough lip. That’s a good play. Put it in the middle of the green, but the slope is still taking it back to the front. These are going to get really dangerous before the day is over. May take four of those. Oh, absolutely. See if Scotty can make this one. He I think you have I think you have to factor in what you just saw. Perfect team. Good putt. That was big time. Excellent up and down for Scotty. So after the two fives, a couple of threes and he’s sort of back on track. Bit uneven for him and yet he’s level. You know it’s going to find it. When he does he’ll do what he does. So three threes for this group. All a little different, but they’ll make their way now to 14. It’s going to be a blast to see the way they go about it. Royal take a little something off a three-wood I presume. Here’s John Rob who had visions of an eagle when he was standing on the tea. Has to make this to save par. And he does. But this this hole’s playing more than a half a stroke under par so far. That’s what it’s such a cool short hole. You anything can happen. It is a great hole. All right, the battle now for Grman at 12. This one’s going to be fast. So, miss the fairway off the T. Missed the green for his second. That’ll be for bogey as we go up to 15. Fleetwood with a putter. That’s That’s not a bad play. He’s short enough. Didn’t have to go through all the dew that we saw Brooks Kepka have to deal with early in the day. But you can pitch it from there. You can putt it. 16. Here’s Shane Lowry. After a good drive, still 225 down the hill. So I’m playing back into a little bit of breeze. 535 yards today. And you see the difficulty with that second well to the front of this massive green. Stay here with Brooks Kepka. And just a couple of yards closer after a good drive. Switch clubs. Went back for a little more. And this is aggressive. Takes a nasty hop off that sprinkler near the green, but it stays in play for Kepka. Take a look at the 16th hole. It’s almost impossible to drive it over that bunker anymore. It’s where Ricky Fowler’s ball is. 342 yards to clear the bunker. Not many guys can do that. Manded to that point with the T back the way that it is. Even more so 345 or so yards. These guys dead center the fairway. Look at Ricky coming off a bird. A perfect one. He didn’t quite catch it. You could land, you know, first, third, just stop. You know what I mean? Probably just a shot with five just riding it, isn’t it? I mean, 204 the hole that’s playing it’s playing 210 flag to the pin at least. Okay. Trying to Yeah, I like it. Okay, John. Decision made for Fowler. Well, I had the pleasure of walking with him a lot last week at the Philly Cricket Club, and I thought he was swinging at it as well as I’d ever see him swing at it. And this drive, an indication of that, right down the center, well over 300 yd. Just needs to dial in the irons. And this one started right on the line they talked about. Just right of it. That is beautifully thought out. Beautifully executed. Closest to the groove from Ricky Fowler coming off a birdie at 15 as we head forward to 18. Our leader Ryan Fox. This is another one of those putts that’s basically just uphill the whole way. Can he hit it hard enough to get it there? Gaining half a stroke with a four. What a beautiful nine holes to start the championship. Spectacular. All right. Well, this should be fun. get to watch these three players play 14. Is that a driver for Sheffller? Looks like it is. It is indeed. Scrambling through these first few holes to stay at even par. Now a great birdie chance. Okay, John Rob was there after his second shot. Sheffller drives the ball. Saw Scotty hit probably 40 shots from that area in the practice round the other day. So, he should have a pretty good idea what’s going to it’s going to take to get it close. Xander, that’s not a driver. It is amazing how far Xander and Rory can hit their 3-woods. I mean, I think he can easily get it there. Yeah, when we say 3-wood, this is no layup coming. That’s left. Yeah, way left. So, not as far out there as Phils, but close. And that there is that protection. If you land it on the grass, usually it’s going to stay in. This one flies right in the water. He’s trying to hit a draw. He’s trying to hit it the threewood hard and it just got got away got away from a bit. That’s what makes it a great hole. Fun hole. There is risk to go along with the eagle opportunities. Now Rory, this one kind of hanging out to the right. Looked like he was trying to turn it. Oh, that’s going to be much more difficult hanging up into that rough. He’s going to have to bounce it through that swale where Scotty’s ball is to get it on. I don’t believe he can carry it on the green from there. So, that’ll be fun to see how he handles that. And Fleetwood has joined Fox at three under Paul. Three in a row. But now you starts now you cinch up the britches, tighten the belt, and get ready for what Brooks Kepka is dealing with right now. Difficult shot on 16 after missing the green on the second. fortunately on the ups slope with a pretty good lie. Another case where the PJ has really helped out on these slopes of weight greens. The balls will stay there. Matt at 12 and our captain Keegan Bradley. Great approach this for birdie. Bradley two. now 16. And again, it’s this this a long birdie for Lowry about 85 ft. Yeah, the flag is on 30 and he’s on those two steps you just saw him take. And he’s coming off a three putt from about 30 ft in the fringe on the last hole. John, this is one of those that it’s uphill super slow, then as it gets to this change in color, it goes downhill. So, one of Andy’s five tournament picks is two over in the early part of his round. He’ll have some work to do. That’s why you pick a whole bunch. You know, you can never be wrong if you pick more than one to 14. So, they let the players play up now. Raasmus Hoygard. I think we’ll see that a lot at 14. And this is for Birdie. And no shock. There’s a Hoy Guard on the leaderboard. He’s two under par. Nice start to his PGA championship. That’s when you guys were talking about Fleetwood first. We’ll go to 16. All right. So Fowler misses that. Birdie to the right taps in for par. And again, Andy, it’s interesting. The green is big. It doesn’t appear to be that difficult of a second shot. But yet, this hole just does not allow you to score. 535 has something to do with that. Second shot now. John Raw. Yeah. Off the downs slope here. It’s going to flight lower than he wants to to this whole location. He’ll have and up and down to get to two under. Probably 20 yards short of the green. That’s very doable. Maybe too far to putt it. 16 Lowry trying to save. This one’s not a quick putt either. He’s just not real stable over those, which is surprising because he always looks good over the putter. That’s another three putt for now for Shane Lowry. Already two over for the tournament. He’s trying to find a little something as he heads to 17, but not the start. One of the pre-ournament favorites in mind contention at the Masters faltered over the weekend. He’s played so much good golf this week. This is a big surprise. Almost feels like a painful carryover from the last hole last week in Philly where he three putted him. Looks so devastated. And he has he’s been in the conversation first three rounds or so of the tournament. Then at the end it just something happens now. Go back to the 14th. So you try to pick the line where the ball crossed over make take your drop and now it’s scramble time for Xander Schoffley. Brooks Kepka made his par by the way. It’s interesting though, Dave, just as we as we’ve watched throughout this morning, got a couple of major champions, Phil and Xander, didn’t just miss their mark. I mean, they’re in it, right? So it seems like this it’s this sort of par long par three and get it and certainly the opportunity is there but there’s trouble that’s all the way down that left side indeed. Good point. And the problem is that they both hit such poor shots they’ve got to drop it way back there. You know if you hit it up around the green and it bounces and goes in the water, you’re dropping it right there. So it’s an easy up and now he’s got a hard shot. He’s got to just barely carry the bunker out of the rough. Yeah. 100 yards. Andy 100 yardds. That’s He did clear that bunker. Well done. That’s about as well as he could do from there. He actually took a look 20 yards further back to me to see if maybe it was going to be a better option. Yeah. Out of out of the rough. I don’t think you can get it closer. How about a birdie at 17 for the last player to make it into the field, Alex Smallley. get to two under. What a wonderful story this would be. Fortunate to get in. We keep track of the birdies at 17 because there aren’t a lot of them. Well done. He’s made three birdies. He’s two under par. To your point, he was here. He was preparing. He was going through the practice rounds. He was ready when his name was called. Now Maroy challenging second shot. Well, just what you thought, Andy. He was going to have to land it short to get it close to the hole. And that is marvelous. Outstanding right there. You can throw 10 balls down in that rough and not get one any closer than that to 13. Captain Bradley coming off birdie leaning left and that’s on a great line. Look at that bounce and he puts on the brakes. Keegan roaring out of the gates. A golf course that fits his game beautifully. He hits the ball super high. We’re seeing it. Rom. That’s the 15th. His Oh, beautifully done. Boy, just clipped that one. Super amount of spin on it. Excellent start for John Rom. He’ll have that to get to two under it. Par five. All right. So, this is a shot that Andy watched. Scotty Sheffller hit so many of he’s going with putter. I like it. I mean, you you have to go over that little false edge right there. And I mean, if you get going by the hole with any speed at all, it can go down off the green into the rough. It was interesting watching when the other day he didn’t hit any putts from there because he pitched them all because it was so wet. Now it’s drying out a little bit. You try something different and you still got some work to do. may be an example of the conditions for the practice rounds not allowing Sheffller to work on the shot that he’s using in the actual tournament. Well, I think he may have been a little spooked with the two pitch shots he hit that Yeah, maybe pulled up short. Par five seventh. Yeah, we we got a chance to get to know him a little bit back at the Latin America amter years ago. Really a terrific player. Won the par three contest this year at the Masters. off and running. Fitzpatrick’s third. This left hand low chipping style. He’s figured out how to do it. He’s taken all those little funky chips out of play. Allow that to get to three under. One ahead 16. Funky, but it works. Fleetwood now 215 for his second. What a start for Tommy Fleetwood. Three under par. Tied for the lead with Fox. Just any par on this hole is a good par. Sometimes when you get to a big green, it’s harder to hit it close because the surface is so big. You don’t lock in on the hole location. KCO on the T at 17. This is just up the right edge. This might be exactly where you’ve been aiming. Stays there. That’s perfect. It’s hard to be aggressive to the left side at 17. There is no room. It’s a little bit of rough and then water. That ball continue to roll off the green. So, this is we’re going to see this all day. I think the the group on the green at 14 will wait and call up the players on the T. So, that’s Graaserman. This will come all the way down in that low area very much where Scotty just played from. just to try to help with pace of play. Let those players play up so there’s not too much of a backlog on the TE at 14 cuz today with that T playing up, everybody’s going to be going for it. There will be no laying up today. Tony Fenel one over the wind has come up is now out of the left across the lake which now on the tee it it puts a little different mental thought process. Do I have to try to hook it back into the wind enough to help me get it there which might bring in left into play a little bit more. Yeah, that’s interesting because we were seeing some of those shots slotted in early. Not as many lately. You see the T-shot, but just absolutely perfect. That’s That’s well done. This green was hit a third of the times in 2017. That’s a pretty remarkable statistic. Well bunkered, well protected, and Fox center of the fairway, center of the green, I beg your pardon. It’s about 20 yards shorter this year than it was last last time. PJ was here. All right. So, Keegan Bradley’s doing his thing. His counterpart from Europe, Luke Donald, I made the point earlier, hasn’t played a lot of golf. Hasn’t made a cut this year. Tied for the lead. Luke Donald have some. What a start for the former world number one. We talk about advantage long players. That is not the case for Luke to 12. Sam Burns is third. He’s in one under. Sam Burns. That’s one way to do it. Great shot. We go now back to the 14th. We’re seeing some of those chipins. I The ball sits nicely in the rough here so often. Now this is the par putt for Xander Schoffley. Yeah, this would be a nice one to get. Reach. I didn’t think he could leave that one short. So that’s a bogey five at a hole that’s given up two eagles and 11 birdies already today. The 14th now at second on eight again playing just 342 yards today. Andy a little bit more to deal with off the tee. This is going to take the ridge. How about eternal? That’s that’s why you play practice rounds. Just figure out where the ridge is. You look at hole locations. What what ridge can maybe help me get it closer to the hole? Crafty sh birdie putt has to keep this inside the hole quick. That just continues to be an uneven start for Scotty Sheffller. He’s managed to stay even par, but I would guess he’s not real thrilled with the way he’s playing yet. Rom cleaning up his birdie at 15. Beautiful pitch shot. Now Maroyy’s turn. Billy, what do you see? I you know I think it’s off center to the right. It’s certainly going to go left. I think had such a difficult second and played it absolutely beautifully running it up that slope. Oh man, Andy, that looked like a little bit of both. A little bit of a pull and more break left. That looked the one thing I think Rory’s done really, really well in the last year or so, he’s he’s softened up his arms and his hands in the putter and it’s it’s a more athletic putting stroke than he was. That one looked just a little bit quicker and shorter than we see normally. This is formality for Fitzpatrick who has birdied three of his first six to join the lead. It’s crowded. Five players three under. Isn’t this amazing? We’re seeing Eagles all these birdies at 14. top three players in the world and bogey car par car for those three at 14. It’s not a gimme. There is there are trouble spots there. The water’s in play. That makes it a really fun hole. Still got to do it, man. Still got to do it. Sheffller will finish up for his par. Not to second guess him, but don’t wonder if he’s thinking maybe I should have pitched that ball instead of trying to putt it up that slope. So off they go to the par five. This is Ricky Fowler off the green at 17. took a drop from the fairway cut into the first cut of rough a little more cushion after some standing water and pretty good result. That’s interesting. Back to one. And Ryan Fox said he was gutted to miss the Masters after he played in all the majors last year. Knew there was one path to this week. It was winning last week, which he did. This for the lead. No, but he’ll remain at three underpar big time. Only way I can make is to win. He chipped in and did just that. Here he is tied with many including this man. Tommy Fleetwood for Birdie at 16. Again, the group of players at three under as he starts his approach on 161 17 18 to 17. But now Brooks Kepko with putter. He has a plan. Yeah, he’s being pretty stubborn with that, huh, John? It’s working right there. I like it. I mean, you make that decision early. Am I going to putt from those areas or am I going to do something else? Scotty Sheffller on the T. Par five. Huge dog leg right to left. 317 yards to reach the bunkers on the right. Well, that is over the tree on the left. I was going to say I don’t know if it’s over it. Yeah, it’s in the fairway. Really? Take a look at the 15th, the par five. That is really a birdie opportunity. Just take it down there. Aiming at those bunkers. You can turn it left and got a second shot that plays up the hill. Bunker in the front really is uh can be a problem. Unless the hole’s in the front, then that’s not a bad place to be. Talk about holes that fit the eye of this man. I can’t think you could draw one up that’s any better than this hole. I agree, Scott. And little bit of a trailing breeze as well. So the line that Scotty took perfect for Roy. Start out those bunkers and just turn it right to left and just hammer it. Three, two, one, boom. That’s a little too far left. I think it stayed out of the penalty area. Goodness. Wouldn’t expect that. Have to see. Heard a murmur from the spectators. A concerned one at that. get eyes on where Rory is. I’m gonna say this is going to have a little heat behind it. I’m guessing this line’s going to start further to the right than those other two. Also, always working on the posture. This is perfect. Good call on that line, Andy. It’s just It’s such a beautiful looking hole that you The bunkers are right there to aim at. You just hit it at it, work it off the bunkers. Perfect. So those two are all right. Concern for Rory to eight. You saw that approach work its way down. And you saw him work his way in for a birdie to tie for the lead at three under back to two. Tied with Ryan Fox among others. 452 yd par4. And the big dog leg right to left with a left to right ball flight off the tee. That’ll bounce into the rough. That one looked like it may have gone deeper. Also, sat a little down. And Shane Lowry, he’s testing himself with some of these long putts, didn’t he? Coming off two, three putts in a row. This is not the one you want. Oh man. because I mean he got it up there pretty good but considering how things are going that’s no gimme out of 15 rasmusard his third keep running out he’ll have an opportunity to get to three as well to This is Justin Lowour. Saw a couple putts early made from around that spot. And now we see another one go in. A lot of pace. Very much like Augusta. If you’ve got it 15, 20, even 30 ft below the hole, it’s makeable above the hole or side slopes. Boy, it’s much more difficult. [Music] this just a bit ago on 13. Love the fact that the RDER Cup captains, Luke Donald, Keegan Bradley, we talked earlier, Andy, and you’d know having been involved with the RDER Cup as you’ve been, there’s a lot on their plate, and they’re trying to figure out who’s going to be part of their team. And you’re still trying to play highlevel golf. And they’re both tied on the lead. And we see there Rory’s okay. That’s a it’s a bit of good fortune. And you talking about Keegan, he is really trying to play his way on this team. Well, he was bitterly disappointed to have been left off the last team. I think you could make a pretty good case he should have been on it. Yeah, he really believes that he still has an opportunity to play his way onto this team. He probably wouldn’t pick himself, but there’s a good chance he, you know, a big week this week would go a long way. Min Woo had a look at Eagle on 10 here on 15 Woozy. He’s had an adventurous card. Mid Woo mentioned he won he’d won around the world and got his first PGA Tour win earlier this year. He’s a world class player. 17 T- shot. Tommy Fleetwood taking it right to left. That’s a pretty good line, isn’t it? Be careful. Head down. There is that protection with the rough. [Applause] Beautiful looking shot. All right. Not only he’s got a good lie, it’s fairly flat and it looks like his stance is going to be okay. Aggressive line. Sheffller first to play. If you can’t reach the screen, you’d love to be just short right. You’re just from there. It’s the easiest pitch. You’re just coming right up the hill. Well, Andy, this is the clip that he put in the bag for this. You see it in the foreground. He had Rory and Harry taking low stance so as not to be a visual distraction. What I was about to say, this is the club he put in for this week as he had to back off it. Uh this is a seven. It’s he put it in the bag to replace the three iron. So this is the first look at it. What do you think of that, Billy? I like it. If you drop it in the rough, it’s an easier club to hit than the three iron out of the rough. 241. That is way up in the air as well. That’s in that spot. It’s going to get a ton of business and up and down for Scotty for a birdie. So, Xander, next play bit of downtown and 235. Try to elevate a forearm. That was hit hard. That was solid. It’s a bullet. Yeah, but it’s a bullet into that bunker. That’s not a bad spot to be. So, as you’ve seen, this backside does prevent present a number of opportunities for birdie. The the last real good one is here at 15 and then 16, 17, 18 is hands on the wheel. Very fortunate that all the things went well here. Yeah. And actually has a stance to Andy 196. This is a seven. Yeah, that’s leaking a little right as well. Andy, that’s not bad at all there. You know, you almost would take it there versus 50 or 60 ft by the hole putting straight down that hill. It might be an easier up and in from just short right of the green. Certainly beats the heck out of playing your third. had just barely missed the hazard there. All right, to seven to third for Steven Joerger. Just just dump it out. Let it run straight downhill into the little low area where the cup is cut. That’s lovely. See if we can make it eight players at three under par. It’s 10:00 here in the East Coast. I mentioned there are many players that are three under major champions. Couple both the RDER Cup captains, familiar names for leaderboards. Alex Smallley here at first round lead potentially. Minu Lee just got there to two under with the Eagle. Jerger will have the birdie to join the group at three under par. World number one Scotty Sheoffller in that group at even Brooks Kepka fivetime major champion along with the reigning champ Xander Schoffley at even par 7:00 out west 10 on the east coast great to have you along with us as we get back to the action on two. Yeah, one of those co-leaders Ryan Fox from the rough maybe a little bit of a flyer out of that rough. surprising it stopped as well as it did. It is. It is a big slope back to front. So maybe almost into the hill. He’ll have a fast putt coming down the hill. 18 and Brooks Kco. I mean, it’s the green’s wet and there’s there’s nine behind it as well. So it’s not, you know, you’re safe with a with a his second. You see that the stance is impacted. Sounds like hitting an outside knee high curveball. And this is kind of a microcosm of his day. He’s just been that far off. That’s pretty good play from there. Good chance that may come back off the front of the green, but that could have gone anywhere. And still rolling again. missed the most difficult hole when we were here last for the PGA Championship. Most difficult hole on the PGA Tour last year. It’s all you want to 17. Another chip in possibility. Maybe Del big time. Yeah. No matter what shot you’re hitting, it’s got to be accelerated. With that in mind, we watch Xander from the bunker. Trying to figure out the lie. You can see widening out. definitely has to keep it left to the flag. Did just that, hoping for a bit more of a runoff. I think he’s trying to chunk the run that it just didn’t come out as much as he thought. Keegan Bradley at 14. What a start to his tournament. And he drove the ball just short of the green at 14. I say just short. He was back there a little bit. Hang on. Okay. He must not have gotten at all if he was that short. We watched him hit it on the green the other day from the back te. Par putt for the other captain at 11. Just straight uphill and straight in. We can’t talk about that enough of how much simpler it is to make putts when you’re putting back up the hills. You can be more aggressive. You don’t have to worry about the speed. Now Rory with the putter at 15. Yeah, they couldn’t pull it out of the bag fast enough. Both he and Scotty going with the putter, just the one variable, just how speedy it is from the fairway cut of grass. It’s on a great line, but not enough pace. I’m going to say okay. From there, the one thing you don’t want to do is run it three or four feet by the hole and then have to hit one of those downhill sliders for your birdie. Second for Lowry. 184 that is on a string. Fantastic from Lowry. That’s more what we were expecting out of him. It’s early. It’s a lot of golf. He’s not going anywhere. John Rob now for birdie at the 16th. Another lengthy one. Susan, the closest player we’ve seen there is Ricky at about 15 or 18 ft. Just a massive green there at 16. The biggest here at Quail Hollow as we’ve said before and you’re seeing every bit of it now. Let’s go to two. I’m looking forward to watching this putt. Pick a line, get it started. I I don’t think he could have left that one short. It didn’t change speed the last 15 ft. It really did not have that left to stay at three under. Now Sheffller’s birdie putt on its way. Scotty Sheffler. So he hasn’t done anything. Chips in to anchor birdie pulls it from off. He’s two under park. What a effort from Scotty Sheffler. T-shot kind of through the tree. Could have gone anywhere. Come on. I’m 200. And if the field is watching and they’re thinking he’s all over the map for him. Yeah. For him. Exactly. And to your point now, here he is two under par. The Scotty Sheoffller show. It’s why he’s got a one next to his name and has for a while. His good’s pretty good. This This one’s a little bit tricky because of the left to right nature of it. Well, the line on the ball is well outside left. Billy, we’ve seen that putt missed low. Every player that’s had it. Missed a couple low. Missed one on 13, the par three that it was good look for Birdie and and this one as well. Disappointing. Told it 17. Fox made his par at two. This is the 17th that Tommy Fleetwood runs that one by. Fourth hardest par three on tour last year. 17 here at Quail Hollow. Rory, I can’t imagine any that would be harder. I’d like to know what three were harder. Rory’s birdie putt again. Very fortunate that that T-shot which flirted with the water avoided it and he is able to make birdie. This is a great example of why these one and two players in the world are one and two is that even when they don’t have their stuff, they’re able to get it around. They’re figuring out how to how to do this and they’re both under par. Sander who was in the best position off the tea makes the par unable to make birdie. Scotty Shuffler one off the lead. 14. Keegan Bradley his birdie putt. He would have the outright lead if this goes down. This is now for bogey for Fleetwood. So that’s a drop shot for him at the very tough 17th. And it doesn’t get any easier as he walks to 18. Thought he hit a perfect T- shot. T- shot and it just released through the green and you walk off with bogey. That’s the one hole out here guys talk about that green. They just they mutter a bit about how just very very penalizing to to 18. Keep almost all the chips pitches up the hill coming up short. So Kepka is doing what you got to do in a major. You got to battle. Dig in your heels. Off to a fantastic start on a sunny day here in Charlotte. Seven are three under Paul. World number one. Scotty’s just eagle and he’s one back. Stick around. Be right back. One, two, three, Wonderful to have you with us in Charlotte, North Carolina. I love Quail Hollow. It’s Thursday morning. Everyone starts at zero. A blank slate. The empty scorecards dealing with the fullness of hopes and nerves and the possibility of magic. It just takes four good days to change your life. Welcome to the PGA [Music] Championship. These are special weeks indeed. Four days to make you a forever player. We’ve had a a line change. Jeff Ogleby has joined us here. US Open champion alongside Andy North will be calling some of the holes on his own. Hopefully I won’t talk over him. Good luck with that. Billy Katzard’s out on the golf course. Susie Wheelley. John McGinness as well. Jeff Darlington is alongside Tom Carfus. In case there are any rules questions, we’re just past 10 Eastern time. They call it the best field in golf every year for a reason. 99 of the top 100 in the official world golf ranking are here. We have 25 different nations, 70 players represented him, 30 major champions who’ve combined to win 55 13 PGA champions and of course 20 professionals representing their clubs all around the country. Back out to the golf course and a good look at the challenge that is the 16th. You see 333 yds to cover that bunker on the right. There’s Mroy, Sheffller, and Shaley step to the tea. Sheffller coming off the eagle at 15. Here’s his T- shot. Yeah, I think with the wind, I I just don’t think there’s any way those guys are looking down at that bunker. I mean, playing left of that and just keep it in play and that’s just inside the bunker. So that is longest drive of the day. 322 yards up to 18. See if Brooks can grind out a par. That’s rough. Flips out. Will be a bogey there. Now Maroy just one of five today off the tea hitting fairways. gun that Billy well that one’s heading left again. Well, that’s going to be in the penalty area. It did not go down into the water. So playable, but left again now. One of six up to 17. Yeah, that was way left. Now Matt Fitzpatrick trying to keep it from going left on the par three. He’s playing real well. That’s good shot. [Applause] The applause is temp, but needs to be more enthusiastic. Agree with you. Now Xander at 16. Well, there you go, Matt. Nice start from 16. Ander of that grouping is the only one that didn’t take advantage of the 14th and 15th went through that two-hole stretch that one over. Now 18th and it has been a struggle but after a brilliant approach Shane Lowry makes birdie picking up a stroke and a half on everyone with that. And so with a bit of pep in his step, he’ll head to the front side to 17. John Rom clean card so far. Two under couple birdies. The rest pars aggressive line almost that Fleetwood line. That’s one of the best shots we’ve seen. Very well done. Right back pin high. Had to be right. All right. Now, Hoygard for Birdie and the solo lead at 16. Again, such a big green proximity to this hole. I think Ricky Fowler the tightest approach. Now, Luke Donald at 12. Jeff just off the green for his third. Yeah, you’ll see a lot of people miss 12 to right cuz you leave it under the hole, but uh as you can see there, it’s a relatively simple from right of the green. If you miss it long or left, you’re in trouble. Luke Donald tied at three under with the other captain, Keegan Bradley. As we go back to the third, Ryan Fox the third. Oh, caught caught the lip of the bunker, but luckily it ended up back in the fairway. Third hole, very difficult hole. Only two birdies so far today. Here’s another look. Good line in the bunker. Trying to maybe hit a little more distance out of here than he could. And it comes up well low of where it wanted to go. Fortunately, it did end up in the fairway. Well, this is a birdie putt for David Pooch who’s two under par to tie for the lead. [Applause] Yes. Some forks up. Got some Sparkies out there. They got Mroy in trouble. Billy. Oh, that was an awkward lie. He slipped pretty big time right there. He got out of the penalty area, but he’s going to have another difficult lie for his third. Billy, I’m curious. Again, one of six fairways. Have you noticed anything from Rory struggling off the tea now? Well, pretty much left has been the miss. Now, how correctable is that on the golf course? Such a such a steep slope to be hitting off. I mean, that’s pretty common there with soft spikes these days. The metal spikes probably helped that in the old days, but um Rory’s he knows his golf swing, but as well as anybody else. I think he can find a way to fix it. His his form’s never far away. No driving problem for Sheffler. 212 for his second early on. No surprise. The 16th playing the toughest hole in the early part of this first round. Well, Scotty’s going to be the first to play. I think he’s going to give Rory a little bit of time to kind of recollect and then play. But Scotty has 212. Xander a couple yards closer. He’ll be 210. And looking at the the flags over the chalet. They’re moving right to left. It’s got a five iron out, but the tower in the back, the number 16, if you can knock If you can knock it right at that, that would be ideal. Oh, that’s aggressive. That is aggressive. That’s got to get down. We’ll have to take a look to see if that stayed in kind of an imped. But that was long and left for Sheffield. Mistake from dead center of the fairway. Now Moyy’s third. Pretty much the same yardage, but again, the ball well above his feet right here. This a 600. It’s going to miss. Well, right. Very little available over here on the left. So, problems for Mroy and Sheffller at the 16th. We’ve yet to see a birdie on this hole today. It’s the only hole on the course that is yet to give up a birdie. What can Xander do now? Well, 210. He’s chosen a sixiron again. The start line can’t be any more left of the 16. That’s the same as Scotty. Even more left. What in the world is going on? Rory Xander and Sheffler the 16th. I mean for three world class players Jeff will be the green bile just showed its teeth in the batter of three shots. Well, we’re seeing how hard it could be. I mean Rory’s obvious why he’s struggling on the hole with a poor T- shot, but the other two from the middle of the fairway both found the water. It’s uh it’s just two really good shots and two really good putts to make par on this hole. That’s why we talk about how paramount it is on 14 and 15 to get maybe a birdie or two as you make this difficult three-hole stretch. But right now it is there’s work cut out for Scotty Sheffler just coming off an eagle and certainly give some of that back now as we move ahead to 17. Matt Fitzpatrick long birdie putt. Yeah, up the slope. He’s g us enough pace. He did not. So, playing well, but left that one well short. Back to 15. We saw an eagle from Scotty from similar spot moments ago. This for Graser to tie for the lead. Yes, sir. Spectacular. Was that an attempt at an eagle? That was an eagle attempt. Yes. From a spectator. It’s early, but it’s it’s never too early around around these parts, I think, to This is Fox chipping for his par. Looked like a par the whole way. Chipped in to win last week in Myrtle Beach. Got away with a second shot that caught the lip of the bunker. Over to 17. 21 ft or so for birdie for John Rob. Yeah, great leave even though I don’t think he intended to be left of this hole. Straight up the hill. Only one birdie so far at 17 and almost a second. A lot of pace. Wow. One of the only places on that green you can be aggressive from. As Susie said, you don’t want to hit it left, but when you do, you’re happy. Phil Mickelson here. His second on 18, which for years has been the hardest hole out here. It feels like there could be a new sheriff in town. the 16th. That’s lovely from Phil. [Applause] Back to 16. Afflemention struggles. Yeah, Scott Rory or Scotty rather, he went in. He’ll have to drop his third, hit his fourth. Mroy, trouble off the tea. He’s hitting his fourth. Same for Xander, Billy. Is this group leaking a little bit here on the 16th? Yeah, they really are. And uh Royy’s in a spot where all the players exit this green. So all the grain of grass going right back towards him. Plenty of green to work with. But I still think he has to just I don’t know, carry the bunker maybe 10 ft. Jeff. Yeah, he has to respect this shot for sure cuz he doesn’t want to hit it back across the other side of the green. That’s just about right. That’s very accepting of the situation. So Mako will have that for Bogey. Still work to do for Scotty Alexander. You know, here in lies the kick in the teeth of this three-hole stretch. You get through this with Bo here a double go. You got the par three setting coming up. Well, Matt, just to just to kind of, you know, give clarity to it. Both players and the caddies were were muttering about the mud that they they’ve had on the ball. Just this hole or in throughout the day? Uh they had it on 12. So um it’s been a few times. Carrie Haye came out last night. Too bad any notion that there could be a lift clean in place. So Xander’s fourth. Talk about two tough shots. I mean you have little to work with. You’re going to see two of the best in the game. Try to get it within 5 ft of hole. That’s a lot of rehearsals right there. work continues for Xander Schoffley up ahead. Ramen Fitzpatrick both made par at 17. Now that can’t help Sheffller after seeing what just happened to Shaley. Well, he’s going to try the same shot. He’s going to go upstairs as well. You pretty much know no other option and it’s even further away. I mean, it is just a bad miss here at the six 16th. So, here you have the world number one coming off an eagle at the 15th. almost certainly going to give that back at the 16th. Mroy trying to avoid his second double bogey in his career at Quail Hollow. He only had one in opening round in 2010. First time ever playing the course. And now it’s just about Jeff getting out of here, throwing this one away, and maybe doing something special at 17, which today, as we’ve seen, has not been easy. He’s been go ahead to 18. Scott, well, they sort that out. Here’s Mickelson for what will be the second birdie of the day on 18. Four though, Jeff on 18. It’s a bit of a cliche, but you’re certainly stealing one, aren’t you? Very happy with four on 18. Yeah, certainly simplified when you drive it on the fairway. Um, but absolutely you’ll take four there four times. 17. Very happy with three at 17. See if Raasmus Higgard can stay three under. I think that’s pretty good line and just about exactly Jeff what he wanted to do. Fantastic shot there. Rasmus is a beautiful ball striker. Hits a lovely draw. Very happy with that. Okay, back to 16th. Sheffller for bogey. Two putts from here would be good. You’re going straight up the hill. And I think with this whole location from this low area, this is put that’s always hard to get to the hole. Yeah, I think Billy, this back left pin here at 16 is the toughest one on the green for sure. Um, very difficult to hit it on that level. And if anywhere from down low, we’ve seen everybody leave the putt short. It’s very slow. I got to tell you, I’m glad Matt was documenting everything. I kind of got a little lost in all the math. I got you, Billy. I’ve got my abocus here at the booth. I was picking you up after calling you McInness. No one wants that name mistake. And Xander pretty much has the same putt. Maybe a difference of 5T to the right of where Scotty just put it from. I would say the most important component, most knowledge he got from that putt from Scotty was the speed. So step to the T box at even par this for bogey. went right over Sheffller’s mark. And and Billy, look, I know the 16th, it’s one of the toughest holes out here. It has been historically, but this this is stunning watching these three players grind now for a double bogey. And even Mroy has a difficult putt for bogey. I don’t know what kind of odds you could have gotten, but if you would have said teen off with two balls in the fairway, were we going to see number one, two, and three all be putting for bogey from length here at the 16? See 12 ft now for again just one double bogey of his career here at the 16 with that support on the left hand side of the green. You feel like this putt is going to be a little moving to the right. So, Mroy will go from one under to one over after doubling the 16th. Scotty and Xander still on just burn that left edge of the cup. Rory knows how close that was. And now he’s got a double bo going to move back to one over par. Scotty’s got seven feet for double. Xander 5 1/2 ft for double from here. I don’t think you can give the hole away. So Scotty in for double bogey. He lost both strokes from the eagle at 15. He’s back to even any momentum this group may have had coming off the par five. I mean, it has been zapped in a hurry. Well, when I when I look at the three players and he’s going to bring in Austin Kaiser, you know, a big part of major golf, major championship golf and and Jeff, you can address this is the attitude and acceptance. You have to accept situations like this that are going to happen and you’re going to have to withstand those rough patches. Yeah. Once you’ve done it, you’ve done it. You’ve got to put it behind you and just get going. I mean, these guys know this hole is a really difficult hole. Unfortunately for them, they’ve got 17 and 18 to go after this. Um, but regroup on 17 and move on. All right, so now 5 1/2 ft. Xander for Xander now two over after a double bogey. Three double bogeies for three of the tournament favorites. That was like the big one at Tallaladega. It piled up. Just just move on to the next turn being the 17th. I don’t think you can overestimate that mention about mud ball though. And as players navigate their way around the course this week, danger as you see will be looming in the form of the green mile. The last three holes at Quail Hollow have been called a nightmare over the years and you just saw why in the BJ Championship in 2017. There were more double bogeies or worse on those three holes than there were birdies or better. And of those, 12 were triple or quadruple bogeies, matching the number of triples or worse on the first 15 holes. A lot of danger comes from the water in play. We saw that with two of those players. Since the BJ tour returned here in 2003, more than 1,800 golf balls have found the water in this stretch of holes. Two of those Xander and Scotty a moment ago. All of that to say in recent history, no finish in major golf has been more treacherous to navigate than this one. Not winged foot kiwa carnine donis carnasty and when it comes down to it no one is safe walking to green look at that number rest of the course in that stretch of three holes that’s three holes and there’s 15 left let’s recap the 16 Roy Mroy was left off the tea one of six hitting fairways slips that’s an awful place for him to play and almost falls down. This is Sheffler dead center of the fairway. Aggressive line hooks his left, bounced off the back of the green into the water. And then after doing that, Xander was in the best position off the T. Longest drive, hook the three and then does this. So he too goes into the water. Both of them would have to drop their third and hit their fourth. From there it just got worse and Dave Fleming for their reward they get the par 317. I guess the good news is you’re on the tea. There won’t be a mud ball. But if if all three of those guys went way left on 16, this is not exactly the shot you dream up after what just happened at 16. I mean, I I can’t remember anything like that with the three best players in the world. This is ahead on that 17th green for the second birdie of the day at the ultra tough par three. Raasmus Hoygard, just ran it by. So, they have that left for par to stay tied for the lead. So those three still waiting, having to watch what’s going on up ahead. Think about what just happened back at 16- 15. Keegan Bradley for Birdie and the lead on his own. That’s a very difficult putt from above the hole there on 15. Andy’s made the point throughout the morning, Jeff, about the difference above and below. It’s Augusta like there are a lot of similarities to the design and the intent of the course. Here’s 18 and Rom his second. Yeah, he needs to throw this up in the air to get it all the way back on that back tier. That’s fantastic shot there. Great shot there from John. Yeah. Um big advantage driving on the fairway, especially up the left. Put himself out of position at the first round of the Masters. Battled back the whole week. Off to a much better start. It’s after lipping out on 18 for par. Kepka had that for par on one and an frustrating start to his PGA championship to two to tie for the lead. Alex Molly, last player in the field after Thagala dropped out last night. He has the only birdie at 17 and now he pours one in at two. He’s got four birdies in his first 11 holes in this PGA championship. He’s tied for the lead. All right, after the wait, it’ll be Scotty Sheffler first to go. 227 to the hole. Ideally, you’d like to land this somewhere around 215. Scotty’s got a five iron. Made a double and still has the tea. Oh my god, that was not well struck. That was fortunate right there. Yeah, that you get a little worried. You could tell he was nervous in the air that that might not make it. Well, only the one one birdie that was Alex Small. He was about 12 ft just to the left of the hole. That’s the only one we’ve had. Such a difficult hole to hit it close. the the the average distance to the hole 52 1/2 ft on a par three. I don’t know what you shot you hit to get close to this green. I’m not being glib here. I don’t know what shot is going to stop close to that hole location. You have about a tabletop to land it in. Probably just past where Scotty landed his ball there. 10 15 on the green and hope it rolls towards the hole. It’s a very small target with a five. All right. So, Mroy, maybe a little indecision with him. Made even more difficult by the No, you know, if you’re short, you’re left, you’re long, or you’re right. You’re in a bad spot. Other than that, lot of margin for error otherwise. I think he initially had the six iron out, but he went back for the five. And I think I think that’s the right club for it. Well, it’s pretty in the air. That’s almost exactly what happened to Tommy Fleetwood. Just a beautiful looking right to left T- shot and it just keeps going. And Fleetwood did not get up and down from that rough. He missed that tabletop by about five yards. Yeah, I think and that’s what we see. If you landed a Y 225, it goes over the back. It’s a side table. That’s a small area. I’m just still shaking my head. Scotty Sheffller made double and had and had the tea. Had the tea. Well, Sanders gearing it down. Xander’s going to go with sixiron. We’re going to try something different here. He has to smash it to get it there. Jeff, don’t come up short. I don’t have six on from 227. Never did. At least for me. Hanging out, right? We’ll see. Popular spot. This this trio of the greatest players in the world. They are staggering right now. It’s a long walk around the lake to get to the green at 17. Back to the first. This for bogey for Brooks. That’s left all the way. Started with a bogey in the par five. 10th. lips out a par save on 18. Hit the hole twice on one and still trying to sort things out as is this group. Look, 16 17 18. They’re going to take a bite out of plenty of pairings out here. But the chunk they’ve just taken out of this trio is hard to hard to imagine. There’s a two pages of the leaderboard and we have threes all the way on page one and the top of page two. John Ram will look to join them as he has a gorgeous approach on 18 which for the longest time was the hardest all out here. 16 is stake to claim as we are into our first round here. [Music] They call it the green mile and it’s justified. I think it’s the toughest stretch of holes in the world. You have to hit perfect shots or you’re going to make bogeier much worse. You’re trying to sign for three pars. You know, if you get to sneak a birdie in, that’s an advantage. There’s nothing hidden. It’s right in front of you. And you got to go execute. Hit some golf shots. That’s for sure. [Music] When people come off this golf course, the last thing they remember is the last three holes, and they think that great mile keeps getting longer somehow. Even in perfectly calm conditions, every single shot is a test. Well, we’re seeing that firsthand. That’s for sure. I I mean the the world number one, number two, and number three each just made a double bogey at the 16th. Now playing the 17th. Xander Schoffley. That’s not going to get close, is it? No. And they spent a lot of time here yesterday. Um, you know, preparing. And I got to tell you, these guys look totally puzzled right now. staggered, puzzled, shocked. Not a feeling that these three are used to. Sheffller really I I I don’t know if it was a misit off the tea. Came up way short. Sounded like a misit as soon as he hit it, but Scotty’s mis hits go straight. It’s a good quality. So he made eagle at 15, made double at 16. It looks like they’re going to let Rory off the green chip first. He’s got the flag out. Well, maybe not. We’ll see. Yeah, I think that was just a little bit of a rehearsal, but again, the putt for for Scotty, I think it’s going to go left early and then about I want to say twothirds of the way there, it kind of straightens out from there. I’ve seen a few already having a hard time making it to the hole from down there. That is fabulous. Yeah, beautiful piece. Yeah, great putt there. I mean, a lot of guys would have be leaving that short because they’re scared cuz it’s so fast after the hole, but uh Scotty with a nice hole after the double buggy on 16. Should be a stabilizing par for Sheffler. And these guys know that everyone’s going to struggle on 16, 17, and 18. So, they’re all they’re one, two, and three in the world for a reason. Long way to go. Flag back in for Mroy. Actually not a bad lie. I think the the stickiness of this rough something that players have to be a little careful of. Seen a bunch of chipins already this morning. Maroy [Applause] almost doesn’t even need his putter. Let’s tap it in with the [Applause] wedge. All right. Well, a sigh of relief for Maroy and Sheffler. Shoffley though still has work to do. Ahead 18. John Rom to join the leaders at three under. Oh, that’s a good line. Still just the lone birdie on 18. Shane Lowry had it after what was a disappointing start, but par for Rom begins in 34. He puts himself in the mix starting early. Believe he’ll be right there on Sunday. Now the par putt for Xander. I think it’s going to work gently to his left. There you go. Much needed. Much needed. That’s three pretty good pars after what just happened at 16. Yeah, they’re all very happy with that. Like it’s always nice to have a good solid hole after you make a double. They were actually two pretty good putts for double that Scotty and and Xander had. Neither were close. They’re lengthy putts for double. All right, we have to make it official with Scotty Sheffller, but maybe never three pars more welcome from that group than close three on that hole after what happened. On to the 18th. not done yet with this finishing stretch on what is their first nine of of this opening round. Started on 10 to five. Birdie putt for the lead for Fox. again. So worth reminding there was one path to this week for him and he knew it and he won a three-man playoff chipping in and here he is on the lead on his own. Fitzpatrick to remain in that log jam at three under and he’ll drop one from there. That’s bit unforced, Jeeoff. Yeah, you don’t like to do that. See from the bunker on 15, Sam Burns. Beautiful, powerful [Applause] player. 14 McDonald second shot. Didn’t have the firepower to get it all the way there, but so good with his wedges over the years. See if it releases a little bit more. Two Eagles and 14 birdies so far club pro John Summers on his birthday. [Music] How about it? Happy birthday, John. his third consecutive PGA championship. Folks at the Southern Hills Plantation Club cheering their man on. Rasmus play guard here from position A. And this whole Jeeoff, we talk about the difficulty, but the drive in the fairway. How much of the difficulty does it eliminate? It’s probably the toughest T- shot on the course. And as you can see, Rasmus from the fairway like we saw R just before. It’s a relatively simple shot from the fair. I hope most of the trouble is off the tea and should set up beautifully for his eye as you mentioned with the draw there. All right. The T- ball for Scotty. Well, that’s a good start line except it’s moving a little bit right. Okay. Yep. Bunker out there is sort of a actually a nice target line. Pretty good target line. Most of these players can probably get to the bunker though, so they’re probably just a little bit left of the bunker. And of course, as we take a look, working from T to green, Jeff, that creek in play all the way. And there’s that bunker. It’s 308 to get past it. The difficulty really is the angle of that creek off the tea. Um, you’re not quite sure how much of it you can carry. That’s got to get lucky right there. He got lucky once and got lucky again to the left of that red line, but not in the creek. Not in the creek, but he’s going to have a challenge from there. Ball way above his feet. Uh that second shot could go anywhere. Yeah, and that’s another T- shot left, Jeff. you know, and the go-to shot on the warm-up was a little bit of a cut, but I’ve not seen it the opening nine holes. As fine a driver as there is on the planet, and it has been a a rough start. Sander rehearsing that posture that Billy mentioned, what is he doing for the folks that are wondering what that’s about? Well, in talking to Chris Como, he says sometimes he gets his backside a little too far underneath him and then it’s a early extension. So, they’re trying to measure up and keep it consistent throughout the swing. It’s all about the posture and giving yourself room to wear the hips clear. And if you can just do that every time, it’s going to be a better next nine holes. They’re looking from above, but he’ll find it right in the middle of that fairway. Deep. I did early. Yeah. And then I realized I got to actually read one size water and then it’s despite the the wobbles that demeanor of Sheffler rarely changes. He’s unbothered by troubles and he’s unimpressed by his successes from the middle of the fairway on one Fitzpatrick’s approach. Very difficult right to left. He’s bringing in beautifully. Excuse beg your pardon there. I spoke over you as he we were watching that magnificent approach. to three. It’s Kepkin with this tough par4. 488 yards. H Andy, how about the fact there’s another T behind us about 30 yards. Brooks has got it going everywhere. It looks like that could be out of bounds. Meanwhile, at six, the longest par three at Quail Hollow on the leader, Ryan Fox. Big false front there. So, that’s going to spin well back. One of the hardest greens to hit to one rom second. That’s going to just trickle in and roll to the bottom. Yet to bogey a hole to 14. This is Luke Donald for his birdie. The short par for 14th. Beautifully done. That gets him four under and co-leading. Hasn’t played much golf, but he’s playing beautifully so far today. All right, so four is now the pace for the leaders. Hoy guard to join them. That reaction tells you that was left all the way. what he was hoping for. One of our club pros for birdie at 11, Tom Johnson. Yeah. Well, if they weren’t awake at the metal club earlier this morning for his first birdie that we showed, they’re awake now. You assured me they were, Dave. You assured me. You’re out there in California. You know how the early Rogers that love this game. Get out and ride the trails of Marin. Sure. It is uh something we look forward to all year. A chance to be here and get up early and bring you coverage all day long. We are with you here until noon Eastern on ESPN Plus. Then over on ESPN from 12 until 7 tomorrow. Same drill, 7 to 12 ESPN Plus, 12 to 7. Although I have a feeling that happy hour will be over on the deuce late Friday evening. Get a little loose on the deuce as we say and then on the weekend happy to be with you on ESPN plus for a couple of hours on ESPN. And of course our friends from CBS will be bringing this home to the winner of the W maker Saturday and then a Sunday evening. Scotty and Ted sorting out the math here. Well, I’ve got him for 190. Scott, are you ready? Mostly just on the back. Mhm. Mhm. That little circle there that Scott was just making sure. Is it the ey line, Jeff, that makes this such a difficult t-shot? Cuz again, I I paced it off in the practice right now. There’s not a lot of breeze opening. That’s perfect. It is pretty wide, but that water there’s a pole left of it. You know it’s a bogey or a double if you hit it over in the water. And the right bunk is not really. It’s just a fairway that you know that you have to hit the fairway or you’re going to it’s a one or two shot penalty if you miss. So that puts pressure on the T- shot as well. Let’s go mid 90s right now. And the hole is 500 yards. Should be helping. Should be helping. Yeah. Definitely. What you’re feeling is right though. The top of the building here has got all the flags showing what you’re feeling kind of in from the left. I like that. Yeah. into that breeze and checking the golf ball. Clean what Ted’s looking at maybe and Scotty. There’s flags just at the top. I don’t know what kind of wind they’re dealing with if any is going to touch it. We’ll find out. I think he has to hit it right on the nose. Pretty good looking shot. You hit it on the nose. [Applause] Fairway and green on 18. Always going to work out. All right. Challenge for Mroy. You can clearly see the yardage is 165. You’ve got 138. If you if you can fly at 138, maybe 140, you can get it up onto the putting surface, maybe get it to release a little bit. That’s really good contact there, Jeff. That’s a great job from Mill. must have had a lie that he could work with. Excellent approach from Maloy. Driver normally a strength has not been yet today. Here is Rom for par on one. Yeah, turning a bunch to the right. Oh, not as much as he expected. Difficult green to hit on one. Brahm found a bunker off the fairway and drops his first shot of the day. Now to Xander on 18. Perfectly positioned T- shot. That’s a nine iron from 158. Okay. Hammered his T-shot and we’ll have that. So 18. Not an easy hole by any stretch, but for so long the hardest. And after what happened at 16, these guys are playing the 18th far more suitably. to eight. This is Ryan Fox, one of our leaders. The short par4, par three, rather. Yeah, that’s six. It’s a truck bogey. It’s fine. Yeah, it happens. There are a lot of players on a lot of different holes. As long as we don’t have a truck 16, we’ll be good. Fitzpatrick’s birdie on one. Beautiful T-shot. Excellent approach and his fourth birdie of the day makes up for the drop shot. Immediate bounce back. Great look overhead. Throughout the day and through the weekend, we’re going to see these fairways and tents filling up. Charlotte so excited about major championship golf returning to their part of the world and one two and three in the world being greeted as they make their way up to 18. Jeeoff, how do you sort of assess where they are head space at the moment collectively? Yeah, wow. The heads are got to be spinning a little bit. Um, none of the three have looked great this morning. I mean, Scotty somehow even par looking pretty average. Um, Rory’s Rory’s missing his driver left, but they’ll reassess. It’s only nine holes in LA here on 15, his third. Gets the contact just right. I’ll have that to join Donald and Fox at four under 12. All right, that’s Faria in trouble off the tea. This his second 160 yardds. And look at this. I tell you what, he’s got some game. He’s three under par. One shot off a threeman lead. He’ll have that to tie the lead at four under. The adventures of Brooks Kepka continue. So John, here’s Brooks at the third. What’s going on? All right, so the fence right beside him right there is in play. It’s on the interior of the golf course. That’s not the boundary fence. That’s also not his original ball. His first ball was right at that fence. Hit the cart path and kicked into the driving range. We searched and then they found it on the range out of bounds. So this was his provisional ball and he’s now dropping. He’ll be getting four from a spot that he couldn’t possibly get it on the green. This tournament is ending rapidly early on Thursday. Brooks or something even looks like absolutely no chance to get it anywhere around the green. And I think after a three putt in there or the this putt at 18 then doubling Oie at two now his fourth shot that’s actually really good to get it within 100 yards of the green. Um I’m not so sure that mentally any player would be able to recover from where he’s put himself. Jeff for birdie. He’s got some pace. Got some pace. Work to do to make par. Now Xander perfectly flag high. Should move a little bit to his right. could use one of these to jump start the round. Peels off late. Two over for his first nine here as the reigning champion. It’s 38 on the card. Ry nearly put in the hazard on 15. was able to make birdie. We’ll see if he can make birdie after nearly finding the creek here on 18. Little bit different angle than what we saw from uh Scotty’s putt. Still going to shift to the right once it starts losing speed from this angle. This will be a bonus Scott if he makes this getting the brake off the tea. back towards Birdie Puck. That motion, he certainly thought it was going to move right as well. It did a bit, Billy, but it was a bit late. Was past the hole by the time it started really beginning to turn, but that’s four on 18, 37, one over. 17 T- shot for Keegan Bradley starting it right trying to lean and help it find the green and it doesn’t right near where Xander Schoffley was and there’ll be a lot of players down there a lot. So shuffle trying to roll this in a whole lot more than he was expecting for a par putt. Yeah, take a little bit of the breakout. Put some speed behind it. That’s a good par puck for Scotty up the hill right to left. Pours it right in. Pretty eventful 36. That’s amazing. You add it all up, it’s even par. It sure doesn’t feel like it. Sure doesn’t feel like it. To six. This is his par putt after putting up the hill. And he missed the short one. Gosh, that is disappointing for Ryan Fox who’s playing so well. So, he’s now one back after a bogey at the par three. Jason Day. at the second. His birdie putt down the hill into the hole. That’s a great putt there on two. That’s a really fast putt from left to the hole there. Low here. Oh, that was to get to four. been grinding for years looking for a first win, but has had a, as my man Andy North would say, a pot full of top 10s over the course of the last over the last year, his first major. And we see Rory making his way now to the front side. He’s going to try to sort out this driver. It’s been a a strength his entire career. Arguably the best driver of the golf ball on the planet. But Jeeoff, have we noticed anything? Well, look, he’s certainly the envy of the tour of really when he hits a driver. We all want a driver like Rory, but I mean, even everyone, even the best have a bad day sometimes. He missed a lot of fairways, I think, coming out of truest last week. Uh, mentioned that the driver was his weak point. Really got fortunate here on 15 because that’s looks for all the world like it’s it’s going to find the water. It does not. And he actually makes birdie from that spot. Left on left on 15, left on 16, left on 18. It’s not normal for Rory to miss that many drives in a row. Got quite lucky there, too. All things considered. And then here on 18, this one looks a better drive. It’s not far off this drive from where he’s trying to hit the ball, but that creek is sort of a siren song drawing you in. And nearly found it. It does not. And again off the tee found the fairway just one time on 12. Excuse me. Two. 13 is a part of three. So we’re not going to give you credit for it because the driver was in the back. Uh but all smiles. It’s still Thursday. Hit that one little low cut on 12. That was the one driver that found the fairway. Andy, you mentioned that in the morning, right? A little fairway finder. Maybe there’s something in that. I mean, if he loves the right to left, you understand why. But said he hit a bunch of those on the range early today. Right now, you got to get find something and put it in the fairway. Well, this hole asks for that shot. The first hole is dog leg left to right. 15 and the third to 15. be quick but for man hadn’t made a cut this year. He’s playing awfully well. 11 second shot Steven Joerger. He’s one of the three players at four under par. All right. Good shot. We’ve seen some putts made from down there already today. That’s been a makeable spot. After the great approach from Etevaria, this for birdie and a tie for the co- lead at four undertaria joins Luke Donald and Jagger now at four under after the good birdie at the 12th. Back to one. World number one on the team. Maybe a touch of breeze back in their face. That’s pretty solid there. PGA Championship was last played here. Was the hardest opening hole in the PGA Championship this century. Yeah. How about getting to play the the Green Mountain then come to this one? Yeah, that’s a little bit further to the right. [Applause] Hammer. I mean, that is massive right there. Absolutely obliterated. Driver problems fixed. Yep. It’s a little left little left to right cut and now the hell with that. Yeah, I mean that’s the shot he’s looking for. Now, Xander, I think Xander has stayed the same line. Pretty much the same line. Scott, same result. Good call, Billy. [Applause] They’ve done the heavy lifting here on one. That will make the approach not easy but easier. All right, Raasmus to get to four. And after just burning the edge on 18 left, that slides by right to three. Over at the third, Shane Lowry for his birdie. That really scratchy start. He’s starting to get into a flow. Two birdies the last four holes out of the right rough which probably will be a pretty popular spot at two. Yeah, just a terrible lie. Has to take this left of the hole. He managed to get it up there. That was not bad considering that lie and that hack to three. Okay, John, this is Kepka’s. What is this for? Well, the scoring has it wrong. He hit one out of bounds off the tea. There’s no question. We looked for it. Uh, so this was his provisional ball and he made bogey with it. So it’s going to end up being triple. They’ll get all the scoring figured out, but I promise you that’s a seven. We trust you. Trust us. What a drive from John Rob. Yeah, beautiful drive over the left trees. 138 needs to take it left side of the camera tower. Spin it back toward this hole. Looks like he did it. Now this one might come down. Yeah, just great execution for John Rom. Had the bogey at one, but he’s playing really well. Saw the T- shot from Keegan Bradley at 17 now. All the way across that green. Keep coming. Keep coming. It’s pretty good. Very fast pass the hole on 17. See if Donald can get to five. Always wide of its mark, but still 47year-old European Rder Cup captain, former world number one, hadn’t played much, but playing beautifully here to 14. Alex Noran putting the ball from well off the green. Really a terrific play. That will get him four under. He taps that in. Players taking advantage of 14 and 15. That’s a stretch they look forward to. Over to 11. Well, we told you that there have been some putts. Hold from down here. Steven Joerger to get to five under. He’ll need that to save Parr, but he’s certainly playing well. The other captain for par at 17. They’re keeping up with one another, Keegan Bradley and Luke Donald. What a great start for Keegan Bradley. And backto-back pars at 16 and 17 to one, correct? Yep. Yeah. Right into straight. [Music] Yeah. Trying to listen in as Scott and Scotty Sheffer work out their plan of attack here. Now the yardage to the hole is 20. Place a river down the hill a few yards [Music] less. That same six hit back at the last [Music] Scott number one player on tour in terms of strokes, gain of approach. It’s a pretty good strike. It’s kind of where they’re looking. I think that’ll do. See the T-shots of Maroy and Shofflin, which took it over the corner. What a strength to have. The ability not to to be able to launch it and carry it that kind of distance, Jeeoff. Yeah, big advantage, especially here at Quail Hollow. That’s not the line I saw when I stood on the first te this week. Um, simplifies a whole lot when you can get it in inside 200. 187 for Xander and plenty of club here. Double 7 iron catch. pretty much right on top of Scotty’s ball. Maybe a little right. Just a whole location you can’t miss left. Again, three bunkers guard this green. Two are on the green. Third to come to two. That familiar chipping grip from Matt Fitzpatrick. Yeah, he needs to hit a little release chip shot here to the left. Yes, he did. I think the technique is working for him. That’s a beautiful shot. That earned a little hand clap from Jeff Ogleby. That impressed you, that bit of class there. See what Rory can do if he can get closer than the two already on the green. Yeah, only the second fairway he’s hit. Uh first fairway he’s hit since the 12th hole. Eight iron from 173 yards. And that is a bad miss. Really inexplicable after a tremendous T-shot. It’s almost uneven performance thus far from Rory to four. I would love to know the average putt length for Shane Lowry because it has been healthy this for birdie and he makes it. Take that Matt. That was beautiful. And his body language was awesome. That was 68 ft from Bird. Mike say hammer thrown. We’re not going hammer strategy yet, but if anyone would have thrown the hammer there, it’ have been Lowry. He might have thrown it at you. Go ahead, John. Meanwhile, John, I don’t know if you’d say he dropped the hammer on two, but he dropped the birdie in the hole. Nice bounce back for John Ra. Back to two under as one, two, and three in the world make their way to the first screen. We’ll check in on them in the meantime to 13 and one of our co-leaders. Avaria left it in the bunker. Razer in second here now in 18. Spectacular approach. He’ll have that. See if he can get to four. Meanwhile, Maria now get goodness. That’s not a replay. He’s done it again. Rory meanwhile on one face wide open. Yeah, this is not an easy bunker shot. He’s on a little bit of a downward pitch. Only has to put put it on to the green maybe four or five ft. It’ll release all the way there. [Applause] on his best. Landed it just shy and third time for Maria here on 13. Wow. That front left bunker on 13 would be one that you would put the red X on in your yardage book at the start of the week. Don’t go there. Especially with the pin front left. We certainly see the It’s costly damage already done. We’ll see what he can limit it to seven. Very, very quick chip down the hill by Fox. And boy, he has hit some beautiful chips. Already made one today. That was well played. He is on his game. Rasmus Hoygard playing well. Has to stay under those tree branches. Great shot here. Really cool shot forgard. They say left is dead on two, but he had a shot and he pulled it off. Good birdie opportunity. Back to one. Sander eyeball on this one. And I think uh you have to be a little careful of speed even though Rory’s needed to run out just a little bit more. But I still think from here it’s enough downhill and you’re going to get see a little bit of movement in this putt to the right. I think the expression kind of says it all. Bit of a defensive strike there. Very cautious attempt there. Yeah, as Billy said that the green’s very quick there, that back left of the green. You made the point earlier, Jeff, that when it runs away from you at the hole that we saw that a bit on 17 as well, the different green, but the same idea. It gets away from you quick and putts. I always found greens that sloped towards the back very difficult. Um, most greens in the world break towards the front of the green. This one here at the back break to the back of the green and it sort of confuses your mind a little bit sometimes. Yeah, especially that back left corner jump. You saw the reminder on the screen, but at the top of the hour, noon Charlotte time, 9:00 out west. Just grab your remote and switch over from ESPN Plus to ESPN where we will be with you throughout the afternoon as we continue our coverage here. Scotty Shuffler. Now for birdie. You know, players don’t like to be defensive with the putter. They like to be aggressive. That looked like a much more aggressive release, but yeah, I like the positive motion there. Just blood off to the right as it got to the hole. So, this for double. It’s actually awfully good from where he found himself hitting four out of the bunker. drops two shots. Sheffller, no [Applause] problem. Par on what was the most difficult hole in the golf course. The last time we contested a major championship here. It’s a likely one for Rory. Yeah. Yeah. And I, you know, coming from pretty much the same direction that Scotty was coming from. He’s misread a couple up to this point. I still think this is one that he has to to know that it’s going to move just a little bit to his right. struggling with the driver in the opening nine. Hammers a drive here, then loses an iron to the right. So, it’s been uneven. Big one to stay at one. Nope. Yeah, frustrating run I think for Rory coming in as tournament favorite. You just want to get going in a major sometimes. You just want to hit some good shots, not hit yourself out of the tournament where they know it’s not going to be crazy low at the end of the week. I’ve mentioned John Rom and the importance of the fast start at at Augusta. Rory’s issue had largely been his poor starts and he of course he played so all everyone say it with me. Go Turpps. Uh Roy started so well and then had a couple of poor shots that cost him but dug in and fought back seven. Yeah, you just want your week to get off to a nice start, not put yourself out of the tournament. Fox back to the group at four under to two. Among the players who are definitely not putting themselves out, putting him right in the mix, Hoygard. He’s had two pretty good looks at at 18 and now here at two. Let’s see if Graserman can convert. That’s the second birdie of the day on 18. Lovely start for Max. major debut here to 12 and Jerger narrow fairway on 12 this for birdie again this one of the more difficult greens we’ve seen it throughout the morning coverage leaving himself some work to make par back to Xander long enough to have all of his attention. He makes baron- one. So, no one under par in this group. Surprising given the scoring that we’re seeing here on Thursday. Green light for co-leader Alex Noran. He’s lost that to the right. Not bad at all. That area, everything collects down and he’ll have choice of how he wants to play. We’ve seen putter mostly today. Yeah, it’s really where you’re trying to hit it there on 15. Short right to two. Opposite dog leg from one. You go right to left off the te at two. Well, that’s a challenge in the left hand side. And I think he hit his line. Hit a tree, but it does come down in that shorter first [Music] cut. That’s playing a little bit above par. Jeff, what do you think the big challenge is off the tee at number two? Off the tea, it definitely Scotty sort of showed what it does. It makes you want to go further left than you really need to go. The fairway slopes into the right rough, so you’re always scared of the right rough, so you always end up doing what’s got you did, hitting a little bit further to the left than you want to starting left. Mhm. That was launched. Wow. That’s Or you just do that. Wow. And that’s why I thought Scotty hit his line. He was not dissatisfied with the line that he chose. So they’re This trio is looking at this hole in a totally different way. Absolutely. Oh no. Well, that’s further right than to what he wanted. Well beyond the fairway. Looks like a pretty good lie though for Rory. We’ll see. He’s fighting it right now. It’s a five and Shane Lowry’s second. 151 up the hill. Little breeze out of the right. That’s the three in a row. What a movement in that green hole locations. We’ll see I think later in the week that back spot right there. It stays right where it is. He can get hot and string them together to 16. All right, Luke Donald, our co-leader, his second from 231 yards. And consider this, this is the only hole without a bird of the 16th. And it’s over 60 ft the average on that hole as we move to 12 now. And Jagger for par to remain tied for the lead. So he’ll miss right. Drop one to three under. It’ll leave Fox and Donald tied at four under as Jagger bogeies the 12th. Let’s go to the 15th. And we have Alex Norn, his 13th PGA Championship. He’s been a veteran of these and he’s got two putts to take the lead on his own. and he didn’t like how that one ran out of gas, but still he’ll have a chance to take the lead on his own. Worth reminding folks, Luke Donald, European Rder Cup captain. Keegan Bradley, United States Rder Cup captain, playing some really beautiful golf. And we will be on ESPN in a half an hour from now. And when we take you through the afternoon hours, you see star-studded pairings coming then, including the last winner here, Justin Thomas. Man looking to complete the slam. Major champions all over the board continuing this morning and this afternoon. Stay with us. [Music] [Music] The W maker weighs 32 lbs. Which weighs more, the Wana Maker or the Stanley Cup? Um, Stanley Cup. Thank you. And that’s the Stanley Cup with all the the the big Stanley Cup, right? I assume it’s less than the Stanley Cup off sheer size. Uh I think it weighs less than the Stanley Cup. That is correct. Unbelievable. There you go. Ah, did all right. He passed the quiz and now he hits his second at two. Well, 155 yards. Oh, that may be one of the bigger iron shots he’s hit. Yeah, he just finds a way, man. To five. Lowry looking for three in a row. Not quite. But despite the wobbly start, this is a sturdy guy that tends to dig in his heels and be a part of most major championships as the week progresses to two. All right, Billy, what does Rory have? Yeah, he has to keep it underneath the canopy of the tree. The yardage just inside 130. Well, that appears to be really good. Very nice. Yeah, it’s going to be a quick cut from there though. Good result out of the rough. Look at how far down there Xander Schoffley is. Wow. After cutting the corner at two, only 108 yds left. That’s kind of amazing. That’s going to be really good right there. Of course, he kept it underneath the hole. Still moving though. A lot of zip. He will have an uphill birdie putt to eight. Ryan Fox his second. All right. A good opportunity for Fox to make another birdie. He’s had a remarkable round. Started on the back out of the par three fourth and Matt Fitzpatrick. Yeah. Trying to just carry it over this front bunker. Green’s very bounces hard. So the fourth playing the easiest of the par threes at Quail Hollow, the only one under 200 yards. as we go back one to the third. Boyard with his second coming out of the the rough. Have to keep underneath the tree trying to the right front portion of the green and run it up. And it’s going to stay just short. A lot of green to work with. All right, Billy. This is the putt that Jeff just said is going to be quick. I think it’s going to be very quick. I think it’s the definition of quick. It’s going to move a little right at the beginning and you know as a player try to hit at the perfect speed kind of to a spot. You could almost could almost read Roers on the golf ball when it started to eight to tie the lead. Ryan Fox at eight. He now joins Alex Noran with one to play. Five under for his round with a story developing out of Ryan Fox. Great round for him. That is pretty amazing considering he needed that chip in on a playoff hole last week just to get here. Just to get here. And now he’s tied for the lead with one to play in his opening round. We go back to two. Great drive. Really nice wedge, but yeah. Well, all that spin, all that slope that you saw on the second shot, he’s got to go right back up. In other words, pretty slow putt here. Yes. [Music] The way Xander played that hole though sort of illustrates why we all thought long hitters are going to have a big advantage at this course this week. Good point. Well, look at how they played one and two. One’s a dog leg right. No, it’s not. Two’s a dog leg left. No, it’s not. Just going to cover. take it on the corner of each one. It’s a three. And now Hoyart with this long pitch. I like to keep it below the hole, but not that far below the hole. It’s just amazing how quickly the ball stops when you’re going up the hills. Well, Scotty Sheffller now is pretty good look, Billy, for birdie. Right at nine feet, Dave. and just saw exactly what Xander’s putt did. I would say probably a 65% chance of him making this. Maybe 70 or so. I’m going 70. Then I’m going 75. Oh, let him know. He’s one up par through all of it. And on they go to the third. The 13th there for Steven Jagger. Slides underneath to tries to get it rolling. Come on. So quick. be a challenge for par to 16. And Luke Donald trying to become the first birdie of the day on the 16th. Still not one, but still a good putt. Donald will remain one behind our leaders, Fox and Norin. No one’s been inside 12 ft on their approach here at the 16. Get your four. Go to the 17. Let’s go to the third. Yeah. Back to the third hole. This is a brute of the par4. And they’ve actually got another T behind this if they wanted to use it. 488 yds. The players can reach that bunker on the right. It’s 300 yds to that bunker. Yeah, pretty much dead straight. Handy. That one’s working nicely towards the left hand side of the fairway. Here’s a look at our four third. It’s just a beautiful golf hole. plays it a little bit uphill off the tee. You can reach the bunkers on the right. If you drive it in this area, you’re left with a short to middle iron. There’s Xander. Find it very interesting, Billy, that Xander spends so much time working on his setup and his posture and at the same time, Scotty Sheffller works hard getting his left hand on the grip properly every single time. These are things that are so basic, but this is why they’re such great players. Yeah, fundamentals. Pay attention. Takes care of a lot of issues. Okay, hang on to something. Well, you would think so. I mean, two really good drives there. There are blueprints for him. He’s got to be a little bit frustrated, I would think, Billy. Well, very much so. Yeah, a little late with the delivery there. Another fairway missed. [Applause] Up at the green guard for his par very slow going up the hill. Disappointing T-shot really set that up. Had to play underneath the tree on a second. over four and Fitzpatrick for birdie at the fourth. Yeah, this should turn a little to his right. Coming down quite a quick putt. He’s three under. Playing well in his first round as we go to the ninth. This T backed up considerably. It is a monster. That is not a misprint. It’s a 531 yd par4. That’s a really good drive from Fox and he’s going to take a head cover off to hit his second I would think to four now. Rom to save par. So Susie, it wasn’t too long ago John Rom had it at three under and he’ll drop another stroke to move back to even. Yeah, he left it shortsided in that left bunker and hit a spectacular shot out of there just deadhanded. thought it was going to be a great three and no go. Three bogeies in his first four holes on what is his second nine in the first nine as we go to the 13th after that delicate flop. Can Jerger say par? Yes, he can. Jeff, that’s I think that’s probably a one or two and 10 from where he was. That’s an incredible up and down from left to 13. Keegan Bradley birdie putt on its way. Not quite enough, but juggling a lot this week. Works his way towards Beth Paige in the RDER Cup in the fall as he tries to take down the very talented team led by this man. What a segue. See how you do that? Build build the drama. I was hanging on the edge of my seat. Par three, 17th. Good line. Hitting it well today. Even that one is going to run all the way to the back. It will stay on the green though. Excellent shot from Luke Donald. I’d be smiling too by Tom Johnson. Every time we show him something good’s happening. Something good’s happening again. The Meadow Club, Fairfax, California. How close is that to you? Probably 20 miles across the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco. Love it. Alex Norin now at 16, co-leader at five under. For those keeping track at home, there’s been four birdies in the green mile. There’s been five penalties to seven. Alex Smallley for a long eagle attempt at the par five seventh up over a little ridge right in this area. It’ll slow down. Oh yes. Oh yes. What a cut. 71 ft. He didn’t know he was going to be teening up today until yesterday. First alternate to get in. What a great opportunity and he’s surely taking advantage of it. Yeah, perfect. Take some off of it. Yeah, I’d take a little off of it. Low 90s on that street. That’s great. Out of the Scotty Shuffler, second at the third. 189 yards. Andy, I’m looking across the way and I see the flags on the grand stands at four more left to right, but this another sixiron for Scotty. We’ll cut the back left. Take it right at the three that you see camera tower behind the green. He hit a couple of those six irons much further than he thought. What are you going to do? We’re hanging in here for Xander after another perfect T- shot. This really fits getting into that back left hand corner the way he likes to hit it. Jeff loves to move the ball right to left. Yeah, good spot. Probably an eight iron, I guess, from 174. That’s exactly right, Jeff. Trying to turn it against the breeze a little bit. Worked it back over to the center of the green. Not completely happy with that one. Rory’s got some work to do, Bill. Yeah, it’s a pretty low hanging canopy that he has to go under, especially from 172 yards. Kind of in a little more thickish rock. Well, he clipped a little bit. Start on a really nice line. And that’s going to work out beautifully. Hang on. Hang on. All right. Well done. Thumbs up from Scotty. Andy over to 15. JT Poston moves to four under par. So we have two at five under. We have two at four under. got a six and three under. Again, one of those leaders is five and 16. Another lengthy three attempts, I’m telling you, that’s all there are on 16, Matt. We’re well over 60 ft now for average proximity to the hole. This it is just brutal at 16. yet to be a birdie on the start of that three-hole stretch. In about 10 minutes, top of the hour, we’ll switch over to ESPN. Come join us as we have an entertaining leaderboard. Ryan Fox, Alex Norin, tied at five under. You see the captains, Luke Donald, Keegan Bradley within a shot, and Alex Smallley. What a story he’s been early on at three under. And then Scotty Sheffller, one point could have gone off the rails after the double bogey at 16. He’s still in red figures. Some of the later groups going out now. A Batia, Sam Burns out on the court of course as well as we’ve started play the 107th PGA Championship. And John Rob three under keeps coming back. Tommy Fleetwood, another guy early on that had it to three under. He’s come back to the pack. And then in the opposite side of that, Shane Lowry, he’s battled back from three over to make something of his opening round. And then you see Xander and Rory. Perhaps Jeff maybe the two of the biggest surprises we’ve seen early on, especially with how they started. Rory can’t find the fairway now. They’re they’re battling. Not what we expected before the week, but there’s a long way to go, but they are certainly have a lot of work to do now. back to three. Looks like the Scotty’s I think going to be Whoops. Let’s go over to nine while we’re waiting for them at three. And that’s Fox and coming. Scott, since you mentioned the difficulty, I just checked real time. The only hole playing harder than nine is 16. second hardest hole on the golf course. I mean, and we’re not giving that up anytime soon at 16. We’re keeping that for a minute. Walking with a player that I’ll just say has won here cuz he has. We don’t name him, but it’s some grubbling about nine. Just there’s there’s no teeing option other than the new one that backs it all the way up. It’s just if it’s a long tee and you can I mean, if there is wind, which you start to see a little bit of blowing in those trees, there’s nowhere to go. It’s that’s what it is. It’s just a big giant bar for just chef with this long birdie attempt from the fringe. Yeah, just a nudge out of the lie downhill gaining speed. I don’t know if you can keep it short from He’s going to have probably six, seven feet save par. I think anything past that flag that deep in the green, you’re going to struggle. All right, let’s see if Hoygard can make one of these birdie putts. He’s had numerous attempts here at four. All right, so House Fragard, three under, two off the lead, gets one back after the bogey at three. Xander will be next to putt. He’s putting across the green. This ball bill has got to go from his right to left quite a bit, doesn’t it? Mhm. Yeah. In fact, um he and Austin, they picked out a spot well to the right of the hole and certainly not the speed that he just saw from Scotty. It’s got to be five, six feet. Yep. And well done. Good speed. Back at 16, our co-leader, Alex Norin, to save Par, Jeff Oggov, does it again. Just a tough golf hole, Matt. It’s uh hard to get the ball back all the way on the green. Even if you do hit the green, you’re going to be left with, what do we say, 60 ft plus? 14 bogeies and 16 doubles. Back to Lori. So Xander did knock his little short one in as Rory’s getting ready to go. A beautiful second shot underneath the trees. Scooted it up onto the green and giving himself a pretty makeable birdie putt. Mhm. Going back up the hill and may try to shift a little bit to the right at the beginning. Andy, this one, you don’t just think you can knock in this length very often, but this is one you’ve got to be pretty positive with. Got a good look from behind the green. Be able to see what this does. Do like fact that Rory’s hitting these putts quicker than he used to hit them. A little bit more freedom. Look at this. [Music] So, Alex Noran just cleaned up his bogey at the 16th. So, Matt would be happy. Another overpar score on that home. There’s a little bit of glee and and sort of feels like he’s celebrating. We’re maintaining our reputation of the 16th. We’re just not going to give away par. Nor should you. Hey, I cover the fifth at Augusta National. I know how it feels. Scotty was difficult. A lot of work left here for his par. You know, the good thing is he’s he’s under an even hole. It’s not going to break a great deal. He just saw Rory’s putt. Are you as confident in this one as you were the last one, Bill? 100%. That’s what I like to hear. Just kind of inside right. I think that really never looked like it was online now to clean up his par. [Applause] No problem there. And so as this group makes its way to four, we would encourage you to make your way over to ESPN. Been a pleasure to be with you this morning here on ESPN Plus. Same drill tomorrow morning and we will be with you on ESPN throughout the afternoon as we continue the coverage of this and this afternoon wave of star studded players makes their way out here at Quail Hollow 107th PGA Championship. See you over at ESPN noon Eastern Greetings from Quail Hollow, Charlotte, North Carolina on a sunny day as the 107th PGA Championship is well underway. Second time this very familiar venue hosts a major championship. It has been a rainy week of 5 in since the weekend, but the sun has come out and this golf course is frankly in pretty remarkable condition given all the challenges that they have faced to prepare for this week. If you are just joining us here on ESPN, we’ll show you how some of the best in the world are playing and how the leaderboard has come together. Matt Fitzpatrick began his day on the par 510 buries this birdie. He of course a US Open champion. Keegan Bradley rider cupep captain PGA champion. A lot on his plate as he puts his team together for Beth Paige but he is playing brilliantly par threeth. He stakes that one and makes birdie. Speaking of the RDER Cup, the European captain Luke Donald, 47, former number one player in the world, has not played a great deal of golf this year, but he is playing an exceptional round of golf. 30 there. Alex Noran played last week outside Philadelphia. That was notable. He’d been injured in the winter and in his 13th PGA Championship is playing very well. Matt Fox knew there was one path to this week. He had to win last week and he did in a playoff and he is making the very most of this opportunity as he has around in the mid60s underway trying to get it to the house in five under as he plays the night. Donald Norin, JT Poston and Steven Joerger all four under. Kegan Bradley, Matt Fitzpatrick, Smallley, Hoyard, Graaserman, and his first PGA Championship at three. You’re looking for the names of those players that are one, two, three in the world. We’re going to show them to you and show you how they got there. They’re just not among the leaders for the moment here. [Music] The best players in the world have come to North Carolina this week to try to win the PGA Championship. The crackle in the air is born of that hope. Major championship golf. That’s what frames this sport. All these players somewhere inside have laid out some scenario that ends with them holding the waker in every generation in every sport. A seductive possibility hangs out there that you might win enough tournaments and enough of the right tournaments for people to still speak your name long after all memory of your actual self has turned to dust. They’re after a trophy and a claim and money, but really they’re after immortality. Welcome to the PGA Championship. [Music] ESPN and the PGA of America proudly present the 2025 PGA Championship. Today it’s first round coverage live from Quail Hollow here in Charlotte, North Carolina. Sunny, warm day in May after all the rain early in the week. Four weeks a year to become a forever player. This trio playing the fourth Curtis Strange, they’re forever players already, but they’re struggling today. What have you noticed as we’ve watched Schoffley, Mroy, and Xander? Well, it’s hard not to watch early golf with this group grouping out on the golf course, but you know, a little bit of a slow start, sloppy start for these. But let’s not let’s give the golf course plenty of credit right now. We’ll show you how the 16th took a bite out of them. It is playing incredibly difficult. Here’s John Rom here for birdie on five. And this man of course is a US Open champion. He’s a Mast’s champion. He surrendered a couple shots in a row. Back with a birdie. A nice bounce back there. Now a look at four. And Rory Mroy just had a chance to talk to his sport psychologist Bob Rotella. He says he’s still in a good place. not playing his best golf, but gota keep keep your focus. Easier said than done sometimes. The driver has betrayed him much of this day, which is unusual considering he’s as fine a driver as there is in the world. Day began on 10, it’s a par five, which provides an opportunity for birdie. And we’re off and running. Then on 15 after he very nearly found the water off the tea was frankly fortunate to avoid that took advantage of good break May Birdie. Yeah I think you see a lot of the putting from off these greens this week. Now you’re not going to putt from that position that’s for sure. 16 is an absolute monster. They backed the tea up and all three in this group. Sheffller Schoffley and Malroy all made double on the 16th. Here’s Sheffler. All things considered, at even par. He’s still right in the mix. And that’s on a a nice line. Finds the center of the G. And we’ll show you how Scotty got to even par. It was an uneven start. And he does this, it feels like, more than anybody does. 12 because he hits the ball so well and then he chips and putts so well. It’s tough to tough to beat on 15. He was two over. Now, excuse me. At that point, he got to two under. He was even made that to get to two under. And now here on 16. Question about mud on the golf ball perhaps as both he and Xander. Well, we might see some of that the first couple of days this week, but that’s just the cardinal sin miss left of 16. Well, water in play left of 16 and 17. And he found the water there. Dropped two shots, but as you saw, even par as he plays the fourth here this first round, Quail Hollow. So the leader Fox trying to finish in five under and that is a 531 yd par four new T and it was the second shot to put him out of position. An eventful finish for Ryan but still the man that chipped in in a three-man playoff of Myrtle a week ago to get here making the most of the opportunity and he’s four under par. And you see this glamour pairing has all struggled a bit this week. Well, Rory struggled off the tea last week as well. So, when he goes, so does the driver. Uh Scotty seems to be able to score no matter how he’s hit it sometimes. And here they are back at four. The foury lengthy birdie putt. Anxious to see how quick these greens get this afternoon, later on and tomorrow afternoon. The sun is out. It’s bright. It’s humid. Very little wind. Can’t say it enough. Keith Wood and his group here have done a tremendous job preparing the golf course. These greens are in incredible condition and really maintained that condition throughout the rain. Alex Smallley, could he be the first round leader? We shall see. Kid from Greensboro
