Join us LIVE for the 2025 PGA Championship at Quail Hollow Club. Watch all the action from the feature group of Jon Rahm, Patrick Cantlay and Matt Fitzpatrick.
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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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tournament in 2017. There were, I believe, was 12 players who finished underpar in that entire tournament. And this course, one of the longest of any major championship golf course. Little bit of a false front there in the front of that green as it trickles back towards the front left side, but Matthew Fitzpatrick will have a long birdie putt coming up. Yeah, this whole green complex here at the 10th really moves from right to left fairly aggressively. You can see that pin location there. 13 paces on and six off the right hand side and also to that little spine that I was referencing when John Ram was hitting his second shot would feed down into that right collection area on the left side of your screen or over there to the far right hand side. So John Ram in that bunker will have plenty of green to work with but a green that slopes and tilts quite considerably from his left to right. Patrick Can very close on that layup within 50 60 yards. It looks like Joanna Evan. He’s got an opportunity here to be the closest man to the pin with Rom in the bunker and Fitzpatrick not the greatest approach. Yeah, Canley has a little draw lie ball above his feet. This pin is on a little right to left slope, so he’s gonna have to start this just right of the flag if he wants to get this one close. Yeah, just 92 yds. It really would require something with a little bit of off speed here. Control that spin. And that’ll trickle back to where Fitzpatrick ball Fitzpatrick’s ball is lying. Yeah, there’s a little shelf right up here about two paces, three paces right there where John Rahm is standing and Patrick Can have been forced there. Take a 60° lob wedge and just couldn’t quite control the spin. So much of this golf course is about hitting to the right shelves, the right locations, and also of course hitting the right shot at the right moment. Justin Thomas, of course, the winner in 2017 at the PGA Championship here. The only player that week who was under par for the tournament on par threes and par fours. So, Colin, to your point, just shows you how important these par fives are to make your score, to gain shots on the field. Rom right now, he went for the green in two. The only member of our group to do so, but it’s got an awkward lie here in this bunker. Joanna, yes, little downhill lie. See how he kept his knee flexed through the shot. Love that. Wow. Came out with some nice spin. So, you know, the the bunkers are still a little wet. They’re going to spin it out of it, but surprised that didn’t release a little bit more out of a downhill lie. Yeah, you can see there on Ram’s reaction says it all. He was also too a little bit surprised. You can see he tried to hit down on that one, chase it back to that pin location, but when you do that, of course, you increase that angle of attack, create a little bit more friction, and that’s one reason it came up considerably short. believe it’ll be Fitzpatrick away. And Colin, you look at Fitzpatrick’s numbers and you know what has declined over the past couple years as he has struggled and putting is one of them. You look at his strokes gained ranks amongst PGA Tour members. In 2022 when he won that US Open, he was 11th on tour in strokes gained putting. This year he’s 143rd. And when you go through and you look at those strokes, gains categories, it just reeks of someone that is completely out of form in every aspect of his game. I’ve seen him out on the tour a number of times throughout this year. I saw him at the players championship and he was searching and searching hard and obviously you know that split up between him and and Billy Foster now with Dan Parrot on the bag you know that also sort of says hey I’m looking for that spark something to sort of re-energize himself and uh he’s a hard worker diligent worker so he’ll find himself some form here sooner or Yep. Oh, that’s good form. How about Matthew Fitzpatrick? The much malign putting this season and he turns in a four here at the par 510th. He saw pretty much every aspect of Quail Hollow down his first of the day, but manages to make up for it on the putting surface. That club there can make up for all sorts of mistakes. But for a circle and a great start for Fitzpatrick. Joanna, it looked like where Patrick Kentlay’s ball landed was just inside Fitzpatrick. So, do they have a similar line? Yes. Uphill left to right. He should have got a good look from Matthew Fitzpatrick. We’re going to see that a a lot today. Using that propriceptiveness through his feet, that little characteristic shuffle, make himself feel comfortable. And these greens early this morning, Eric, look like they’re carrying a little bit of heat as well. Yeah, absolutely. All these golf courses now, Colin, have those, for lack of a better term, venting and air conditioning systems underneath them, and no matter how much it rains, the conditions always seem to be perfect. It’s amazing what they can do now to bring a golf course around and back to life. Over 4 in of rain fell through Wednesday. And they are absolutely perfect here now with Rom has a birdie look here. Joanna. Yep. Slow again. Little left to right. Such an explosive player. Momentum player. This would go a long way. just misses on the low side. So, it’ll be a tap in par for Rom who was the only one of our players to go for this green in two. It’s approach shot found the bunker and a two putt five for John Rom here to open his PGA championship. Ninth appearance of his career at this major. and Kentlay is in for his five. So, two pars and a birdie, our featured group. And we move to hole number 11, par 4, second hole for our group today. And take a look at the flyover of this dog leg left, Colin. Yeah, it’s a gorgeous sweeping dog leg from right to left. A lot of these players will want to challenge the two of those bunkers down the left hand side there. You can see 300 to carry the right corner of that. Now, once you turn the corner, it’s back up to a semi blind second shot and also to a green complex that slopes from front to back and then right through the middle section right where that pin is located today. It actually crowns and then starts to slope from front to back and can really make it a difficult pin location to get to. Gorgeous hole was ranked as the 11th most difficult back in 2017. scoring a average just a shade over 4 one. Fitzpatrick on the T first after the birdie Joanna. [Music] Another one leaking right. It’s going to find some tree trouble in the rough. Oh yeah, we can hear kicked backwards and to the right. So definitely in the rough and will be a long second shot. A one second shot too with a little bit of tree trouble trying to get it out of that thick [Music] rough. Ron who finished T58 at the PGA Championship here in 2017. [Music] Turn. This one might catch the right rough. Yep. Straight through the fairway. Tough hole for Rahm, who likes to hit a fade. This is definitely a draw hole. And we got our eyes on it now. Sitting in the pine straw there on the right hand side. We’re going to have to wait till Joanna gets up there to see if he’ll have any difficulty trying to get it up towards the front or even possibly onto the green. And as we were talking about Eric, you know, the you know these holes, they all require a certain shape and a certain try. Kentlay also too one of those guys that likes to move it just a whisker from left to right. So he’ll be challenging those two bunkers down the left. You can [Music] see this is heading towards the second bunker on the left. He challenged him. All right, Colin. He went right at those bunkers down the left side. It might be a second fairway bunker in two holes for Patrick Kentlay, who found a bunker off the tea on the 10th hole as well. We’ll be seeing where those shots ended up when we return. [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 Bet app and sign up with the promo code birdie to get started today. And we have hole byhole odds for our featured groups. If you want to follow along with us all day and place your wagers on John Rom, Patrick Kentlay and Matt Fitzpatrick, head-to-head odds, tournament odds. Neither three of these golfers, Colin really wound up in a good spot. Fitzpatrick hit the tree. He only went 258 yards off the tea. Kentley is in fact in that second bunker and Rahm is underneath a tree down the right side and Fitzpatrick Joanna is way back there. He is way back there but he actually drew a pretty good line this rough. He does have some tree trouble but he can advance this. Hit a low scooter hard low scooter and get it pretty close to the green. Um he got a little lucky with how it bounded backwards and gave him a little line here. And we’re getting a great view of it right now. Exactly that tree that you referenced between him and the whole location. So difficult too. And the rough is thick. It’s a little wet, little jewy. You can see the footprints there in the rough there. Makes it difficult to hit it low enough but still get enough club on it to get it to the green. And with this pin location today sort of right up on top of that crest, I would almost think that something a little long here wouldn’t be a bad miss. Joanna, I would agree. If he can get that going towards the TV tower and advance as far as he can, that’d probably be your best bet for up and in. With his new caddy, Dan Parrot has a fairway middle in his hand. 223 yds to the hole, but he’s got some wind in his face. Joanna looks like 7 8 miles an hour coming back at him. So, got the wind and you got the rough and playing much longer, it seems, than that 223. Yes, it’s just a it’s just a wet lie. It’s just going to come out kind of heavy, but at least it’s sitting a little bit on top of the grass. So, she he should be able to get a club on the back of the ball. Well, he’s got lumber out at the moment. He’s one of those players that pretty much calculates every shot that he hits, works with Eduardo Molinari on his statistics breaks down every aspect of his game. So you’ll know what the best option here is. It’s just a matter of execution. Look at how thick that is. But you can see a lot of that ball as you said, Joanna. He moves quickly. The group just got off the green and he’s hitting and he Wow. Okay. He did exactly what we thought. He just banged a fairway metal past the pin. I don’t know if he went over the green, but that was well done. on the back still rolling. I tell you what, what a fantastic view there from beyond the green. You can see the crown where that pin is located right up on top and then just how much it slopes to the back section of this green as these greens start to dry out throughout the week and hopefully that rain stays away. We’ll see them get even faster and firmer. Fingers crossed for that though. So John Ram is here. He’s going to have to hit a low fade. He has a nice lie out of the pine straw, but he’s got a little helicopter finish in his practice swing. So, he’s going to try to move this left to right. Yeah. So much of this shot is about the footing. Trying to get really good solid footing. You don’t want those feet slipping around at all. Yep. That’s cutting towards the middle of the green, scooting up. Well done. You can hear Adam Hayes say there, “Great shot, buddy.” And it was be a lengthy one, but he got himself out of trouble. I think John Rose said, “Get lucky.” And it did. That was a very nice shot out of the pine straw. Now can’t lay in the bunker once again. Pretty standard lie. This is heading just right of it. Needs to go a little. Pretty good shot. And that will come back all the way off the green there. That’s the second shot he’s hit in two holes where he hasn’t been able to control his spin. The approach from the fairway back at the 10th and now here at the 11th from the fairway bunker. That is the challenge around this this golf course. get a chance to see a lot of different shots and learn a lot about these golfers and their swings and what a group of analysts to do it. I’m so happy to be joined by Colin Swatton and Joanna Co this week. I’m Eric Rothman. Joanna, of course, PGA director of instruction at Maran Golf Club. And Colin, longtime coach, working with Jason Day, now working with Carl Phillips, both in the field this week. And you won’t be seeing us, but that’s okay. Got our pictures that pop up there every once in a while. And we clean up pretty nice there, Colin. Yeah, we do. Look at that. That’d be a nice little trio out for dinner somewhere. Maybe somewhere around Marion. Maybe play a game of golf. And that’s right. That’s Yeah. Colin and I’s ulterior motive this week when we found out we were working with Joanna is like, how do we get into play Marian? How nice do we have to be to Joanna before she brings us to Marion? How did I know that was coming? I’m very excited to be working with you both this week. We got a great group this morning. We’ll be on the morning coverage all week long. One of four featured groups. You’ve also got the featured holes you can check out. Wall-to-wall PGA Championship coverage on ESPN Plus. And we can barely see the top of Patrick Kentlay’s head from where he’s positioned. The bottom of this false front green here, Joanna. He doesn’t have a ton of green to work with. He’s going to have to hit it into a little bit of a back stop and then after the hole, it goes downhill. So, he’s going to have to get something into that into the back stop, kill it with a little bit of spin, hopefully get the judge the distance correct. just living in the sand this morning. Colin Hacho Lava is just burning him up right now. Already raking three bunkers. We’re only through one and a half holes. Great view there of exactly what Joanna was talking about. Having to try and pitch this one maybe just a fraction left to the flag stick. He went right of it. went a little right of it and just didn’t have much spin and rolled out a little bit too far. That spin control that you’ve been talking about, Joanna, is that just a matter of of the conditions, a little wetness on the ball, or is that something Canlay’s doing or not doing with his swing? Well, of course, it depends on the lie. Uh, you know, a little bit of sand around it. He’s not going to be able to spin it as much. But yeah, there’s definitely some morning do out here. So, we’re getting some some big hops, some big skids in the beginning. We’re going to see if that’s going to check up a little bit later. These caddies, they really write down a whole bunch of information. They’ll be writing down how far the ball flies, what it does when it hits the green, making notes, things like that that they can then use for future holes. So, Fitzpatrick, who hit the tree off the tea, had a long way to go with his second shot over 223 yards. He’s on the back fringe here, but not a bad position to be. Now, he can be aggressive with this one. It’s all about pace. Yeah. Made a huge bomb for four back at his first of the day. the 10th. Just backing off there. Huge galleries out already. It’s early morning. North Carolina. Leaves that one a little short. I don’t want know what kind of marker he’s using, but that looked like a manhole cover. That thing was enormous. Maybe it’s a poker chip kind of at the casino. There we go. I like the way you’re thinking, Joanna. It’s not even 9:00 a.m. Joanna’s thinking about the casino. That’s right. Here we go. Rob looking for his first birdie of the round. Little double breaker here. Well done. Beautiful from the pine on that approach shot. He was telling himself, Colin, get lucky. got lucky enough to give himself an opportunity at a birdie on a par4 here at Quel Hollow Club, which is not easy to do. No. And I think also too is a it’s a great time in space to make that, you know, very getable uh pin location today at the 12th also. So very timely. We’ve seen a couple of birdies already from our featured group. Fitzpatrick with an unlikely one back at the first of the day, the 10th. And then Ram with a long bomb here at 11. Now Klay to try and save his part. A lot of left to right movement to it. Patrick Kentlay will drop a shot here at the 11th hole. the second pole for our group today. Yeah, he’ll be disappointed in that one, Eric, to be fair. You know, drove it left in that bunker. Good clean lies. Joanna mentioned, just not able to control his spin and unfortunately spends one. Pokés don’t hurt you though in major championships. It’s the doubles, the double boxes that really hurt. It can’t feel good though when you watch your playing partner hit a long birdie putt like that and then you come up and whimper with the bogey. Very true. And what a great view this is down low for Matt Fitzpatrick. just looks like it’s going to come just a touch from his left right. One catches the right side of the hole and lips in. So birdie par start for Matthew Fitzpatrick, but has yet to hit a fairway so far. And just a reminder that you can follow four different feature groups and holes on ESPN plus. Watch your favorite players from T Green on all 18 holes. You got Kepka, Fowler, and Lowry in one. Got the world’s one, two, and three. Mroy, Schoffley, and Sheffller. And then Phil Mickelson, Tommy Fleetwood, and Jason Day. It’s a guy you’ve heard of before, Colin, right? Jason Day. I believe you guys are from the same country. same country, almost the same town. He’s from a little bit further north, Rockampton. Yeah, we have spent a lot of time together since he was 12, in fact. How did you meet a 12-year-old Jason Day? What’s the origin story of your relationship? Well, I was fortunate to be a director of golf at the Coralin International School. We had a program called Golf for Excellence. So we took in young aspiring kids from all over Australia at uh were good at golf and we tried to make them a little better and that’s where I first met Jace and uh we were there for uh the whole time he was at school. Then when he turned pro at about 18 years of age I came out and cattied for him just to try and get him off on the right footing. One thing led to another. way down there. Well, that’s led to a great relationship and a great career for you and him both as we go to the 12th hole, par4. And Joanna, this was the hardest fairway to hit in 2017. And given how our players have struggled off the tea in the first two holes, I’m sure they’re not too thrilled to be coming to this 12th hole. Now, this fairway is a bowling alley. John Ram has a fairway medal in hand, I believe. Um should be nice to set up for a little fade here. Two big trees just line this fairway. This is uh accuracy is key. He’s going with the big dog actually Joanna as he fades it a little bit down the right side of that fairway. The edge can tell. And we can tell you John that’s in the first cut of rough. Even that first cut of rough looks a little woolly. [Music] Fitzpatrick has missed twice to the right off the tee. We’ll see if he makes any adjustments [Music] here. Yeah, just wiping off the club face there. Joanna was mentioning the de. You can see it on the walkoff path just ahead there. Don’t want any water between the ball and the face. really comes off with not much spin. [Music] This is left rattling in the trees. Could not see where that kicked. Oh, he got a nice break. He’s in the fairway, Joanna. He needed that. That’s the second generous bounce he’s gotten out of a tree here in the opening three holes. Klay coming off the bogey at 11. Looks like he’s aiming down that right center a little bit more. Maybe trying to work this one touch more from right to left. [Music] Heading left. More left than Fitzpatrick. Oh, that one didn’t get the fortuitous bounce that we saw. Fitzpatrick crowd going over to create a vantage point. He might have some issue there with a tio. We’ll have to wait and see. Patrick Kentlay in trouble down left. We’ll see where John Rom and Matthew Patrick have wound up here on the 12th hole. [Music] [Music] Some gorgeous views from our drone cameras this week as we welcome you back to the first round of the 107th PGA Championship at Quail Hollow Club here in Charlotte, North Carolina. On the 12th hole is par four, 468 yards. You see Patrick Kentlay way off to the left, John Rom in position A. And Fitzpatrick once again gets a generous bounce out of a tree and is sitting 161 yardds away from the pin. But again, a little shaky off the tea for both Fitzpatrick and Kentlay. Rom seems to be settled in nicely. But Patrick Kentlay, Colin, he is walking with the patrons trying to find his ball right now. Yeah, it’s you know this is the difficulty and the challenge here at Quail Hollow. The the T-OT require you to move it in both directions. Now, if you’re predominantly a player that likes to move it maybe from left to right as Patrick Can is and then suddenly, you know, you set up and you try and hit a draw, you can overcook things and now we thought he might be involved with that temporary immovable obstruction just beyond him there, but it looks like he stayed in front of it and looking somewhat skyward. seeing what type of angles he has. And Joanna, I’m not sure where your position, but I don’t know what kind of options Canlay has. He keeps looking up to see if he can go over this tree coverage that’s in front of him. I did check it out. Um, that would be impressive if he could elevate this above the in front of the tree in front of him. I was thinking more of a low scooter towards that right bunker, but again, these guys are good, so who knows if he can hit it towards the moon. Now, this pin location, folks, is all the way in the back right portion of the green here at 12 and it sits up on top of a little bit of a shelf there. So, no doubt he’s obviously trying to figure out the best type of shot. You can see him pointing there up towards potentially a gap in the trees, but also too is leaving it short is is no bargain either. And now we’re getting a look at that little opening that Patrick is referencing, which is just above that first limb. There it is right there. Just above that first limb. And I think if he can get it up, that’s where he’s pointing through there. He will have a chance to get it onto green. But it’s literally the third hole of a PGA Championship. very I don’t know necessarily if you need to be making decisions or choices but this is where the bag man there Joe Laba veteran caddy been around carry the bag for many great Fred Couples more recently Tiger Woods a wealth of information and knowledge in that head can’t he has found three bunkers already two fairway one green and now he is off to the left. And you know, from that camera angle behind him, Colin, it seemed like he had quite a bit of room to go low and and run it up to the green if he wanted to. Yeah, it did. It he keeps on wanting to look skyward, too. And this is where as a caddy, you’ve got to really read your player. What you don’t want to do is you don’t want to be sewing a a seed of something that creates doubt or or you know a a poor pattern or a you know a visual for him. So Joe looks like he’s uh doing what he needs to but we’re going quickly here to Fitzpatrick. Fitzpatrick not waiting around Joanna. Now he’s moving. That went just left of the pin. Did that stay on? It did not. It’s off the back. That’ll be a tricky little pitch there. No doubt he’ll probably have to try and bump it into the fringe to kill it. Anything that’s carrying too much speed beyond that flag stick from the back will run all the way down onto the front section of the green. And Joe Lava just directing traffic. Kentley’s grabbed a few different clubs. You know, this is important. Third hole of a major championship. Can’t make a big mistake here. So, I think he is going low. See his eyes looking low, which I think is the highest percentage play. And that looks like what he’s doing. Look at how thick that grass is here so easily. This could just get knotted. Turn it low and left. That did not sound good. No, it hit the second tree that’s about 45 yards short of the green. And it hit it loud. I play a little bit. And there’s a little wind. So So now now if you’re Joel Lava Colin, if if Patrick wanted to go high, you said maybe you should go low. He hits a tree. That’s Now how does that conversation work after he hits that shot? That is the longest 45 yd walk he’ll make this morning for sure. John Rom first cut of roughs hitting a little flighted shot trying to hit it front of the green and get it to scoot. Well, this green separates itself from the front to the back with a huge tear that sort of wanders through from the far leftand side of the green to the far right hand side of the green. We’re getting a glimpse of it right now and that’s exactly what happened. And that ball for John Ram tried to get up on top of that shelf where that pin is located here at the 12 and then got rejected all the way down the front. That’s what Fit Patrick is going to have to face with his little pitch from the back of the green in just a few minutes. Yeah, that that shelf is so dramatic. You could see it from that low angle behind the tea we just saw. Like Rahm did not get up over that crest and look how far away he is now. So a disappointing approach for John Rom. Joanna, where is Patrick? can’t lay on his third shot coming up. He is just to the right of this large tree that I said is about 40 yards short of the green. Um he is in the rough, not the pine straw, I believe. And uh he does have a he is a clear shot. No tree trouble. But again, this is all about where do you want to land it? You’re going to lose spin. Um we know that behind this pin location, it’s going to run off. So, another tricky shot here. Colin, he has yet to hit a fairway today. And you can just see how punishing this course is if you cannot get off the tea and find a fairway. Yeah, they talk about this golf course as a second shot golf course, which primarily it is, but still you need to find the fairways here. You can see that rough early in the morning. Once it gets a little bit of dew, a bit of moisture in it, it plays even thicker than what it does when it’s dry. And that is a great camera angle of exactly what Patrick Canlay faces here. You can see the the camera tower just to the left of the flag stick. He’d have to, I think, almost split the difference between the camera tower and the pin because this whole green complex cambers and tilts from back left to front right. Real heavy coming out of that lie. Not even a chance to get up over that crest. It actually hit Rahm’s mark on the way. It is heading towards the fringe. It’s not even staying on the green. Yep. Just off the green. And welcome to the Quail Hollow Golf Club, folks. That is exactly what you’ll face throughout the day. These green complexes here really do have what we we call character. Original designer here was George Cobb. created an absolute masterpiece. They reference it as the Augusta National of North Carolina. And the green complex is certainly I would say typifying those that you’ll find at Augusta National. Now with that backhanded grip here for Fitzpatrick from the back of the green drew a pretty nice lie. Just landed it just on the green. Nice touch. Oh, he just looked out. Great shot. Fitzpatrick, who we talked about earlier, Colin, his stats on the green, around the green have been very underwhelming this year, but he made that 37 ft birdie putt on 10 and a very nice, delicate chip here at the 12. Yeah, he made that look very easy. Certainly, it was not. Anything that was carrying a little bit more steam beyond that flag stick would have rolled down there towards the balls of Ram and Canler. You can see that slope now as we pan back out to the camera tower beyond the green. Can’t Joanna this putt from just off the green looks like it can go in a multitude of directions. Yes, this is a roller coaster putt. I would not be I would not want to putt this. Um and this is damage control. He needs to get two putt and get out of here with a bogey. Already a bogey on the 11th hole. This is his fourth shot here at the 12th. Yeah. Coming up a very steep little ridge that runs through this green. It’s very easy, especially putting back uphill to give this one a little bit too much steam. If you roll it past, you’ll have a tricky one downhill. He’s got to get going. Oh boy, that was close to rolling backwards. So, Kentlay, who has made the cut at 11 straight majors, has not done himself any help here in the first three holes as he’ll have that for bogey. And now Rahm has to go up that same ridge for birdie here, Joanna. Yes, slow left to right. Should get a good idea of speed from can’t. He’s scared to hold at the previous hole for birdie. Similar length to this. This will have a lot of right turn at the end. Good effort from John Robin who hit that 33 ft putt on the previous hole for birdie. Still a little bit left on his par now behind the hole. And that’s what I was referencing at, you know, putting from that bottom ridge. It’s it sits at you and it’s almost about 3 or 4 feet and suddenly you get to that point where you’re like, “Oo, I don’t want to leave it short like Patrick Canlay did and almost have it come back at you.” So, you give it a little bit more and then suddenly you look down there and you’re putting your your your quarter down on a ball that’s some six, seven feet past the hole. Yeah, Joanna, I know it’s early in this golf tournament. This is a big putt here for Patrick Kentlay. Yes, this is huge. um get the momentum going in the right direction. Even if you make a little putt like this, that’s huge. Oh, he steps off in the middle of his back swing there. Wow. See that ball’s moving. Screens are spicy. Great view there too, Joanna, of exactly what you’re referencing. He’s right on that edge, that precipice that you could call it. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a player that’s balked it like that in the middle of a putting stroke. Will be a double bogey for Klay here at the par 412. Three over par through three holes to start the championship. And with that ball rolling backwards, you know, with the rule change in 2019, it’s nice that he can just replace his ball. Once you mark it, you own the spot. So for those at home, you know, that is no longer a penalty. He just replaces the ball. That’s good clarification. And thank you Joanna. Now Rom has some meat on the bone here Colin for this par. Yeah that it does. I referenced it early. You know John one of those players that wears his heart on his sleeve here a little bit. If he made a a sloppy three putt bogey here at his third of the day. You might see him airries frustration a little. Yeah. Especially coming off that huge birdie putt on the last hole. Well done. Avoids the three putt. Stays in red numbers. One under par. A no sweat par for Matthew Fitzpatrick to remain at one under as well as we move to our first par three of the day. The par 313th. Yeah, gorgeous T-shot here. You can see there’s multiple team boxes. There’s one out there to the right hand side. They put the addition of the two new T- boxes in on the left hand side to create different angles. And today the angle from the right T- box will be to that left pin position. It’s actually 18 paces on and six off the right hand side. You can see those arrows both to the front right of that flag stick and also to the back left of that flag stick. That represents a crown. And if you saw the fireworks at the previous hole, the 12th, this 13th has plenty of firepower in this green here. Anything that carries a little bit too much weight back down that slope, you can see those sea of red arrows. It’ll actually come some 30, 40 yards way down off the front of the green. Just under. Gorgeous path three. Yeah, that’s right. John Ram just checking back towards the 12th green. Make sure that no T-shots are coming in before he hits his. There’s a great view of the angles that they can create here. Eric, 205 yds. That false front that Colin was talking about just shows you how important Joanna, it is to hit the right spots of these greens with all the undulations and the different shelves. And it plays a little uphill. breath of air from his left help. This is heading a little right. He walks away in disgust. Just short of the bunker though. Yeah, look at that slope. You know, basically you could miss this pin location today with the wrong shape and a little too much spin and you’ll end up down there where John Ram is, but he was not impressed with that T-shot. Hand came off it early. Back turned on the shot. I call that the Eric Rothman special when I’m out there. Fitzpatrick been impressed. Collins early. You know, he has not necessarily done well off of the tea, but he has made the most of some really nice breaks here early. And sometimes that’s what you need in a major championship. I couldn’t agree more. You know, you make your own luck in those situations and and he’s actually capitalizing on him. This pin location should actually suit him a little bit. You can see him taking a little bit more of a an aim towards the center of the green. Maybe trying to work this one back at it a little from the right. Drawing just right of it. Oh, that is a great shot. Just a little bit beyond pin high ride. It’ll be a downhill putt with some speed on it, but exactly where you need to hit that shot. It’s Patrick on safely and now Can plus three through three holes. That is tied for his worst score through three holes in any major round of his career. That is 121 major championship rounds. Not where he wanted to be after three holes. chance now to steer the ship back in the right direction. But he is never flustered. Sticks with his process just right of it. Drawing towards it. Get up. And it does. And it looks like it’s going to stay there. Nice shot there for Patrick Can. He really needs to just have a hit a good steady T-OT here. You know, you’ve got the drivable par 414th next and Fitzpatrick on the green here at the 13th [Music] Quail hol. Holo Club, a regular PGA tour stop. But you look at what this course does when it’s a major championship venue. It is tough. Host of the 2017 PGA Championship and now hosting again in 2025. Matthew Fitzpatrick and Patrick Kentlay will have two long birdie putts. And Joanna Co. John Rom is off the green. He was disgusted with that T- shot. He was mumbling to himself on that one and the approach shot in the hole before. This is This is a good one. I could teach a clinic on this shot. Ball’s a little above the feet. Uh depends where he wants to land it. He has a slope in front of him that’s going to kick it right, then it’s going to travel to the left. So, it depends where he wants to land it. Looks like something high lofted here. I think he’s going up. Yeah, from those rehearsals, it looks like he’s going to try and maybe drive something in on more of a midflight with a high loft here. When you do that, you create a lot of friction. It’s what they reference as spin loft. You can really get some some check on it on its second or third hop. Checks up nicely. That’s exactly what he did. Ball back in the stance. Shaft lean. Just tons of spin. Hit down on it with ton of loft equals spin loft. I’ll sign us both up. Myself and Eric for that clinic at Marian Club. Of course, Joanna Co is the director of instruction there, and she could teach you just that shot. I got to tell you, Colin, when when Joanna was talking about that, and that is a shot as an as a poor amateur like myself that the confidence I would need to even attempt that shot because I think, you know, as an amateur, your first thought is, okay, if I’m going to lean the shaft forward, punch it out, try to get some spin, this this thing is going to be thinned 50 yards o over the green. There’s no chance I’m getting it to do what John Rom just did. Yeah, there’s uh there’s a lot of controversy in the world of chipping at the moment, you know. Uh I won’t mention any names, but uh you know uh I think they’re both making good points as to what you can do and how you can play it. But that one was just absolute perfection on how to take a 60° wedge, launch it low with maximum spin. That was just a gorgeous shot. Now Canlay with an uphill putt for birdie. He could use a spark here, Johanna. Yes, he could. Right to left uphill at the end. Just grazes the right edge of the cup. But a good effort there. And what was the most steady hole we have seen from Patrick Kentlay so far today. Yeah, and I think he needed it, you know, nice steady T-shot there. Like you said, hit it below the s the uh the hole to give him a good look at an uphill putt. And moving into the very getable drivable par 414th and also the par 515th. I think Patty Ice will be making himself a small goal to maybe play those two holes in two under and get back in this ball game. Fitzpatrick for his birdie. Well, that ball rolled end over end. You can see the line just wandering off lower the hole. So, little misread there slightly from Matthew Fitzpatrick. These greens, we saw it there with with John Ram and Patrick Canlay at the at the previous hole. You really almost have to allow just that little extra break as these greens get a little bit uh faster cuz they all just move that fraction more than you think at the very end of the putt. Up the hill for John Rom’s par. Joanna. Yeah, pretty simple uphill right to left. Be nice to reward himself of that fabulous chip. Hold the part of similar length at the previous hole to save his par. Avoid that three putt bogey. [Applause] Great up and down for John Rom here at the 13th. Stays clean. One under. John Rum had that beautiful bump and run from off the green to set up that par putt. And let’s go a little bit more inside what it takes to hit a shot like that. From PGA of America coaching center powered by T-Mobile, Natalie Sheen will give us a look at how John Rom executed that shot. Yeah, he just made an awesome up and down at the 13th hole. And one thing he does in his practice that I think all of you at home should be doing is he will hit a low shot and a high shot back and forth. So to hit that nice low bump and run, which is what he just I’ve got the ball back in my stance. My pressure is forward and I’ve got some shaft lean here and I just feel making sort of a pendulum motion. Not excessively using my hands and wrists and that ball will have some release to it. And then the next I would leave the shaft kind of straight up and down and still making that nice sort of pendulum motion hit a high shot. And so learning how to hit a low shot and a high shot back and forth helps your adaptability when you’re out on the golf course and helps you under pressure. Back to you guys. Natalie, thank you very much. Our PG of America coaching center powered by T-Mobile. T-Mobile for business exclusive 5G solutions partner. And here it is again, Colin. Just how that shot checks up so beautifully. You saw how Natalie executes it, but also a part of it is just, you know, how much these guys practice shots like this to know the distance control of where that ball is going to check and how hard he needs to hit it to to really gauge the correct distance. Yeah. Well, these guys spend hours and hours and hours practicing all these different shots. The high one, the low one, the low fizzer, like this one here. Uh, that was just absolutely technique perfect there from John Ram. I’m sure your Quail Hollow members are probably putting that, using a hybrid, bumping an eight iron. That was a tight lie. Ball above the feet. Um, but again, you practice your weaknesses and play with your strength. I love that they are words of wisdom for sure. So many people they gravitate to what they do well which is which is fine but obviously it doesn’t do anything for improving your whole game as we have just a little bit of a hold up here what it looks like at the 14th. Of course this is the drivable par four down the hill. And while we wait, take a look at the early leaderboard for the 107th PGA Championship. Ryan Fox at top the leaderboard right now at three under par through seven holes starting on the back nine. Sometimes all you needs a little momentum coming into a major championship, Colin, you saw Ryan Fox last week at the Myrtle Beach tournament was waiting on the driving range for a long time to see if he was going to make a playoff. He did a threeman playoff and a 53 foot chip in to win the title and qualify for the PGA championship. And look what he’s doing here in his opening round. Continuing that momentum. Jason Day, Xander Schoffley under par as well. Michael Kim who had to withdraw last week because of an injury at the truest. He’s under par through four. Tommy Fleetwood up there as well. Rory Mroy, Brooks Kepka, Tony Fen all even to par and Zep Straa who had the victory at the elevated event the truest in Philadelphia last week. He had said that after he won that tournament in Philadelphia, he had a birthday part, a birthday present waiting for him from his regular Caddyy Dwey who sent him to Payne Valley for a round. So he went from Philadelphia Golf and Cricket Club to Payne Valley and now to Quail Hollow. Not a bad week of golf if you can get it. And move to the getable, as Colin said, par for 14th. Just 311 yds here today, Colin. Yes, the shortest par four on the course and the only par four to play underpar in the 2017th PGA Championship at whopping 82 under par. It’s early days here at the 14th and you can see it’s already 3.42 almost full half shot under par already. Multiple team grounds here also at the 14th. They’ll push it forward a little bit. They’ll move that T- box around depending on the length and that pin position. You’ll see it all the way in the back right one day. You’ll see it over in the far left portion. Then they’ll hug that left side and front left portion as well. You can really get yourself out of position here. It’s always one of those holes that when you’re playing your practice round, you stand up here, you belt 3-wood or a driver down in that front section, you think, what is the difficulty of this hole? And then suddenly the gun goes off and you’re playing for the water maker trophy and you can get yourself into a world of hurt here. very very quickly with an Eric T- shot. Yeah, Joanna, how much is that water down the left side in these players minds on this T- box here? Oh, big time. Um, but John Rom has I believe last driver in hand looking to go just right of the green and hopefully it bounds to the left. But yeah, they are eyesight is down the right for sure. It’ll be interesting to watch this one. See how much skip it does have. Got a lot of rain early in the week. Lucky. He’s asking for some help. Oh boy. And he’s got a decent lie up on that, which is a pretty decent slope from, you know, sort of back to front there. So downhill lie to that pin location over on the front left. Anything that carries too much steam, he could chip that into the water in a heartbeat. Yeah, you can see why, Colin. To your point, you can get in so much trouble here if you get a little nervy with the water down the left. The right side isn’t easy either. And it looks like Fitzpatrick is less than driver as well. Joanna driver. This is looking like on a good line just right of the flag. Ooh, sit. Awesome. [Applause] That is an absolutely perfect T- shot. We haven’t seen that in the first few holes there from Fitzpatrick. He hit just about every tree on the property in the first three holes and stands up and hits a beauty there at 14. And he’ll have that putt for Eagle. Matthew Fitzpatrick, an amateur arborist here this week. I can tell already I’m going to have a great week, Eric. Patrick Kentley is hoping for the same. He is three over. [Music] setting up to try and hit maybe just a possible little three-finger fade down to that right portion of the green way left on the last hole. I should say two two holes ago made double bogey. It’s a good aggressive line. Lands on the green. Wow, that one pitched past pin high. It’s going to scoot all the way to the back of the green. That’ll be a very, very lengthy putt with a lot of movement. Not a bad place. So, two on here at the short par for 14th. Catlay still looking for his first birdie of the [Music] day. Three, two, [Applause] Well, we mentioned that this 14th pole is the shortest par4 on the course. The last five Torvettes here, 62% of the field attempted to drive the green with just about 11% hitting it. And you see the scoring average for those who went for it underpar. For those who laid up, just slightly above par. So, we’re better than the historical stats with our group because two out of the three of our featured group here today hit the green. And you see the scoring average at the PGA Championship that was held at Quail Hollow Club in 2017. 3.71 the average shots needed if you go for it here. That is the ball of John Rob the one player Colin in our featured group who did not hit the green off the tea. Yeah. And so much of this lie we can look at it right there. We see a lot of golf ball but you’ll notice also too those blades of grass are leaning in a direction. Now, if they’re leaning in the direction that he’s actually trying to hit, it’ll make this shot so much easier, which it appears it is. But now we, as we start to pull back, you can see that little uh drainage hole right there just to the right of where John is. Now, what he’s doing there, folks, is he’s going up and he’s getting a feel through his feet as to how wet that area is because you can see that little grain change, that color, that darker shade right there where he is now, that’s uphill into the grain. So he’ll be looking to see whether he can pitch it into that slope and then kill it because anything that carries weight or too much speed past this flag stick will end up down in the pond there. So a very very difficult hole if you’re out of position here. It can be a very very difficult up and down. Still about 100 ft away. Joanna, where’s a good landing spot for him? When he went up to the green and kind of stood and looked back to look back at the ball, that’s exactly where I thought he needs to land it. Like what Colin said, the grain in the hill is going to kill it. Downhill lies. It’s going to come out a little low. Unless he opens a face, he needs to stay with the slope in order to have clean contact. Yeah, you may actually see him aim a little bit further left of this hole just in case. And that got an ugly little soft bounce. You could see him walking up there sort of getting a feel for that, but that just didn’t come out on the flight or trajectory that he wanted and he has hauled it in the wrong hole. Yeah, that came out a little dead. I think he missed his landing spot by two, three yards and now he is going to get free relief from looks like a drainage area. Yeah. So much this golf Yeah, sorry. No, I was going to say Colin, you could really tell especially from that angle the different colors of the grass on the green of where he hit it, that darker grass coming back towards him on the ups slope. And you know, you know, going back to where Joanna was talking about, you know, he just didn’t catch a good kick enough to get it through that elevation. And now back at his, you know, back towards where he was hitting in the first place and dealing with the the drainage situation. Just just not a good effort. Yeah, that grain change that you referenced there that this whole golf course folks for what it may appear on TV at the moment looks very lush and green, but it is all Bermuda and it has been over sewing with Poa Trivialis and that is why it appears so green. as we slide over to Canlay now with that lengthy one after driving the green left to right the entire [Music] way. I think anything inside about 4 ft here would be an exceptional putt. [Music] slowing down considerably as it gets towards the hole, but bad effort and have a decent look at birdie there. He might look cool, calm, and collected on top of the the water, but those little legs underneath, they’re going pretty quick at the moment already with double bogey and a bogey on the scorecard through his first four. Not the start that he was looking for. You can see the end of that putt fading back towards the water now. John Rom again still below the hole in that collection area. Joanna again he’s probably looking to spin something here. This is going to get slippery right after the hole. Downwind down grain water on the other side. Really has to manage his distance control here. He hit that gorgeous little pitch at the previous hole. It’s a lot longer. So he’s able to create a little bit more speed, a lot more friction. This one a little bit more delicate. Look for this one to pitch into that darker colored area. So well done. Rahm will be disappointed to come away with a par considering how easy this hole has played historically, but given what that second shot did to be within two feet for a par is not too shabby either. I’ve seen this pin location many many times for the normal event here at Quail Hollow. The truest but uh you’ll see guys from up on top of that that slope that bank over on the right hand side you’ll see a number of guys take a professional miss and just dump it into that collection area and then take their medicine make four and then walk briskly to the 15th. The three amigos waiting, it looks like, for the group behind them to tee off. They’re going to allow the Is that correct, Joanna? They’re going to let the group behind hit. That is correct. All right, so we’ve got a moment here. And real quick, Colin, while we wait, you know, this is really the part of the course, the 14th and 15th holes, where you got to make up some ground because after that, you’ve got the green mile, the three, arguably the three hardest holes on the course outside maybe of hole number one, but par 4th and the par five 15th, two of the three easiest holes in 2017. Yeah, that’s right. We talked about it very early in the telecast. You know, so much of this golf course requires precision off the tea, moving the ball in both directions, but also too, you’ve got to cherrypick those holes. We’ve talked about the par fives. Obviously, all three of those play exceptionally easy and and generally rank in the top three easiest holes on the golf course, but also 14 and again eight on the on the front side. They’re the holes that you really have to take capitalize on as well. So, when you start to think that, okay, you know, you got to you you’ve got 12 chances at making birdies on these par fives, you really got to get after them. Believe that’s Minwinner earlier this year. And that has found the sand. All the all three of those amigos are all saying, “Oh boy, that’s a tough shot.” And it is. So, Minw Cory Connor is part of the group behind us. Minw another great a young Australian golfer. Winner in Houston earlier this year, just bombs it off the tea. slow down. Got lucky getting that. I’m not sure who the referee is on this hole, but he’s he’s going to see some activity in that drainage hole today. I got to say I’m appreciating the ready golf play of our group so far. We’ve had a couple instances where you had Matt Fitzpatrick in a tree. You had John Rob in the drainage hole and playing partners just saying, “All right, you guys figure it out. I’m going to go ahead and hit. Can’t lay putted while John Rom was taking his relief and I don’t mind a little brisk pace. I know Fitzpatrick likes to play quickly. John Rom as well. I know Patrick Kentlay gets a bad rap, but you know, this is the second year I’ve had a chance to call around for Patrick Kentlay at the PGA Championship, Colin. And really not as slow as people make him out to be. Well, Eric, we like to use the term deliberate. Not necessarily. That’s right. That’s right. No, he he is he’s he’s a he’s a very deliberate player. Uh he has made no uh quams in in the media in saying that I will pay play at my pace and you know and my pace is my pace and I’ll make it up during the walks also too. You might see uh some players throughout the telecast using the uh distance measuring devices. Of course, they’re allowed this week and also to an effort to try and speed up play. So that’s a great point. Eagle chance here for Fitzpatrick. Joanna just never had a chance. No, not high enough. And he actually waved a volunteer to the side. Uh that was right in his line. It looked like the volunteer was just in the middle of the lake all by himself. So was right uh right in Fitzpatrick’s line there. Distracted him a bit. Looking for his second birdie of the day. He had that 37 ft putt to start his round at the 10th hole for birdie. Now Kentlay would be his first birdie. What’s left for him, Joanna? Left to right here. Should get some a little bit of a sense of it from Fitzpatrick’s putt. Nice confident stroke there for Patrick Kentlay who picks one up here at the par for 14th. first circle on the card today. Yeah, really needed that one. We spoke about it before he struck his T-shot here at the 14th. That that sort of run of holes 14 and 15. He’d be setting himself a little goal there to be playing those two holes in two under and get back to excuse me one over par for the championship if he’s able to do that before they enter the the green mile. Now Rob trying to scramble once again for a par. [Applause] He’ll be somewhat disappointed in registering four at the 14th, but at the same time too, he was way out of position and did a good job of managing what could have been damage control layup. Fitzpatrick. This birdie would put him with one of the leader, Ryan Fox. Great start for Matt Fitzpatrick. Just goes to show it’s not all necessarily fairways and greens. And now to the 15th Colin. And this par five at 566 yards. The easiest hole back in 2017 was a whopping 192 underpar in terms of every player in the field for the week in 2017. And you mentioned it. The last real scoring opportunity here on this back nine. Yeah, it’s a downhill t-shot. Just a lone bunker down the right hand side. If you can get a good one away, you’ll be sort of left in that sort of 260 270 range. Does play uphill some 10 yards for the second shot. But you can see this pin location today over there in the front right hand portion. Eight paces on, five off. A great place to leave it would be sandwiched right in between that trio of bunkers. The two down the right hand side and also to that one that sort of sits right in the center of the green here. These players will just get after this hole today. And you can see those flags just up on the top right of your screen there. This T-shot should play maybe quartering down off the left. So these guys can get definitely a good one away here. They might even get irons or rescue Woods in for their [Music] second. It’s good one just on the right. Sit. Okay. Not much roll out yet. Fitzpatrick coming off his second birdie of the day. Not bad for a guy who in 11 starts on the PGA Tour this year has not finished inside the top 20. Very unlike Matthew Fitzpatrick, but has it going here early in round number one. [Music] [Music] straight down the metal. Beauty is the first fairway hit today for Patrick Kentlay. I guess technically on the short par4 drove the green. And so that’s pretty good, too. But his first couple holes of the day off the tea were quite shaky to say the least. He had a bogey and a double bogey at the 11th and 12th. Just off to the left hand side there where John was looking, of course, is the 14th green. So just making sure nothing’s going to be affecting his shot here. You can see the flags down off the the left here, this wind. So he’s going to have to challenge those two oak trees down the left side here if he’s to keep this one in the short grass. Yep. Most aggressive line of the three. Perfect. Boy, that is a long way down the fairway. He’s in the go zone as they say. Carried that one 310 yds. That deserves a snack. Little munch break for John Ram walking down the par 515. [Music] The W maker weighs 32 lbs. Which weighs more, the W maker or the Stanley Cup? Um, Stanley Cup. Thank you. I’m not s [Music] The W maker weighs 32 lbs. Which weighs more, the W 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. Three for three there or Scotty, Jordan, and Rory guessing the weight comparison between the Waker Trophy and the Stanley Cup. Of course, the NHL playoffs going on right now. The Edmonton Oilers big win last night chasing a Stanley Cup for their star Conor McDavid. And all of our 156 players today chasing the WMaker trophy as we appreciate you joining us. Eric Rothman, Colin Swatton, Joanna Co here on the 15th hole. This is the sixth hole for our players today as we started on the second nine. All three in pretty good position for what has been historically one of the easiest scoring holes on this course. Was the easiest at the 2017 PGA Championship. John Rom way down there with that 330 yardd drive. It’ll be Fitzpatrick with a fairway medal in his hand. Joanna here for his second ball. a little above his feet here. I know he likes to choke down anyway, so he’s going to have to choke down a little bit. This would obviously encourage a little bit of a draw. And great view from behind Fitzpatrick looking to try and get it up in that collection area. That is just perfect there for Fitzpatrick. That’ll be one of the easiest pitches you’ll have on the property this week. Kentley has a little bit of dirt on the left side of the ball. And again, ball above the feet. There’s a slope off that bunker. So, a lot of rain early in the week. You know, almost over 4 in of rain fell through Wednesday. And when you get a little bit of mud on the ball, it usually goes in the opposite direction to that mud. So Joanna saying there’s mud on the right side. This ball should want to go left, but you can also see that ball above his feet here. So this one might be a wash. Chance for Canley to get some momentum going. The birdie at the 14th. The disastrous start. Three over through the first three holes. Good position here for his second shot at the par five. That was knuckling in the air a little bit. And that may have caught the first of the two traps that guard the right side here. That will be a long and challenging bunker shot for Canley upcoming. for Rom say Colin. I believe that’s the fourth bunker hit so far today for Kent Lake. 239 yds. Adam Hayes suggesting that this is a four iron here for Rahm after torching that T-shot. 320 yds. All in all, not a bad leave. He’ll have just a fraction less green to work with than that of Fitzpatrick. PGA Junior League is bringing friends, families, and communities together through golf, all with expert PGA and LPGA coaching. Find a team near you at [Music] pgajunleague.com. Now, you wouldn’t know that it rained 4 in earlier this week. as Colin was talking about. I think maybe one of the more entertaining videos I’ve seen in a while. Colin is the video of Hideki Matsyama earlier this week. I don’t know if you saw it. He was out there in the torrential downpour at his caddy with an umbrella and I mean it was raining cats and dogs. Hideki out there trying to putt through it like he was in Catty Shack. And I guess, you know, just preparing himself in case they ask the players to to play in conditions like that this week. So far so good with the sunny weather as Matt Fitzpatrick is tied for third on the leaderboard and is leading our feature group here through five [Music] holes. And right on Q, we’re going to take a look. What could you possibly be working on in this type of weather? Uh, that is completely a G up for sure. Absolutely pouring down with rain. You can see not a blade of grass is visible on that putting green. I think that one was set up just to for that purpose. Maybe, you know, he’s like, you know what, I need to be a little go viral here. Some social media influencing earlier in the week. And so, as we walk up to what will be the third shot for all three of our players here, Joanna, once again, Patrick Kentlay is in a bunker and looks like he’s got, you know, got that really high lip in front of him. and the aggressive downward slope to get to the green. This is going to be a tough one to judge, I imagine. Yes, the lip in front of him shouldn’t be an issue. It’s whether or not he wants to land this on the green. Uh the wind is a little into, so it should help stop it. I see him hitting something onto the green a few paces and getting it to check. Now, we’ve seen him hit a number of shots short range where spin has been an issue for him. In fact, too much spin. You could, if you wanted, fly this a little bit beyond the pin, try and pull the string on it. But I like the shot Joanna described. That just came out soft. A little too much sand. It’s going to come up short just to the left of that sprinkler head. You can see obviously if that sprinkler head is in his stance or intended line, he’ll be able to of course get relief from that, but not the shot he was looking for. And Ram, did he push it up far enough Joanna to create a decent angle at this front right pin location? It’s a little awkward here. He has to manage a left to right slope onto the green. That bunker does kind of peek out to his left. Little trickier than Fitzpatrick’s shot. That was Yeah, quite a bit of loft on that. And just rides the slope back to the right behind the pin. And we’ll have a great opportunity for a birdie. We’ve already seen it. We saw that beautiful pitch that he hit back at the 13th, the par three. Took it in low. Couple of nice checks forward and then put the handbrake on. And that one went upstairs a little bit more. Using the wind as a little bit of a back stop also too to get that one to sit soft here. Now left hand low for Fitzpatrick. Don’t come much easier than that one there for Fitzpatrick. From the front of the green, you’re going to see a whole host of players just chase it up to the short right to this pin location and make the easiest of birdies. Looks like Canley can get relief from the sprinkler. His right foot was sitting on it, so he’s placed the tea in the ground. So, free relief here. Closest point, one club. No closer to the hole. He’s probably going to decide what line he wants to take and drop it from there. Kind of the path of least resistance. Of course, also too, you’ll see him clean the ball there. Caddyy Joe Lavar. He’s had his hands full this morning. He’s suffering just a small case of fiberglass poisoning at the moment. A man amount of bunkers he’s been in or his man’s been in this starting out today. Of course, he cannot drop this on the green, can he, Joanna? Once that rolls outside the club length, good way for the folks at home to remember whether it was one club length or two. You buy two, you get one for free, they say. So, free relief, you get one club length. If it’s a penalty, of course, you get two club lengths. He was praying for that second drop to roll away. Now he has to place it really close to the green. I was I was with you. I was like, I don’t know if there’s enough slope there to push it outside of club length. So, it’s got it to sit there now. Got to use the rules to your advantage. I must admit I there’s been a number of rule changes that have been instigated and uh I’d still love to see the one with regards to divots in the middle of the fairway change. But while there’s a gray area over is it a divot or not a divot. I guess it won’t change. seems to be the rule that universally everybody wants changed and yet year in year out nothing is really addressed and play it where it lies I suppose. Yeah, that is it. And we saw Fitzpatrick go in and move his coin full mark to the left. So that means that can’t lay ball coming back going to move from left to right. He also changed his mark from the poker chip to a small mark. So it is going right over his line. Too much heat there. Yeah, great putt. Just as you guys said, a little too much steam. Maybe Fitzy just got sick and tired of lifting that manhole cover in and out of his pocket all all morning. Weighing him down. Mhm. Patrick will be disappointed hitting the fairway here at the 15th and then losing that one a little bit right maybe just a touch of mud combined with the uncertainty of that lie just found that green side or we’ll call it a greenside bunker short and right and made a little bit of a mess of it from there like I said I think that mud a little bit of dirt on the left side of the ball made that knuckle for that second shot Looks a little unlucky there. And he doesn’t seem convinced on the line here either, Joanna. Yeah, it’s tricky. Downhill, right to left. It’s all about matching pace and speed. Pace and line. Good adjustment there for Kentlay who cleans up the par again. The easiest hole on the course and Kentlay comes away with a disappointing par. Already this hole here has given up seven birdies in the early going. John Rom looking for number eight. Nice there. Four for John Ram. Super clean scorecard so far for him. Beautiful pitch back at the par three 13th to save par there. And another good up and down on 14. Then capitalizes with a birdie here at 15 before entering the green mile. Well done for Matthew Fitzpatrick and back-to- back bo birdies for him I should say and he joins the leaders at three underpar now one of four players at that score including Luke Donald, Ryan Fox and Tommy Fleetwood. We move, as Colin mentioned, to the Green Mile. And as players navigate their way around the course this week, danger 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. Here’s why. The PGA Championship in 2017, there were more double bogeies or worse on these three holes than there were birdies or better. And of those, 12 were triple or quadruple bogeies. That matches the number of triples or worse on the first 15 holes combined. A lot of danger comes from the water in play since the PGA Tour returned here in 2003. More than 1,800 golf balls have found the water in this stretch of holes. All that to say, in recent history, no finish in major golf has been more treacherous to navigate than this one. Not Wingfoot, Kiwa or Carni. When it comes down to it, no one is safe walking the green mile. And take a look at scores to par. 18th hole and the first hole, the two hardest holes on the course. 16 not far behind and then 17 coming up behind that. And you know, Colin, these three holes, not only will they be treacherous for anybody who’s trying to hold on to a lead here on Sunday, but in in terms of false confidence, you come away from holes 14 and 15 maybe feeling pretty good about yourself. Two really good birdie opportunities, and then you just run into this wall of three holes, and they can completely flip your round around. Yeah, and and I think too as we uh get back to that thought, let’s take a look at the 16th pole here. It is of course the par four lane 535 yds. It has been lengthened some 23 yds since 2017. That is to try and take care of that guys that bomb it over that bunker on the right side of the fairway there. And once they turn the corner, it’s to a green that slopes considerably actually from back right to front left. And the pin position today at 16. Can’t push it back much further. It’s 30 paces on and six off the left side here. Need a good T-shot in the fairway. And back on the tea is where we find John Ram. Thanks, should suit John Ram. A hole that moves from left to right. Every time he’s been faced with that shape of shot, he’s managed to hit the fairway. And this was just a moment ago. Matt Fitzpatrick, we mentioned he does not waste any time and missed to the left off the T following his second birdie in a row back at the 15th. Now Kentlay, I see points to the left on this one as well. Joanna, just down the left. Can’t tell if it is in the rough or not, but yeah, it is. It trickled down what looks to be a bank on the left side of the fairway. So, both Fitzpatrick and Kentlay out of position. John Rom lurking on the leaderboard. [Music] the next May. It’s never too early to get your tickets to the 108th PGA Championship in Pennsylvania, just outside of Philadelphia. To register for tickets, visit pga championship.com/register. Registration closes soon. [Music] John Rom stressfree walk down the 16th fairway. He is the only one of our three competitors to find the fairway here on the 13th. Both, excuse me, 16th. Both this Patrick and Kentlay missing to the left. And it’s tough to tell Colin what kind of angle, if any, the two of them will have on this second shot. Yeah, this little grove of trees just down the left hand side there. There is some thick rough down there. And both of those balls appear to have stayed short of that grove of trees. So, we’ll have to wait and see whether or not they’re going to have any issue. But it’s such a gorgeous hole. You know, play slightly downhill. You can see just that one lone bunker down the right hand side that gets a workout. Guys trying to take it down there. And I think the addition of the extra 29 yds here at the 10th has has made it a little bit better hole, stronger. And the green complex is no bargain either. It’s really difficult to try and get the ball close even from the fairway. So Joanna, what are you seeing down there? No tree trouble for either of them. Actually, Matthew Fitzpatrick has a little bit of a thicker lie. Big clump of grass right behind the golf ball. ball is above his feet, but again, no tree trouble for either of them. Can’t lay a little better lie. Uh, a little less grasp behind the golf ball, but they both got a little lucky. We They were only a few paces from the penalty area on the left side and also avoiding danger there. Yeah, it just creeps in a little bit down on that left side, that that penalty area. The challenge now, you can see he’s coming out of Joanna referenced as a pretty decent lie, but ball well above his feet. Now the front half of this green on the left side of this green slopes and tilts from right to left quite dramatically. Yeah. on the other. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But I also think you hit four iron four through it and seven irons. You just guarantee it later. If you’re playing that choppy cut shot, you have to do that. Yep. As I was saying that the whole front of this screen complex actually tilts right quite dramatically from right to left. So any that was coming in with too much right to left could actually end end up going on the green and in the penalty area. So you can hear Matt Fitzpatrick saying a choppy cut here. That’s exactly what he did. Trundling if that stops. That is an amazing golf shot. They got on the wrong side of that spine I was talking about. But all in all, a very, very good recovery shot there from Matt Fitzpatrick. And you can see him using the yardage device. Of course, allowed this this week at the PGA Championship. Iron in hand for Patrick Kentlay from 227 yards. Daunting second shot here to the screen. 10 a little left. Okay, soft bounce. He did very well there. You can see that grain change. See how it was darker up around the pin. Shiny down in that ball. Anything that was carrying too much steam there would have taken a big turn from right to left, but he got a nice soft bounce there as Joanna mentioned. Wellplaced T-shot for John Rom. Now 220 from the middle of the fairway. Why am I doing that? Not a great strike by John Rom. Sounded a little off to be honest. A similar shot to the one that he hit back at the 13th there, Eric, where he sort of hit that fan. You could hear him say, “Why am I hitting that shot to Caddyy Adam Hayes?” So, trying to make some slight pivots and adjustments. I was going to ask you this round. Yeah, I was going to ask you, Colin, if we could answer that question for Rahm, who obviously, you know, you’re sitting in the middle of the fairway. There’s no issue with the lie or the slope. And yet to your point, he’s had that a couple times in a row where it’s just not coming back towards the hole. Yeah, it’s interesting. You know, so many of these guys automatically go to the default of what’s wrong with my swing? What’s wrong with my swing? If we we sort of take the other hat and we say, okay, well, both of those were left pins that if you miss it left, you’re in a world of pain. Both at the, you know, the par 31 13th, also here at the 16th. So it subconsciously it might have been a little bit more of a I don’t feel 100% comfortable with executing that shot. And of course if you don’t feel completely committed to it, you’re not going to execute it. And that might have been just as simple as that. And and that’s always too as a as a coach, if I can put my coach hat on, you’ve got to get to the the root cause of why a shot was a shot. We can’t just simply go, “Oh, it was a bad swing.” Of course, that’s the easiest thing to say, but not often always the case. And Veron too, I’m I’m sure frustrating to watch his two playing partners and hit pretty solid shots in less than ideal spots. and to sit around wait watch them and you’re in position 1A and you’re the one who misses the green you know for a guy like John Rom who you know listen since moving to the live golf tour has really struggled in major competitions and you know we saw this a little bit with the Masters and Rory Mroy and so much pressure on Rory to complete the the career grand slam It seemed like a lot of exterior pressure, right K? I mean, that was a lot of the conversation going into the Masters. The past couple years for John Robin majors, it seems like a lot of internal pressure, a lot of, you know, I need to perform at these majors to to prove even though I’m not on the PGA Tour anymore and maybe not being watched by as many people on a week in and week out basis, I need to prove that I’m still one of the best golfers in the world because I only get four opportunities a year to do it. And it just seems like he has gotten frustrated in these majors when things have not gone his way, especially at PGA Championships. You know, coming off a missed cut last year, his first miscut at a major since 2019. You know, that’s actually a really good point that you make there about the internal pressure that, you know, maybe him putting on himself to perform, you know, just when you have four of these starts, you know, against the strongest field, you know, fields in golf that maybe that is just a little bit more uh pressure for him, but also too, you know, you know, there’s arguments for whether the competition on the lift tour is as strong as what it is on the PGA Tour throughout the year. So, uh, it’s definitely a great conversation as we watch Kantley now for a very lengthy birdie. Front right of the green all the way to the back left. Double breaker here. It’s going to go to the left and then travel to his right and then back left again. It’s all about pace. And he hasn’t had his best speed control so far on these lengthy ones. came up considerably short back at the 14th after driving the green. And he has some chicken left on that bone. Is it chicken if it’s short and it’s meat if it’s long? What do you What do you think? Either way, you’re not making friends with vegetarians, I tell you that much. There you go. A few kernels left on the cob. How’s that? There you go. Perfect. All right, we’re off and running. We’re We’re satisfying everybody’s needs this morning. I just want to know how many have signed up for your short game school at Marion there. Joanna, yes, they need that at Marian. Very difficult around the greens. What’s Rob looking at here, Joanna? It’s a little right to left, but honestly, it’s just a very slow putt. About halfway up, it’s a four to five degree slope, so it’s all about pace here. It’s going to straighten up at the end. You can see that little color change on your screen there, the shiny part for the first 25, 30 ft, and then it goes to that slightly darker tinge. It’s all about the grain change. And that thing is putting the brakes on. Great call, Joanna. It’s just so It’s so difficult when it’s so slow, but then you’re looking at water at the other side. It’s just tough visually to commit. Yeah, that’s the thing. The the beauty of these coarse architects, you know, of course, George Cobb was the original designer here at Quail Hollow. We had a little touch there from the king himself, Arnold Palmer. He touched on about four holes. Fitzpatrick short as well, but he is the closest to the hole. Looking at his par. Can’t Rom. Still some work to be done if they want to get out of the first hole of the green mile unscathed. Yeah, just a great stretch of of holes. Of course here 16th the little sweeping dog left from left to right. Then of course you’ve got the multiple teen grounds that you have there at the 17th the path three water in front of the green all down the the left side beyond it as well. And then of course 18. First things first though we’ve got three lengthy putts here for pass saves and Patrick Kentlay the second time this morning just readjusting the line on his ball. He did that a few holes back. Didn’t commit to it. Hit it a little too soft and we saw it wander off on the low side. He also had a putt where he stopped mid back stroke and walked off and re readjusted himself. He will not hit this putt until he feels completely settled. sneaks in there for the par [Applause] avoids the three putt, avoids another bogey, remains a two overpar for the championship. Yeah, of course, didn’t get off to the the greatest of starts. He’s finding sand everywhere. And you know, these last three holes here, starting back at the 13th of par three, he’s put together three good holes, lots of good golf swings back to back, and he’s just now starting to find a little bit of rhythm. Rob looking to do the same. [Music] [Music] positive stroke there from Ram. Once he gets settled and he puts those those hands on for the last time, gets that little forward press and then boom, that club comes back and that is a beautiful two-part par there for Ram after an errant second shot into the green. There’s a loud plane that flew over right when he was over that ball. So, nice commitment by John Ron there. That was a bit distracting. Fitzpatrick walks that one in. So, a trio of pars and the first stretch of the green mile. That Fitzpatrick, top of the leaderboard, three under quite a few players at three under par in the early going. Our morning wave as our group moves to the 17th. Captain Keegan three under through four. Luke Donald, Ryan Fox, Nicoia, Tommy Fleetwood, Steven Jagger, Rasmus Hoygard, all tied to top and a couple of major winners round out the first page of the leaderboard. Scotty Sheffller, world number one. And John Rum in our group. Alex Noran, the Swede. Alex Smallley. How about that? He gets into this field, Colin, because Zah Figala withdrew yesterday. And now Smallley making the most of it. Two under par in his opening nine. Good for him. Yeah, it’s great. You get an opportunity like that, you’ve got to pounce on it. Garrick Higgo winner on the tour a couple weeks ago come from behind victory over Joel Damon in Bermuda. And Rory Mroy who has won at Quail Hollow four times in his career even through five. And we take a look at the par 317th Colin. 31 double bogeies or worse in 2017. Yeah. And that is because of that sea of blue water there. Look at this. It’s almost a what we would class as a semi island green. Multiple teeing boxes. So you’re going to see this golf hole here played at varying yardages today. 227 yds. And a lot of that is due to the fact that this pin is pushed all the way back in the back left portion of the green. Previous green was on 30 and six. This one here 30 and seven. Now again, there’s a little spine that runs through this green sort of north south. Anything that is left of that spine, it’ll get pushed down towards the blue penalty area. Anything that is on the right side of that spine will end up down in that collection area. Also too, the middle of the green sort of tilts and pushes from back to front and then from front to back in that midsection. So very challenging green complex for a hole of this length. And we go all the way back to the tea and we find our man Matt Patrick ready to pull the trigger. Joanna, it looks like we got quite a big gallery here on the 17th. Great gallery. Grand stands are full. Everyone’s having a fun time. He was staring that one down. I think he liked it in the air just a little short. And we’ve seen that a bit today. Wild hollow club got some challenging green complexes, different shells, different pockets, runoffs. Same thing. Little drop. A pretty good shot there for Matt. [Music] appears to be trying to sweep something in a little bit from right to left. Maybe started at the camera tower. And you can hear him begging on the tea for it to sit. You’ll see so many players get this about two more yards than what John M bit and they’ll end up in that penalty area. But that one all in all a good shot. I mean I think it’s in between. I think this is probably the right shot. Okay. Yeah. Little flighted with decent draw. Caddyy Joe Lar in there for just a brief conversation. He is set up well right at this green. Joanna trying to sweep something in. Yes. Wind looks like it’s off the right. It was swirling a little bit. That is a great shot. Big first hop. Perfect. That is about as good as you could do here at 17. That’ll leave a very very makeable putt back up the hill for Kentlay. The scoring hasn’t necessarily come around for Kentlay, but it definitely seems like he has found his confidence. Great shot here on the 17th. Incredible. Unbelievable. You ought to kiss that butter, lady. It’s a great one. He knew it. Absolutely gone wild. [Music] [Applause] A great atmosphere here at Quail Hollow Club. And it seems like the patrons have really flocked in over the last 45 minutes or so. See large galleries following a lot of different groups. And there’s some big names out on the golf course right now, including all three in our featured group. Patrick Kentlay, John Rom, and Matthew Fitzpatrick here at the par 317th. I’m Eric Rothman alongside Colin Swatton and Joanna Co. both Matthew Fitzpatrick and John Rom. A very nice start to their opening round. Fitzpatrick, one of a handful of guys at three underpar and can’t lay, you know, his three over after the first three holes, has steadied the ship quite a bit and a birdie and is now in a great position here on the 17th. You know, really Colin, anything you can do to steal a shot in the green mile, you know, listen, even through these three holes is pretty good, but if you can somehow steal a shot like Patrick Kentley was in a decent position here for Birdie, you are coming away on Cloud9. Yeah, he’s really found some form. He referenced that poor start that he got off to, but he’s made really a stretch of holes there, sort of 13, 14, and 15, where he’s put some good swings together and and now another good swing here at 17 and a legitimate chance at birdie. But um you know, Fitzpatrick is going to be the the first to play. He came up just a little short of that sort of shelf that sort of runs sort of north, south, and east, west through this green here, creating sort of four quadrants for pin locations. And now he’s going to have to putt it up and over that little ridge towards this pin location. This should still have a little bit of movement in it as well, Joanna. Absolutely. Especially the last third of the putt breaking towards the water. Somehow two of the three players in our group have uphill putts. A little too much respect. Short. Yeah, just that is a notoriously fast putt that you have on the property there. And as Joanna mentioned too, a lot of movement from right to left, especially late. You’ll see as these greens start to dry out throughout the day here, that last sort of three or four feet of putt, you might see it move, you know, another foot in either direction depending on where the slopes from. But as you said, couple of players with good uphill looks here. And the first to go is John Ram. This is a green light opportunity. He’s just on the fringe, but uphill right to left exactly what you want. Oh, John Rob with quite a bit of pace. just lips off the right edge. That birdie would have moved him a top the leaderboard instead. He’ll try to clean up the par. It’s just been a good solid start really for John Ram since the the gun went off this morning. We take one more look at it. Look at this one here. Grab that sort of right top edge and just spin out. Great effort, too. Talking of great efforts, it was a great effort to get this one a little bit beyond the hole here for Catlay. And a very good look here, Joanna. It’s a great look because it’s uphill, but big swinger left to right. All depends on how much pace he wants to give into this putt. But, um, Rams is a little bit more green light. He’s only hauled 24 ft of putt so far. Lined up way out to the left. Oh, what an effort. Oh, that’s about as good as you can do there. Oh my goodness. I thought it was going to go in the back door there for a second. Wow. Got to tell you, Patrick Kentlay, the way he has played the last five holes, you would think he is right up top the leaderboard. You know, just those first three holes set him back, but he has really played some solid golf, given himself excellent birdie opportunities. on really especially this hole, one of the toughest holes on the course. Yeah, it’s interesting. You know, you go back and you look at the two scorecards there of, you know, this man here, Matthew Fitzpatrick and and also two Patrick Can like, you know, Matt Matt Fitzpatrick hit just about every tree on the property in his first three or four holes, you know, and now is at three under par, you know, co-leader and uh arguably just got a couple of good breaks and capitalized on him. sneaks that one in for a good two putt par. And again, for how much Fitzpatrick has struggled with the flat stick, 143rd strokes gain putting on PGA Tour this season. He has very comfortable putting in the opening nine today. Yeah, he has hauled 61 ft of putts through his first eight holes and you know including that bomb he made at the the the first hole his 10th of well the 10th hole his first of the day which just inside 37 ft with Ram just a little left for his part easy does it for John Rom problem. Head to the 18th hole. The hardest hole on this golf course at the 2017 PGA Championship was a cumulative 190 overpar. Colin, what makes it so difficult? Well, it’s it’s a difficult fairway to hit in itself. It sits the fairway sits at about a 45 degree angle to the the players on the T- box. The lone bunker up the right hand side, but it’s also too heavily wooded up that right side. And you can see that creek, it meanders the entire length of this hole starts from beyond the green, wanders all the way down to in front of the T- box. So, a challenging T-OT into this uh into this hole and then a very difficult second shot into this hole. Pin location, it’ll be all over this green. But today, the first pin location here on Thursday up in the back right hand portion. Little shelf you can see dissects this green in two from east west. Get a little frisky. You can use that bank just to the right hand side of the pin location. Try and work it in there. And of course a little bonus coverage of the group ahead Jason day Phil Nicholson. Yeah trio group Colin you know a lot has been made about Jason’s you know fashion over the last couple of years with his sponsorship with Malburn. How how often are you and him talking about the clothes he wears at some of these tournaments? I’ll put it this way. He offered I haven’t accepted yet, but you know what? They they uh they make a really good product. I got got the chance to spend some time with uh Steven Malbot. This one dangerously left. Got some Marshall. Might actually have hung up on the hill. In fact, it has. Yeah, that’s a lucky break there for Fitzpatrick. Got to tell you Joanna, if you’re not ready to go, Mat Matthew Fitzpatrick is not waiting around for anybody. Not at all. I couldn’t see it because he is that fast. And that’ll be John Rom with the driver in hand. Joanna, this should suit him. Hit something that bleeds down the left and ends up in the middle of the fairway away from trouble. That’s starting a little too far left. Needs to cut more. Just found a little cutout. That’s perfect, right? Well, it is now, John, but had Joanna’s attention for a long time. John now Can stepping to the plate. Thought himself a little bit off the tea so far through the day. Just down the right side. Straight ball. Sure. Just to the left of that fairway bunker. And another confident swing for Patrick Kentlay. Just trying to claw his way back after going three over through his opening three holes. has settled down nicely as our players walk down the par 418th. [Music] Michael Cartrude is headed to the PGA Championship means everything. I have two kids, family. To be able to qualify for a major championship, it’s an honor and uh it’s also something I’ve worked for my whole life. Four years ago, we’re trying to make it on the Latin tour. Now, fast forward and I’m a class A PJ professional and lead assistant at the Bears Club and super proud of where I’m at and to qualify for a major is it’s great. My wife is so supportive of what I do and my dreams and my goals. I’m so thankful for her constant effort to push me and to make me better and and support me through everything. It’s [Music] great. and the Corbridge Financial team of 20 PGF America golf professionals who have qualified to play in the PGA Championship this year. And congratulations to all of them for the accomplishment. And that is just one of the coolest things about the PGA Championship, Colin, every year is being able to highlight some of these stories and see these guys compete. you know, a lot of them, like you saw there with with Michael talking about, hey, you know, I tried to make it. I was on the Latin Tour for a little while and now a PGA professional and an opportunity to kind of keep those competitive juices going and an opportunity to play on the biggest stage in golf. Yeah. So many of these guys, all fine players in their own right, choose a a path, a journey to become a PGA professional, and they go into what is a a very rigorous training process, learn how the operations of the business work. You can see they were doing some grip repairing, things like that. And they really do do a wonderful job servicing the members of all these clubs. And we’ve got a an analyst on our team here, Colin, today who’s still swinging it competitively every once in a while as well. Joanna, who won the women’s Philly PGA Professional Championship last year, made the women’s PGA Cup team. So, tip of the cap to you, Joanna. Well, thank you. I will be playing in the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship in June at PJ Frisco. Cannot wait to watch. There just so many wonderful playing opportunities with the PJ of America in our own sections, lots of national opportunities and again it’s a dream come true for these guys to tee it up against the best players in the world and same for the women’s side. So it is an amazing association that does a lot for the game of golf. It’s Patrick at the ball well below his feet here Joanna on the ridge. Yeah, you see he’s lowering his center of gravity. Got to stay in the shots for clean contact. It’s leaking a little right. Typical off a lie like that. Holy Nol not a bad result. Matt finding that bunk up. It’ll be a little bit downhill. Should be manageable for a guy of his abilities around a green. in this hole in 2017. The second largest scoring difference when missing the fairway. A half a stroke difference on average if you miss the first cut. Here’s Kentlay in the fairway down the right side. No tree trouble for him. Wind off the left. It’s starting at the pin, cutting just away from it. Oh my goodness. It didn’t sound like it. And that that’s that’s a good 20 yards too long. Well, you can’t blame the yardage book this week, Colin. They’ve got the They’ve got the distance zappers. They can know exactly where the pin is. Yeah, that is Boy, that is going to be a difficult up and down from the back of the green. All downhill now. Ram after a gorgeous, gorgeous T-shot challenging that left side. Just 163 all that remains. [Music] What’s left of it cutting towards it. John Rob wonderful approach here and a chance for birdie at the 18th. Getting rewarded, Colin, for challenging that creek that runs down the left side and making the most of a good break. He’s staying on that fairway and now in position here with the birdie get himself in a tie for the lead. Looks like we’ve got 2 4 6 8 10 players at three under par right now. Yeah, a little softer conditions. Obviously quite a deal of rain came through early in the the week. Monday was pretty much a complete wash out. They say almost 4 in of rain fell on the property. So they’ve made the greens just a little more receptive. They made the fairways just a little bit more receptive as well. And you put the best players in the world on a course that with not a lot of wind and softer conditions and they’re going to take advantage of it albeit in a major championship, the PGA Championship. Colin, how much does it affect a player if a practice day gets washed out and you’re not able to get out on the course? Yeah, I think I think it it does create a little bit of sort of I I I haven’t done what I normally would set out to do in a in a a typical practice week or preparation for a major. So, a lot of guys their hand was forced a little bit obviously playing the week before. You know, they travel Sunday night, they get in Monday, it’s a wash, then they’ve really only got two days to prep for it. But a lot of players have played this venue in previous years to a regular PGA Tour event. And Kentlay with a really bad miss considering where his T-shot ended up. Joanna, what’s he dealing with behind the green now? I tried to get close to the ball. I couldn’t even see the ball. So, the only good thing is the wind’s a little into, but it is downhill. The ball’s sitting down. This is going to take something special. Flop shite, flop shot type of execution here. Remember folks, we saw in the fly over there, there is that little shelf that sort of cuts this green into sort of east west. So again, if he hits this one with a little bit too much heat, this could end up down in the middle front third of the green. Hang on. There’s that shelf, Colin. And there it goes. That’s just the spot on the yardage book. You put a big red X. Can’t be there. I’m sort of scratching my head a little bit. you know, not a lot of wind. What wind is there is probably a little bit down and off the left. And that was a big miscue from the from the fairway to find that position. And now Fitzpatrick from the sand on the right side. He’s just grinding today. Got to do it in first round of a major. Guys, what do we think if Matt Fitzpatrick is out playing by himself? Is he finishing 18 holes in like 2 hours and 20 minutes? He He is He’s just ready to hit. Yeah, just just run over and let him know as they’re walking off the screen. Joanna, he can’t play any faster than the group in front playing through. Here we go. Yeah, exactly. So many of these golfers have a rhythm or a cadence that they play to and last thing you want to do is to to get out of your rhythm. Matt known for being one of the the faster players. Collet’s ball trailed out after hitting that shelf and that ridge. This is for Par coming up and he was in dead center from the fairway and now he’s going to do well to make a bogey. Huge miscalculation here on the 18th. Yeah, real head scratcher there. You know, we had that from just inside 50 ft back at the 12th. managed to two putt that within the flat the shadow of the flag stick there but still Patrick Kentlay just cannot be happy with how this hole has turned out. just when it seemed like he was starting to feel good, too. That’s a great point. He just sort of really started to find his stride. You talk about that stretch of five holes where he was putting swing, good swing after good swing and and it looked like he made a decent pass at it, but it was just, you know, 15 yds too long as we watch John Ram now coming through a very very solid opening eight holes. And yet another good look here for Birdie at the 18th. Already made 60 ft of putts so far, including a 33-footer back on the 11th. Should move ever so slightly to his right. And for sure the lead. Boy, he is just burning those edges of those holes. I say too, Colin. That’s about as good as you would hope to play this green mile. You know, give yourself, you know, couple good looks at birdie. I know they didn’t fall for Rom, but got to give you some confidence making the turn with how well he played 16, 17, and 18. I would agree it’s it’s been a very very solid round of golf as we’ve got our first worm camp of course from Dan Parrot. He’s joined the team here for Matt Fitzpatrick after that longtime companionship between him and Billy Foster came to an end. What’s your read on it, Joanna? It’s probably inside right with a little bit of pace. Caddy was practically laying on the green trying to get a sense for this one, but should be inside right to remain at top the leaderboard at three under. Oh, that was a pull all the way. Started left. First bogey of the day for Matt Fitzpatrick. [Applause] Disappointing close to his opening nine. Three birdies and a bogey. 34 in for Fitzpatrick. And a disappointing bogey there for Kentlay. The errant approach and a lot of squares on that scorecard. Three over par for Kent Lay. Still searching for the first major of his career. Second nine for our featured group when we return. [Music] Well, welcome back and let’s take a look at Matt Fitzpatrick and highlights from earlier today. This is at the 10th long range putt from just inside 37 ft. He knocks that one down and here at the driveable par 414th had struggled with the driver for most of the morning but not here at the 14th. gets a very nice soft bounce and that would result in a two-part birdie for him. And then this is at 15. Just a very basic little chip from the front of the green and sets up yet another birdie to get him into a position as co-leader. But this is back at 18 after finding the bunker on the right side. A little pull there and he spends one at 18 to fall back to two underpar and to fall out of that bunch leaderboard at three underpar. It did a good job. Hit six of nine greens on the front nine. Excuse me, his front nine. And the back nine on this course for Matthew Fitzpatrick, Keegan Bradley, Luke Donald, Ryan Fox, David Pig, Alex Noran, and Alex Smallley. All at three under as welcome you back as ESPN Plus and the PGA of America proudly present the 2025 PGA Championship as we continue to bring you first round featured group coverage live from Quail Hollow Club here in Charlotte, North Carolina. I’m Eric Rothman alongside Colin Swatton and Joanna Co is walking with our featured group today as we move to hole number one on the course, the 10th hole for our players here today. This par4 first, the second hardest hole back in the 2017 PGA Championship. And it’s John Rob Joanna. [Applause] Every time John Ram has a hole that’s moving in that left right direction, he is swinging with a lot of confidence and found the fairway yet again here at his 10th of the day. The first has been shortened some 19 yds since back in 2017 for the PGA Championship. Dumpling Matt Fitzpatrick next to play. [Applause] And the early T pickup is always a good sign. And that’s a nice stout poke too from Matthew. Cozying up to John Rob’s ball. See if Kent Lake can just forget about the opening nine. A restart here. [Applause] Looks like three good T- shots for our group. Yeah, you could throw a blanket over those three. And the Charlotte Triangle of golf balls in the fairway here at the first. Our players make the turn. And a beautiful day at Quail Hollow Club. [Music] It’s a long one. It’s a long It’s definitely It’s definitely a hard one. You know, when you tee it up on that, first of all, you have to hit a perfect drive. You’re going to make bokei. Yeah. Uh it’s intimidating. you, you know, you’ve got those three big bunkers that are looking at you from the fairway, but if you miss that T- shot, then obviously it turn, you know, you’re just trying to scramble for a four. The green is pretty narrow, which makes it challenging. It kind of slopes right to left, so you got to hit two really quality shots to go to look for birdie there. It’s just a relentless golf course, and it starts with the first hole. Well, you wouldn’t know how hard this hole has played given those three T- shots. Beautifully done from Rahm Fitzpatrick in Canlay. But the issue really if you go back to 2017, Colin was not necessarily getting off the tea. It was hitting the green. Only 33% of players had greens in regulations in seven uh 2017. So, the third hardest green to hit at a major opening hole over the last 20 years. So, get off the tea just fine. It’s more the second shot that can give you trouble. Yeah, only two birdies have been registered here at the at the first hole for these guys, our featured group. That’s the 10th of the day. playing to a stroke average or scoring average of three sorry 4.37 already ranked as the fourth most difficult so far through today 16th of course wearing that tag at the moment as the most difficult hole on the course. I love what Fazio did too. I remember the first time I came to the Quail Hollow Club. This actually used to be a different stretch of holes. It was a par four and a par three. Fazio combined the former first and second holes. Changed from a 418 yd to a 500 plus hole. As you heard John Rahm describe, it’s a long one. I think it’s a great opening hole now. Definitely worthy of a championship such as the PGA. A lot of deliberation here for Matt Fitzpatrick. Joanna. Yeah, crunch of numbers. You know, it’s downhill shot. Little downhill lie. Pins back. Needs to land it just short. Let it trundle up that hill. Lot of calculating. [Music] I think I’m preferring a stronger one. I think the five’s got potential there on the one to shoot. Yeah, you can finish on that one. Yeah, I guess he’s taking all day. beauty boomerang in there for Matt Fitzpatrick. Wonderful shot. He could not have landed that any better. He actually pitched it straight into the UPS slope just short of the green you heard Joanna describing and that’s what sort of killed that speed. Little bit of a sort of a false edge to the back of the screen the back left. Now all three players have very similar shots. It’s going to come out a little low and hoping to do exactly what Matthew Fitzpatrick just did. This one’s coming out a little higher. Probably going to land a little softer. Sure. Goodness gracious. Can’t wants to go to the beach today. Another missed green. Another fairway hit and backto-back holes. Colin, where Patrick Kentley is sitting in the middle of the fairway and doesn’t even come close to hitting the green. And these greens, they really need to be hit with the correct shape of the shot. With this green complex that tilts from right to left, anything coming in there with too much draw bias on it will be repelled off the green as we just saw. Now Ram, slightly different angle for him now hitting a little bit more up the the green. Definitely better angle with wind off the right as well. That’s starting left. Hang on. Both of those look like they’ve got a relatively clean lie. We’ll have a bit of green to work with. And of course, I’ll be pitching those two bunker shots back up into the the slope a little bit, back into the grain, make it somewhat more manageable. It’s beautiful golf course, great crowds. We’ve seen that really from the get- go this morning. Also seeing Colin why it’s so difficult to hit this green. You mentioned it. It’s not about where you’re positioned. It seems like after your first shot, it’s, you know, what kind of shot making, shot selection are you in tune with? And I have to imagine that when you have situations like Kantlay, who has now missed a couple of good opportunities from the fairway, maybe starts leaning on Joe Lava a little bit more and saying, you know what, I clearly whatever I’m seeing here or whatever I’m doing is is not working. Is there something that Joe Lava can do to kind of help out some of these angles or some of these, you know, shot shapes that that Canlay’s taking or is it pretty much just Kentley’s got to figure it out on his own? I think it’s a little combo effort. I think, you know, Patrick will be, you know, digging to the vault right now, sort of saying, okay, what are my tendencies? What are the shape shots I’m hitting? You know, am I hitting and missing it in the face? and he’ll be drawing on all of those sorts of things there to sort of go over that catalog of information that he’s built up over the time with Jamie Mulligan, of course, his longtime swing coach. But then also too, Joe Lava has to step in at these points and start to reiterate exactly what you mentioned, which is okay, what’s our finish line? What’s our finish target? you know, really trying to help, you know, Patrick Klay get really, really focused on his not only his intention, but the type of shot that he wants to hit and where he wants it to finish because you cannot keep missing these greens around the Quail Hollow Club and expect to continue to just scramble and be around for the weekend. Both players have nice lies in the bunker at the hole. We’ll move a little left. Just pretty uh shortsided here. Anytime you get yourself shortsided around this golf course, it’s always going to be a challenge. And even for short game prowess, John Ram mentions all the time the creativity of Sevriano Ballister around the greens. Now Kantlay, that thing is laid way open. Joanna, you have to I think this is a little bit more of the difficult shot. Oh, lucky here. Almost jot it. That was helpful. That would probably been outside of Rahm’s ball. all look to be pretty similar distances. Can’t lay the closest there on the left side. Looks like it’s Patrick and Rom have determined that Rom will putt first. Romans coming off an opening nine without a bogey. First time in nine career starts at a PGA championship. Bogey free through his opening nine holes. This will be quick downhill left to right. Looks shiny from my side of the green. some down green. He’s made a number of these pass saves to remain in red figures, but this one one of the longer ones First bogey of the day for John Rob. And boy, if you’re going to start on the second nine like this group did, you have to play the four hardest holes on this course in a row. 16, 17, 18, and one. And Rahm picks up the bogey there. And just to reiterate guys how hard this stretch is. Both Rory Mroy and Scotty Sheffller double bogeied the 16th hole just a few moments ago. Sheffller eagled the 15th. Rory Birdied the 15th. Both followed those up with double bogey. So such a tough stretch of holes as Fitzpatrick now trying to avoid the same fate. Uphill opportunity here. Tricky little read though. Slope comes off the bunker, but then overall this green will be left to right from his left. So, this might be a little bit of a straighter putt than uh most people think. Yeah, my apologies. This one for birdie after that very nice approach shot. It’s Patrick who close the front nine, his front nine with a disappointing bogey comes to the first hole and comes away with a birdie. Not too many of those here at hole number one today. Yeah, that is a great bounceback stat right there. Birdie following a bogey, especially on a very difficult hole such as the first here. Feel like this is a very important putt for Canle downhill. Might move a touch left but not a lot. You know, you hear these players, they talk about momentum all the time. obviously got off to that difficult start with bogeies at 11, the double at 12, then really strung together, you know, a series of five or six holes where he actually played nicely and that little hiccup at 18 and now challenged here again at one Yeah, that’s a tough one with slope off the bunker. Almost moved right. It certainly looked like that from our vantage point. It almost looked like he had it started as an inside right edge putt. Little shake of the head says that was definitely a misread. And he’ll spend one here at the first slide to four over par. And he has his work ahead of him. No doubt about that. A good little pin by Mr. Carrie Hag. Car’s had a few of them today by the looks of it. Move to the par for second hole. 454 yd dog leg left. Yeah, you need a really good T-shot here. It’s really difficult to hold to some guys just can’t quite fit the driver in. go back for three-wood, but you’ve got to be careful not to overcook it or turn it too much from right to left, those trees down the left side really do creep in. And then, boy oh boy, as you then play an uphill second shot into this green, this green, as so many of them are here at Quail Hollow, have a lot of character. Anything right of this pin location will get rejected down off that false side, and it’ll run all the way down into probably that first cut or if not into the rough there on the right side. So, difficult T-shot. You can see there looking back from the fairway back towards the T- box. It does slope a lot from the players left to right. And then I said as you saw a challenging second shot in here. The difficulty is to find the fairway. Matthew Fitzpatrick Joanna. He’s coming off what was just the third birdie of the day at the first hole. It’s been scrappy but effective. Starting down the middle. Slight fade with the soft fairway. Should be fine. That creeping. Pretty disgusted with that swing. He did not like it one bit. Perhaps he was trying to hit a draw. I think that was the case. We saw that left foot come up and off the ground. Real power move. trying to turn it from right to left and the old double cross. Difficult T-shot here for Ra set up well left. Joanna starting it over the trees. Left right in the middle of them. As long as it covers, it’s great line. Oh, look at that one. Perfect. Covered it. Yeah. Can’t just trying to get something going. He’s got the double cross miss. He’s been missing him right and left. [Music] Starting just right of Rom’s line, actually drawing. Oh, he outd drives John Rom as he finds the fairway as well here at the second. Can’t lay and Rom in a good position here at the second hole. Matthew Fitzpatrick deep in the rough. [Music] lock in your PGA Championship winner at ESPN Bet Sports Book right now. New customers can get $100 in bonus bets when you make your first $10 wager. Download the ESPN Bet app and sign up with the promo code birdie to get started today and take a look at the live odds brought to you by ESPN Bet Sports Book. John Rom 11 to one right now. Patrick Kent lay a long shot and Matt Fitzpatrick pretty good value for a guy who’s just one shot off the lead. 60-1 for Matt Fitzpatrick. And all of those odds will continue to change throughout the day and throughout the week. [Music] Colin two of our three competitors with nice shots off the tea here at the par 4 second and Fitzpatrick the double cross over there on the right. You see Canley and Rob nearing 320 yds the center of the fairway. Yeah, two beautiful drives there from Canlay and Rahm taking the aggressive line up and over the trees on the left hand side. That’s Fitzpatrick. similar T- shots that he hit back at 11 and sorry 10 and 11 both missing well right did we get a look at the lie there Joanna I did sitting down juicy lie over there he doesn’t really have tree trouble he needs to just keep it a little down the left side uh so I think he’s going to be going towards the left side of the green but he can manage this Oh wow. Did really well to stay in that first cut of grass, but boy oh boy did he have to gouge that out. He went way downstairs with a lot of speed. Plenty of green to work with. Try and save his par here. Swing a pickaxe there. That’s exactly what it looked like. You’re right. Get that one out of there. Too much spin. Pushing the right of it or no? Just a touch. Yeah. Give it a little bit of room. That’s code for stay left of this pin, please, John. Oh, great look there. Elevated second shot here up to that pin location. Anything that’s too far right, too much spin will get rejected off the green. This man can generate a lot of spin, Joanna. He sure can. This is a safe play to the left. Oh, getting better by the second. Hold on now. Ah, the fans, they love the spin. They love the the fizz. Brahm trying to bounce back after his first bogey of the day at the first hole. He just seems really confident here in his opening route. He does. Uh Canlay his pitch marks about a yard away. He was inspecting this ball. I couldn’t see any mud on it, but should be clear. [Music] Two fine shots there from Rahm and Canlay. That is the benefit of finding the fairway here at the second. Of course, their 11th hole of the day. These guys starting on the 10th T this morning. And Colin, is this an opportunity now here starting at the second hole where these guys can go, “All right, take a deep breath. I just got through the four hardest holes on the course. Now I can kind of turn my attention to, you know, for Kentlay, steady the ship, maybe gain a stroke or two.” And for Rahm and Fitzpatrick saying, “All right, you know, I got through the hardest stretch. You know, maybe one hole I’d like to have back, but other than that, I’m in really good position here to make a run in the final seven, eight holes.” Yeah, I think they’ve definitely got through the meat and potatoes of the golf course and you know as they start now this stretch, you know, uh the third hole today playing as the fifth most difficult. It’s a very difficult fairway to find there, but if you can manage to get through that that hole there, really they’re all relatively easy holes all the way through and of course until the ninth hole which has been lengthened uh since 2017 in the PGA Championships then. So these guys have an opportunity now to try and put something up on the board. I think for these guys, I think for Ram Fitzpatrick especially, they’ll have a number I would say probably in the back of their mind of four or five and uh their job now is to set set amongst trying to achieve that. Well, Rahm is in a good position here to get one back again after that birdie at the first. And he is we’ll wait his turn for Matthew Fitzpatrick who again was in bit of trouble off the tee and now short of the green for his third shot. And Joanna, the ball well below the green here. What’s Matt Fitzpatrick dealing with? He’s in the first cut of rough. It’s going to be slow uphill left to right. If he misses right at all that will fall off the face of the planet. So he needs to go towards the shadow of the flag left. But this is all about distance here because it is slow. It’s a slow pitch uphill. And you can see that all too familiar left hand low pitching technique. Andre Harrington did that also for a little while. VJ Singh also really keeps that left wrist in a flex position. That was really well done. Go in. Getting even better by the second. That’ll be an easy tap in par for Matt Fitzpatrick Colin. Yeah, you give these guys the best players in the world. A fairly simple pit shot from out of the first cut of rough and they’re going to do that more often than not. And he just adds to that tally. Two of three in scrambling. So far today, make that three of four for Pitpatrick. As Joanna said, it hasn’t been the prettiest of rounds, but the scorecard has no comments column. Look at that. Three under. I like that. Has no comments column. Plenty of circles on that one. Can’t desperately like a circle here after a string of squares. Slow putt. Going to move a little bit to his right. Every time he’s been challenged with those slower putts, we’ve seen the ball die and go across the hole. Miss on the low side. See if he can hit this one with a little more authority. Well, he hit it with authority, but that was well left of the hole there. Gentley, who’s still searching for his first major call and has really gotten off to some poor starts over the past few years. He’s plus four today. Back to the 2022 PGA Championship. He was six overpar after the first round. The 2021 Masters 7 overpar. So, you know, tough to get into contention in a major when you are shooting yourself in the foot in the opening round. It’s Rob now a birdie opportunity and he would have learned a lot from Patrick Canle just a moment ago who you you could say misread that a little bit. Played a little too far outside left. Let’s see if he can make the pivot and adjustment here and hit it with just a little less break. Good bounce back hole for John Rob. Erases the bogey at one and moves back to two under par for the championship. out of the third hole. Colin, you mentioned it. Really the first, the third, and the ninth. The three hardest holes on this opening nine, the second nine for our players here today. This is the number one handicap for members here at Quail Hollow. This par four third hole. Challenging with 488 yards of length. Yeah, the T-shot there is very narrow. There’s an oak tree that sits on the left side of it. If you get anything left off the tea, you get blocked by that and that bunker down the right hand side as you saw in that fly over. You get in that, you can barely get it to the front of the green. And there is so much character going on in this green. The pin location all the way in the back left today. But as they say, sometimes the straighter the hole, the more difficult it is to hit the the fairway. And that’s because you don’t have anything to move it off or or around or in the case of back there at the second hole over. And uh some people can’t point this straight. Just three birdies as you mentioned. Stroke average already. Almost a half a shot over par. That will continue to tick over throughout the day. [Music] set up a little right by us here. Looking to maybe draw something off that bunker. Well, it’s starting at the bunker and not drawing. This is right at the bunker. That got a kick out towards the pine straw and the trees, the big tall pines to guard the right side. to wait until it Joanna gets up there to see if we’ve got any tree trouble there for John Ram. And players at the 2017 PGA Championship hit this fairway just 56% of the time. It was the fourth hardest fairway to hit in that championship. It’s a great one right down the middle. will fade right in the mayor’s office there for [Music] Fitzpatrick. There were only 35 birdies made against 147 bogeies or worse in this hole back in 2017 for the PGA Championship. It is a beast. get through here in four and you are gaining strokes on the field. That is for certain. Can’t starting left. Not fading enough for left. Let it hit trees and got someone pointing back in there. It’s a big tall pines and that big oak tree too that I mentioned in the fly over. That’ll have some issues there for Patrick Kentlay. [Music] Kentley again in trouble off the tee and the bad round getting worse for him. [Music] A shot of Charlotte, North Carolina. I imagine not a whole lot of work being done in downtown Charlotte today. A lot of the residents taking in this opening round of our major championship. John Rob 320 yards off the tee, but he is well right. Fitzpatrick down the middle and Patrick Kentlay once again has missed left and Colin. It has been an adventure for Patrick Kentlay off the tea today and his statistics will be forgettable to say the least after this round is over. you know, five out of 10 fairways hit, but I’ll be completely honest, it’s it’s felt a lot worse than that at times. Yeah, I think if you pulled me and you said, “How many fairways does Patrick Can hit today?” I would have said three, but uh he has really struggled off the tea and if you get out of position around here, it can be uh a world of pain. but also to, you know, he’s made a couple of mistakes really from the middle of the fairways as well that have resulted in bogeies today. So, he hasn’t had his best stuff both off the tea as well as with the iron game. And usually it’s his iron game that is sort of paramount. There’s a lot of good quality shots. No one has been a ball striker, but why he’s eyeing up this lie here, it could be a little bit more of a challenge than we think. Joanna, did you get a a peek at it at all? Can’t or wrong? We’re looking at Kentlay right now. So I get with his I think he was only 280 some yards off the tee which I would assume meaning he’s going to go first unless he was thinking about it too long and Rob’s ready to go. Yes. No, it’s just uh Rahm’s got an interesting shot. We can discuss that in a minute. But Kantlay has uh Can has 205 and the trees the tree right on top of him is not the issue. It’s the next tree. So, the ball is sitting down. It’s not a great lie. He needs to elevate this above the next tree in front of him. Um, but he’s probably going to go a little to the right. Be conservative at the TV tower. Huh? Never going to go. No, but I mean, can you get something that way there? That make more sense? Yeah, I could try. It’s probably a five iron. It brings that tree into play. Now, there’s that tree I was talking about, the fly over, the big oak tree that sits between Canlay and the pin location in the back left here at the Good. So, he hit a little mid trajectory one down the right side. That’s well done. He clearly couldn’t go over that tree. It’s about all he could do. That’s a good suggestion by Joe Macava there. Yeah. Yeah. Can’t you scoot something up there? Like, come on pro, fly that plane, you know, but he managed to get it up on that top shelf, which is which is great. It’s going to be a fast part, but that is a great recovery shot there for for Patrick. I love how stoic he is to, you know, his back’s against the wall, but you know, he has the game and the confidence in his in himself and the belief. Fitzpatrick in the fairway as Rob’s still figuring things out over on the right side. This is just left of it. Oh, left and long. It’s almost a little bit like the shot that we saw on number 18, the ninth of the day. Rahm’s moving quickly over here. He needs to hit a low hook out of the pine straw. This should be fun to watch. That was well done. Hit a couple leaves on the way, but that’s all you could do. Hanging on on the edge of that bunker. Did it Did it go in? It did not. It actually stayed out. Let’s take a look at exactly what Joanna was referencing here. Plays it out super low, hooking it. Look how much rough it had to cover. And now you watch the end of this one. This shot here, Eric. It thinks it’s in the bunker and then it says no. Hang on a second. Did it go in? Did it go in or stay out? Joanna, I’m not up there yet. I don’t see a ball, though. I call it I think you were I I think you were right that it stayed out. There was that clump of sand outside of the bunker that kind of almost camouflaged the ball. So, it was tough to see if it stayed in or not, or it stayed out or not, I should say. And if it’s if it’s if it’s out, how does he play it? He’s going to be one foot in, one foot out and gripping on the steel like this is going to be some kind of shot. If if that is the case, you can see Joanna’s little wheels there. Look at him. She’s marching herself up the fairway to get a a look at this lie. Nice work, too, Joanna. This is your first first time on the ground, is it not? First time ever. It’s been so much fun. Now, you’ve been doing a great job being our eyes and ears on the ground. So, he is in the bunker. Okay. That would have been more difficult if that stayed out, but I see what you’re talking about. There’s some footprints right behind the bunker here, but he has a good lie. Well, that is good news for John Ram. I don’t think he could have ran up there any quicker cuz he would know if that was out of the bunker that he would almost have no shot at all. But now with just a lengthy long bunker shot makes it somewhat more easier and achievable. And it seems like I would assume between Rob and Fitzpatrick that Fitzpatrick’s got the tougher of the two shots here. Joanna with missing the green long and left. Obviously where he was in the middle of the fairway has got to be perturbed that he has found himself in this position. That’s exactly right. It reminds me of Canley’s miss on 18, just on the opposite side. Now downhill, it’s not sitting as poorly as Canley’s shot on 18, but still he’s going to have to hit something really high and soft. Wow, nice big deep breath there from John Ram just to try and settle himself in a little bit. Last time he was in the bunker was back at the first. flew it way too far past. Resulted in a bogey and he uh is not settled. Incredibly humid today, is it not? It is hot and you know it’s even hotter in the bunker. So, got to get that sweat out of his face. He’s not going to be happy with that one. Yeah, he just never looks settled. He’s going to have a a very lengthy putt if he’s to avoid dropping another one. Two and three holes. Does Fitzpatrick hit flop shots cross-handed? Oh, he does. Now, this is going to be an underh here for sure with a left hand low. Great [Applause] touch. A little bit easier than the one that Joanna was referencing for Kantlay from long ride of the green there. Ninth of the day, the 18th. All day, Colin, we have been waiting for some type of spark to go off for Patrick Kentlay. He had a nice effort here out of the rough to run this ball up onto the green and give himself a birdie opportunity. It’s a albeit a very long one, but who knows if you get a putt like this to drop all of a sudden you can maybe get some confidence for the final six holes of your round. Well, this one from just outside of 33 ft would all but double his feet made of putts so far. He’s only made 17 ft of putts through his opening nine holes. 21 ft total through 11 holes. He is what they call these greens have pitched a shut out for this man today. Big swinger right to left would need to enter at 4:00. Great weight. That’s a frisky putt coming back down the hill from the high above the hole on the right side. She make four at the difficult third and he’ll be very happy. Still four over for the championship. Back-to-back pars for Kentlay. Just one birdie on the card. And as Colin mentioned, just has not been able to do any damage on the putting surface. Now, John Rom after the disappointing T-shot, the disappointing bunker shot. A long one for par. long one. Very, very slow. Navigating a shelf right in front of him. Uphill all the way. We saw him on a similar putt, albeit a little bit longer range. He ran it by coming up that slope. No surprise to see that one come up a little short. After you’ve run one by a considerable length, it’s always in the back of your mind. Bogey at the third for John Rob. Bogey birdie bogey start to his second nine and back to one under par. And that bogey was all just a result of getting out of position off the tee. you know, when he was hitting that T-shot, you know, he was set up a long way right, actually aiming at that right bunker, looking to try and draw it off and just hung it out there and now Fitzpatrick, one of the guys that likes to use the line on the golf ball, as so many do out on the Do what? Fitzy converts his par to remain at three under for the tournament. And now from the PGA of America coaching center in Frisco, Texas, powered by T-Mobile, let’s check in with Natalie Sheen. And Natalie, we heard about how, you know, these crosshanded chip shots for Matthew Fitzpatrick. Joanna was saying, “Well, is he going to do it for flop shots?” Well, he does. How does he get away and they feel comfortable hitting these shots cross-handed as well out of the rough. However, if you trouble around the greens, maybe you struggle with something like the yips, which I’m sorry to say, um this is a really good fix for you. Change something dramatically in your swing. So, putting that left hand low lengthens your left arm more. It makes it so that your body is more in charge. There’s more rotation that happens and it just makes less room for error. So, it really takes those wrists out of the swing and widens the arc, which helps you if you have trouble around the green. So, it’s a great one to try at home. I’ll hit one for you here. It’s really easy to still hit nice high lofted shots even with that left hand low. But, it’s a great one for those of you who struggle around the green to try at home. Back to you guys. And that was a very good description of exactly the shot that Matt’s Fit Patrick executed from the back of the green at the third. Now going over some book work here with Dan Parrots Duke Caddy. to get 14 on. And you can see this week also too, the players are allowed to use the rangefinders. I really do think as next caddy, it makes a a world of difference, especially when you’re out of position. You know, you can easily try and hit that flag, get the distance, but so many of the guys, they’re just used to doing it the old school way with pen and paper. So [Music] light. Par three, fourth hole here. Two par threes over the next three holes for these players. Sixth hole, also a par three. And you see that big green and a lot of arrows going in a lot of different directions they’re calling. Yeah, it looks like one of those roundabouts in Australia. You which where do I exit? Where do I exit? Well, you can pretty much exit everywhere on this green. There is plenty of character in it. But this ball is pin position today at the fourth in a little bit of a bowl. It’ll see a little bit of action. [Music] [Music] We’re starting to hear just a little bit of that ball starting to bounce. We’re seeing a little bit more of a forward kick. These greens will continue to dry out throughout the day. You mentioned the the system that they have below the the surface of the greens here, the subair system to try and draw some of that moisture out that we saw earlier in the week. Yeah, I don’t think Joanna the the weather has really been in consideration for the the playing portion of our tournament. I know obviously the practice rounds had issues, but as of right now, it seems like the weather reports are all okay for the remainder of the weekend. It does. I’d say the fairways are still damp. They’re not getting any roll out on the fairways. So, it’s still playing long like um John Rom on that one par five, you know, I feel like if the fairways were rolling out, he would been on a flat surface and not on a hanging lie. So, but yeah, the greens, no problem. They’re bounding with the subair system. And ju just like you say, Colin, that that one stays stays put instead of rolls out. And I’m sure Kentley would have appreciated it to roll out a little bit more as it was heading right at the flag. He’s just been on the wrong side of the ledger all day. It’s like, you know, another two paces forward that kicks all the way down to the bucket. You know, we saw Matt Fitzpatrick just a moment earlier. He’s just pitched on top of that slow kicked all the way to the back. So, let’s see what John Ram can dial up here. Sit somehow. Somehow he’s yelling at it. Oh, he’s asking for it to sit. Instead, it’ll be a greenside bunker for John Rahm, who’s second nine, the front nine on this course. Not going the way he would like. They’ll have to scramble again here at the fourth. [Music] [Music] Can it be? Yes. Unbelievable. What else would you expect? Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. It’s all his now. Your new professional golfers association champion. [Music] Always spectacular moments every year at the PGA Championship as John Rom see the scrambling efforts he’s had to go through today. He’s got another one here at the par 34th hole left side bunker. sneaks that one over the lip and nearly into the hole. His short game has been very impressive. That was a very difficult shot. Only benefit was into the wind, but that was a steep slope after the bunker. Literally landed that in the the fringe of the green there to try and kill it. Get it somewhere down around the hole. that still scarries on a little bit past the hole. Leave him a little bit of work left for his part. He’s a couple of those shots today where he’s tried to what almost looks like fade the ball in to a left pin location and sort of stood it up a little bit. In fact, almost drew it back. Back at the green for Matt Fitzpatrick. Little downhill in the beginning, back uphill at the end, moving to his right. Looks like it just kind of tailed off to the left there at the end. I thought it was tracking pretty well to the hole. It was just like Colin said earlier, the slope, there’s 75 different slopes on this little pin location. So difficult to know how much I was going to slide. Right. And always the tactician, every single putt, every single chip stroke is recorded in his yardage book. Squeezes every ounce out of his game. Now can’t lay. This is right to left. But again, if you hit it too far right, won’t move. You can see that little bit of color change there. The the shiny stuff for the first two/irds of the putt. Then suddenly it goes dark. That’s where the grain change is, and that’s what’s going to kick it out towards that right side. Well, pars may be good at this point for Klay considering how he’s played so far in this round, but they are not helping him gain any traction on the field. Still four over par nine shots behind our leaders. Ryan Fox and Alex Norin, both five underpar. And of course, the favorite that we all picked to win this tournament, Luke Donald. Just one shot behind them. This is a tricky read here. Greens book says could move left at the beginning, right at the end. So maybe straight overall. Trying to avoid three bogeies in his last four holes. Front side of this course has not been kind to John Rob. A bogey on one, a bogey on three, and now a bogey on four. And he’s back to even par for the championship. You just can’t be doing that around Quail Hollow. You know, making bogeies on easy holes. The fourth here was the easiest par three on the golf course in 2017 today. also too playing as the 13th easiest hole as we watch Fitzpatrick tidy that up. Well, Fitzpatrick nearing the leaders of the tournament and leading our feature group at three under [Music] Perfect finish there. PGA of America and our more than 30,000 PGA of America golf professionals. Welcome you to the 107th PGA Championship. Matt Fitzpatrick. I got to tell you, he doesn’t realize, you know, we’ve got to read billboards, we got ads to read. He needs to give us a little bit more time here, Colin. He is one he is one of the fastest players out here. No match, no fuss. Par four, fifth hole, 453 yds, Joanna. And you see that trouble, the fairway bunkers down the right side and the left side. So needs to be careful here considering the way he’s hit it off the tea. He sure does. He sure does. Those fairy bunkers are conveniently located in their landing zone. Matthew Fitzpatrick just down the left is a perfect angle to that pin. Kantlay is right down the middle. This is a good one. Well, tick the box for Canlay. As we pan back there towards the T, we find this man, John Ram. Couple of unforced errors in his last three holes. Set up once again. Well, right here, Joanna. Looks like he’s going to challenge those two bunkers down the right. He is moving it right to left and right down the middle. It’s a good one. He needs to steer the ship. I was a little hurt on that one, too, by the looks of it. Everybody safe here at the par for fifth. Continued feature group coverage here on ESPN Plus. [Music] Three good T- shots here at the po par4 fifth and opportunity to get a stroke back on a reachable or a approachable par4 I should say and Rom you know continues to really bomb it down the fairway. His approach shots though have gotten a little squirly as of late. Driving’s been pretty decent. Putting’s been good. Everything in between though the last four holes for John Rom has been a bit of a struggle. Eric Roth and Colin Swaten join a co- with you as coming down the home stretch of our opening round featured group coverage here on ESPN Plus and Matthew Fitzpatrick who maybe not the prettiest round of his life. But, you know, considering Colin his struggles at major championships, you know, since he won the 2022 US Open, he has got to be really happy with the way he’s been able to convert and score here on this golf course at three under par on his round. Yeah, he’s doing exactly what you say. Hasn’t brought his best stuff. You know, he’s hit six of 11 fairways, eight of 13 greens, but the number of importance is that four of five in scrambling. You know, he’s got a couple of fortunate breaks early where he hit a tree, bounced back out onto the fairway, you know, and then went on to make a birdie. So, you know, it’s he’s had some fortuitous bounces and some luck, but he’s capitalized on that. Now he’s sort of crafting out a decent game. Looks like he’s getting relief here just from a sprinkler head just that was in his intended line or stance. And then I can drop it in here, can’t I? I don’t have to drop it to the nearest point. And then a club drop right at the end of the club, couldn’t I? Yeah. Yeah. It just can’t It just can’t end up being outside of the relief area. Yeah. getting some clarification on that drop. You mentioned the struggles in major finishes since the 2022 US Open win. He’s got one top 10 finish in the major since then. That was at the 2023 Masters. He’s missed the cut the last two years at the PGA Championship. and you know really just in terms of even his regular tour play 11 starts this year four missed cuts he has not finished within the top 20 and he has dropped to number 85 in the official world golf rankings so these are numbers that we have not been accustomed to seeing from Matt Fitzpatrick over the years Colin and we know the potential is there and you know maybe now that the spotlight is off of him a a little bit an opportunity to settle in with a new caddy and regain his form. Yeah, it’s it’s interesting. You know, these guys, they they all obtain a certain level of greatness, then sometimes the things that have made them great or they think they need to work on in order to make them even better can be sometimes their Achilles heel. And a nomad is really chased distance um aggressively. You know, works a lot on sort of ground force reactions, trying to get that left foot back and out of the way to create extra speed and distance and things like that. But you’ve also got to wonder at what expense. We saw Mroy, remember, chasing distance when Bryson was doing what he was doing at major championships. He then tried to do that, found out it wasn’t for him. So I think the team around Matt Fitzpatrick will be able to sort of say, “Hey, this is what you did when you were a great player. This is what you were doing when you were winning major championships. Let’s just remind you of what you did then and then see if we can get back to that blueprint.” Matthew Fitzpatrick also start recently started working with Mark Blackburn, interim coach, he says. Um, so they’re they’re working on some things and sometimes you just need a coach to probably say the same thing just maybe differently. Um, so I’d say it’s been scrappy, but they were working on some things on the range and Matthew Fitzpatrick’s very particular. He went through probably three to four drills on the range with a tour striker ball trying to get his left leg out of the way. Uh, Blackburn said that they’re working on him posting into that left leg rather than a lateral slide. So, he’s he’s working on some things and perhaps it’s just going to be grooving with um him and Blackburn for a little bit. [Music] See a set and it does all be it just a little bit above the hole. This green complex here has a lot of tilt in it from back to front. Couple of thumbs up. More pin high. And that one’s just going to come to rest. or will it? Yeah, the high point on this green, folks, is sort of back right behind that pin and then it wanders all the way down to the front left of the green and there’s a little false front there. You’ll see a pin down there at some point throughout the week. This is an important shot for John Rom. like you said, missed the last few approach shots. He needs to reward himself. That was a great drive. Get him back into red numbers. That Rob in the fairway. 26 to the hole. [Applause] Well, I’m not sure if he was looking for exactly that wind off the right hand side. Push that ball back a little bit further to his left, but definitely a better pass there for John Rob. Just a reminder that you can follow four different feature groups and holes on ESPN Plus. Watch your favorite players from TA Green on all 18 holes. Brooks, Kepka, Ricky Fowler, Shane Lowry one feed, Rory Mroy, Xander Schoffé, Scotty Sheffller on another, Phil Nicholson, Tommy Fleetwood, and Jason Day out there as well. And then you can check out the green mile holes 16, 17, and 18. [Music] And we’re getting a good look there at the green here at the fifth. Talked a little bit about the tilt from back to front. You can start to get a bit of an idea there of just how much slope is on this green. Huge crowds all day started. They were lined up this morning as we watch this group tea off just after the hour of eight on of course on the backside playing the 10th hole as their first of the day and we’ve got some pretty interesting holes coming up. You know, we’ve got the very long challenging par 3 six and just a definitely a great par four par five in the seventh match by that again dry ball par four at the eighth. Just love the routing here, Eric. You get a a great mix of holes that require different shapes off the tea, create different angles into these green complexes that really do have sections or plateaus to all of them. If you’re on the wrong side of some of these slopes here, you’ll just get further and further from the pin. And that’s been a a bit of the case for the day for this man here, Patrick Can. Just unable to get on the right side of some of these ridges. and he’s had sort of these lengthy putts all day and uh just hasn’t been able to get it going. Yeah, momentum obviously so key in these major championships as well. And you know, really outside of Matt Fitzpatrick, our featured group has not had a ton of momentum. Little touchy putt here, Joanna. Touchy putt. Moving both directions. He was a bit careful with that one. Can putt overall left to right. The middle third of the putt straightens up a little bit and then moves hard right at the end. Little head scratcher there for Matt Fitzpatrick. Not only did he hit it soft, he hit it on the wrong line from the get-go. Can’t asked him to move his ball mark again. He retired that poker chip. He went with the small one. So, ever since it’s been good. He’s had to move his ball mark about four times for Patrick Kentlay today. Maybe he just got tired of dealing with the big poker chip. Went to the small coin. So, at some point, Khaled is just gonna ask Patrick. He’s like, “Where do you want me to putt it, buddy? I’m just I keep getting in your line. What do you want me to do?” It could be just a little flex there from two from Patrick Can just to say, “You know what? I’m going to make him go in there and keep moving his mark even though Even though if it’s not on my line, this will be a very slow putt back up the hill for Canlay. Got to get there. Now, for a man that’s only hauled 25 ft of parts in total um so far through his round, it’s not it’s not been the day that this man wants on the greens or off the tea really. But then it’s perspective, most guys on the on the tour from a week toe perspective will hold somewhere in the vicinity of 75 to 80 ft of putts in a round. Birdie chance here for John Rum. Joanna downhill the whole way. Probably the best chance of the three. Got to move a little left, a little right, a little bit of everything. There it is. John Rob. It’s been a geometric second nine for him. Square, circle, square, square, circle. He needed that. two red figures, one under par. And when I look at that card for John Ram, it just it it it’s easy to look at the the circles and the and the squares, but I always look at what he’s done after he’s made a bogey. He’s bounced back with a birdie. That just gives me a perspective of maybe even a look inside the mind of John Ram. you know, we know he runs hot and uh he he’s not afraid to show his emotions, but when you see a player making birdies after bogeies, it tells me that they’re in the right mindset, the right frame of mind, and I think John’s come to play. Hanging around, that’s for sure. Now it’s Canlay’s ball marker who’s in the line of Matt Fitzpatrick and a rare bogey on the day. A three putt for Matthew Fitzpatrick who again coming into this tournament putting was his shortcoming on the year. 143rd and strokes gained putting and a disappointing five here. Well, that was right off the putter face immediately. Yeah, that was definitely a shove there for Fetpatrick who we saw him pull that one back at 18 that resulted in a bogey and then that pull there, that little push I should say at five for him as they make the short stroll over to six and we will take the fly over as well. Colin, the longest par three on the course measuring in at 241 yds today. Yeah, look at those tea boxes there, Eric. They can push this thing around, create all sorts of different distances for these players today. As you mentioned, 241 yds. That’s a stout poke in anyone’s book. It does play downhill some. And this green here, not as much going on with the complexity of the green, but definitely does tilt from back right to front left. You can see those sea of red arrows at the front of the green. That is a false front. You’ll see a pin, a couple of pin locations down there, short in front, but they’ll probably push the tea up there for that. But that has also been the story of the day. Look at the crowds out in full force. They love their golf here in North Carolina and the PGA Championship. 107th PGA Championships at the Quail Hollow Club. Drenched in sunshine and I’m sure drenched in sweat as well. Joanna, it is muggy out there. Are you talking about John Rom or me? You’re getting into this. You’re getting into a sticky part of the golf course, too. In amongst the thick trees, that seventh T- box, I can tell you it gets warm up there as well. But first to the plate, that man you were talking about, John Ram, after that birdie, beautiful birdie, long range putt. Back at the fifth, the te at the sixth. [Music] Not again. I like it. Little wipy right. That’s a good description of exactly the shots that John Ram’s been strug struggling with that sort of wipey shot as Joanna mentioned just really late to the party with the club face and we’ve seen him hit a number of iron shots well to the right. is the case here again the sixth I think Patrick Canlay similar to that little stretch of holes on the backside that we wanted to see him play well 14 and 15 and he’s got a great opportunity if he can get through this hole here at a par he’s got seven and eight where he can make a bit of a rally and try and make the going tomorrow a little easier if you get anything back right as well. Similar to Rome, maybe a little left to Rome. Sorry, Joanna. If he could get anything back on these last few holes and get any type of positive vibes and momentum, you know, some big names over par if you look up and down the leaderboard. Rory Mroy, Xander Schoffley, both two over right now. Can’t lay four over. And sometimes the challenge too here at the sixth is you can see all those huge oak trees just down the left. They go out there for about 100 120 yards and then once it gets past that that wind that is off the left will be felt a little bit further down. I was actually just going to say that I feel like hitting last on this hole was a big benefit just to see how that ball was curving in the air. You’re in a little bit of a shoot back here at the tea. You can see the flag up on the green as that one might have caught that thumb print at the front of this green and come back off it for Fitzpatrick. 0 for three. Greens hit here at the par 3 six for our featured group as we have enjoyed traveling along with Patrick [Music] Kentlay, John Rahm, and Matt Fitzpatrick. Future group coverage continues from Quail Hollow Club. [Music] A featured group coverage continues all day long afternoon on this very feed. Decki Matsyama, Windham Clark, Tom Kim. Hey, it’s Colin Morawa walking in as Tom Kim an hour and a half away from teeing off. 1:36 Eastern right here on ESPN Plus. A look at the driving range practice area for these players. I got to imagine, Colin, on a day like today, the muggginess, people are happy to be in the morning wave. The afternoon is going to be a slog. I imagine with the humidity. Yeah, we saw it early in the morning. The humid humidity was up in the 90%. And you know what you get in these morning fields is you don’t get a lot of breeze and you know miles hour was going to be no more than about four or 5 miles an hour this morning and then this afternoon supposed to pick up a little bit more. But uh yeah, it’s going to be a long hot day in the sticky sticky uh conditions. Nice little pitch on to the green there as Kentlay just not looking to lose a stroke here before as you mentioned Colin the par 57th coming up an opportunity for him to get a much needed birdie so Joanna both Rahm and Kent lay missing right and Fitzpatrick missing Short left. Fitzpatrick is playing now. Again, you could play this shot a million different ways. He went above the slope with spin. Go in. Great shot there. I think your members of Coil Hollow probably putt that 99% of the time, but we have the best players in the world to watch. John Rom is about a foot from Canley’s ball, but just in the first cut of rough, so I’m curious how that’ll affect the spin. Can landed it just on and it checked up nicely, but just outside the circle of friendship, so he still has a little bit of work left. Fitzpatrick follows up the bogey at five with a par here at six. Would have been a nice two. How do you chip that one in? But take a tap in par nonetheless. Rob buzzes the tower as well, but that one runs out. Good 10, 12 feet past the hole. Yeah, just the difference between one foot can’t lay on the fairway. A little more spin. Rom first cut, a little less spin. Now he has a little tricky one for par. Yeah, it’s all about friction between the ball and the club face and suddenly get those little blades of grass out of that first cut that get between the ball and the club face and you just can’t create that friction. I know for you Joanna, you director of instruction at Marion, you know it when you get these, you know, these, let’s just call them members that come to the the club and they’re asking for how do I spin it? How do I spin it around the greens? You know, for for me as a coach, and I’m sure it’s the same for you. You know, you look at their equipment and the old sand iron is all worn out and full of last week’s mud and you say to yourself, “Well, let’s start by cleaning the grooves.” That’s exactly right. Let’s keep it simple. I was watching Kentlay and Fitzpatrick warm up this morning with wedges and every single shot they wiped their wedges and scrape the grooves with TE’s. So, you know, some fresh wedges, premium golf ball, and clean your clubs. That’s the best way to get some spin and friction. Yeah, look after your equipment and it’ll look after you. Now Ram to try and save his part. That hurts a little bit. He has yet to record a par here on this second nine. Four bogeies and two birdies. Guys, I got to say I feel like that conversation about dirty wedges and unscrupulous golf balls was directed at me. You know, I’m playing I’m playing dirty wedges. I’m getting balls out of lakes, out of the woods, where wherever I can find them. Don’t use a water ball. But they’re free, Joanna. They’re free. Oh my goodness. We got to set this man up with some golf balls. And we do hard finish there for Patrick Kentlay. Our players walk to the par five seventh and we will step aside for just a few moments. final three holes of our feature group coverage where we return here on ESPN Plus. Well, some unexpected names the top of our leaderboard here in round number one. Ryan Fox in the clubhouse with a 67 following his win at Myrtle Beach a week ago. Luke Donald, how about that? in his final hole of the day. Currently tied for the lead. Alex Smallley who we just mentioned he got into the field as the first alternate was Sahit Thagala having to withdraw due to a neck injury. So Sally gets the call out of the bullpen and he’s up there at the top of the leaderboard as well. We go to the par 57. Joanna Patrick Kentlay teeing off again. Our guys are playing through here. The group just left the landing spot and they’re ready to roll. Looks like it’s heading left. Yep. Just caught the fairway bunker. Every Jesus. In case you were wondering, Colin, if you were on ESPN bet before this tournament started, Luke Donald was 2500 to one. 250 to1 to win this golf tournament. right for your that that could had I had I put my my 10 cents down on Luke Donald to win. It’s Patrick right center. Good shot. Zero roll back spin actually. That right side of the fairway here at the the seventh does camber and tilt down towards the creek that runs down the entire length of this hole, but softer conditions. Overall, it’s a beautiful part of the neighborhood. And that is a beautiful mullet. Strong. That’s a That’s a fancy bullet. You called that a boule. Starting left over my head. Yep. Wow. That was a true fade. Fade indeed. Over there to the right side of the fairway. John Rob getting some hair care tips from our volunteer there on the seventh T. I love looking at the numbers. I’ve said a lot over the years is just that to me that gives me the answer as to what I need to do to get better. You used the word in there. You said you love it. It’s not like homework to you. I love it. Yeah, absolutely. I find it so interesting, you know, cuz I could make a change in practice, see down the line, what does that do to the data? Does it improve it? Does it make it worse? Do we need to change things? Again, the one thing that I’ve sort of learned over the last couple years is just making sure that there’s more context to the data. I think just I think it’s easy to sort of categorize certain shots or certain things. The wind was different, the lie was different, the stance was different. You know, the more context you can add, the better feedback you’re going to get. The more likely you’re going to be able to improve. Well, Matt Fitzpatrick trying to learn from every shot he takes in his professional career and trying to learn from his past experiences here at Quail Hollow. Finished outside the top 30 in his last three starts and that includes a miscut at the PGA Championship in 2017. You see his major stats there. has struggled at the PGA Championship more so than any other major. He has that win at the US Open in Brooklyn in 2022. As we make our way down the par five seventh hole, Eric Rothman, Colin Swat, and Joanna Co finishing out our featured group coverage here on ESPN Plus for the morning wave. And then we got a new set of broadcasters coming in for you for the afternoon. Just to put a button on it, guys, Luke Donald did par the 18th and he is the co-leader in the clubhouse. You could have gotten Luke Donald to be the first round leader for 750 to1. as Luke Donald had the tied for the longest odds to win this tournament among nonPGA Tour professionals. 2500 to one to win for the European Rder Cup captain as he is in at four under Joanna. We have a little traffic jam here. Yes, reachable par five. So, I see Phil Mickelson and uh Jason Day up ahead. So, we are just waiting, but uh this is a beautiful hole to wait. We have some amazing houses down the right side. Wonderful crowd down the left. I found a shady spot. So, we are okay. Doesn’t take doesn’t doesn’t take you long to work it out. They’re just showing where you’re hanging out this week. And that’s that beautiful house just to the right of the the green complex here at the 7th. Some gorgeous, gorgeous houses on the property here. Meanwhile, let’s take a look at the shot trails here at the seventh of our featured group. Of course, John Ram, Patrick Hanlay, and Matthew Fitzpatrick. He’s got 240 yds to the pin. Still plenty of firepower to get it home. John Ram just 225 yds. Probably no more than a five iron or soft four iron for him. And of course Patrick Canlay has just worn Joe Lava out today. Joe has raked more sand than the turtle trackers here in Hilton Head today. His man has been all over the park. Going back to that round of Luke Donald that you just talked about. Talk about putting a bow on it. 67 you referenced in the clubhouse as the leader at four under. That’s bogey free. Dang. Bogey free. 67. Now when you dig a little deeper and you start to peel the the layers of that onion back. Nine of 14 fairways today. Just nine of 18 greens. Luke Donald. They have posted some video of him this week on Instagram, social media sites of him around and on the chipping greens. Nine of nine in scrambling today. That’s how you get it done. Stephen Joerger jumping up in front of Donald and Fox now. Joerger still out on the course. Small Fox and Donald all in with 67s. JT the postman has one more hole to go. How about the two RDER Cup captains on the first page of the leaderboard? That’s pretty impressive. Not to be outdone. We might maybe we’ll see them go headtohead as playing captains if they both finish strong here this week. Well, I know that Keegan Bradley would have to if he keeps on playing in the form that he does, he’s going to have a very difficult decision to make at some point. And I’m sure if his team members said, “I want you to play,” he’d play. But looking down that list in a tie for 22nd at even par well number one Scotty Sheffler Tony Fe now Andrew Novak came close at Heritage earlier last few weeks but then got it done his buddy the Zurich ready to Rumble in the fairway here. That’s right. Now we looks like we’re cleared for landing here, Joanna. Moving quickly as always. Looks like a hybrid in hand. This is heading way left. Watch out. back. Yeah, that is actually could be actually up on the T- box for the the eighth. You can see the signpost right there. That is the eighth T. It’s amazing. You put some blue water out there, what’ll cause a player. Quick look at the AT there. Didn’t look like Tommy Fleetwood was unseated at all by that shot. Now Rob Joanna, never fun to watch a shot like that right before you have to hit something similar. Much better line here just left of the green. This was decision time for Kantlay. I think he has a mid iron in his hand. Tell by the loft. I don’t think he’s going for this. No. Smart play to a landing spot. Yeah, this pin location here at the seventh. Six on and eight off the left hand side. It’s a pin that you spend a lot of time in your practice rounds, you know, Monday, Tuesday. Look at Joe Lava double bagging it, looking for a little little extra in the paycheck at the end of the week. Hey, maybe he needs needs some new golf balls as well. Everybody’s got to earn an extra buck here or two. I tell you what, you carry that thing like a suitcase and you’re doing well. Those things weigh about 50 lbs. Gorgeous hole. The seventh. Let’s see it there all the way back to the T- box. Elevated T-shot down at this landing area. And speaking of Joe Lava, his son carrying now as well. Joe Junior. Yeah, he’s out there with Joe Highmith doing a great job too from all reports. Did a little short stint there at the father’s son with Charlie. Charlie Woods. Of course, I got to tell you, Colin, and maybe this was more public knowledge than I than I was aware of in the the uh Colt No podcast recently. They had former NFL quarterback Derek Anderson on as a guest. And Derek is the caddy for Kevin Chapel, which I had no idea that that was a thing. Derek Anderson, longtime quarterback for the Cleveland Browns and now a full-time PGA court caddy. We had uh a guy by the name of Tim Brasher. Tim Brasher was uh a fullback for the Balain Tigers back home in rugby league and went on represented Australia at the highest level for many many years. He retired from from playing rugby league, came over and cattied on the PGA tour for many years. After laying up, can’t lay now with a lofted wedge in hand to a front left pin location. Anything right at this pin with spin will be all the way down in that bowl on the far right. It’s a difficult little pit shot here. Wind is into off the left. Need to throw this beyond it and left. Let’s sl back. You would have thought it would have gotten some more spin coming off that hill there, that ridge on the behind the flag. It really didn’t get much at all. Yeah, it definitely looked like his most lofted wedge as well. You could see sort of abbreviated that finish and sort of sorted off a little bit. I’m looking at the green complex here. Looks like that was almost a little into the grain. So, did throw it back a little bit, but didn’t go back as much as I thought. We got a bit going on down here on the left side of the green. Fitzpatrick, who hit that errant T-shot, is just looking at where his best option to probably play his fourth from. Um, because if he went at that pin, he could chip it in the water. So he’s trying to work out the less of the evil. John Ram, you can see there. There he is right there. He’ll walk back up towards the eighth T- box. Dan Parrot also too trying to slow his man down. These are when those those situations where the the caddies have got to interject a little bit. Make sure that the player is completely focused on what he needs to do. looks at all the options, but most of all commits to the shot that he needs to hit. This reminds me of that shot that Rahm had on 14 where he needs to hit it just left of these of the sprinklers here. Again, he needs to hit this, you know, he’s elevated, so he needs to hit this low enough so that the hill kills it. If he carries it on, he could be in trouble. This pen is right up on top of that shelf in the front left portion. Professional miss would be to be short. Stay. Stay. That is what he’s done. That is a splendid shot there from Fitzpatrick. Gives himself sort of an outside look at birdie with also too taking the big number off the scorecard. John Rom with the Texas wedge here. The members must have told him to do this on this particular shot. I’m surprised he’s been really good with these back chips. So, putting it up the hill. You see a player of this caliber who has hit a a number of very good pitch shots from around the green take putter, you know the difficulty and the severity of the shot. So, This golf course absolutely perfect condition. This is all going to be a product of how it rolls through that fringe. It doesn’t get too bumpy, take too many bounces, and took a few hops through there, Joanna. Yeah, I was very surprised with that choice to be honest. It did not roll great through that. A little soft, a little bumpy. I thought he would have just thrown one of those spinny wedges on top of the shelf and get it to stop. He’d just been so good with those shots all day. So, a little bit of a surprising choice. That’s what I was going to say, Joanna. He has been really good chipping and pitching the golf ball today and a surprise to take that out of his hand, you know, considering he’s been really trying to get some steadiness here in this second nine. you know, really oscillating between bogeies and birdies and just seemed like a seemed like a weird choice. Very weird. He wasn’t in a divot. I didn’t see anything in particular that would steer him away from a spinnier shot, but now he’s a long birdie attempt, longer than what he wanted. It’s interesting when you know you see players make these decisions, you know, throughout the course of the day. You don’t know what they’re feeling, their emotion, you know, their fear. You know, something must have been in the back of his mind whether that ball just sitting just a little bit funky in the grass as good as these surrounds or collars or fringes, whatever you want to reference them as. Now, this would be an allworld for if he was to make this. That never started on the correct line. That was right the entire way. He’s just hanging around. Hasn’t had his best stuff all day to be fair, Eric. And he’s just hanging around. And if he can manage to knock that down and take advantage of the next hole, the eighth, he’ll be right in the thick of it. This is downhill left to right. Patrick just one birdie on the round today. That’ll be six straight pars here on the second nine for Patrick Kentlay. That hole is on a little knob where it’s that turned left at the end there. So confused both Canley Fitzpatrick and myself yet to record a par on this second nine. Four bogeies and two birdies. Even par for the tournament. Birdie chance here. Oh. It’s one of the easiest holes on this golf course. Leaves all three of our players wanting more. And that second shot that he hit into this par five here, the seventh was within realistically probably a yard or two of being perfect, but it just rolls over just a small little mound just to the right the left side of this green. Rolls into that little valley and then forced to putt it. It’s uh it’s a game of inches. That is for certain. [Applause] Fitzy will remain two under par. [Applause] We had circled this hole as an opportunity for our featured group to maybe get some momentum. And I think you’ve got three disappointed players there coming away with three pars as we move to the par 4 eighth hole. Second shortest par for on the course here, Colin. Yeah, what a beauty it is, too. I love how they have these two drivable, let’s call them drivable, par fours, this one and also to the 14th at great positions in the round. You’re coming off an opportunity at the seventh and then you’re here issued an opportunity again at the eighth before you play the difficult ninth. This green, this complex here at the eighth is all about shelves. You can see them shelf up on the top right. You can see those white lines and then that flows down into the second shelf. But it’s that oak tree you want to take it at. If you can start something at that oak tree up the middle right of this fairway, get it to finish just to the right of that. You’ll be in pretty good shape. And that is exactly where our man Patrick Can is setting this one up. Joanna Kentlay quickly playing. These guys clearly want to get to lunch as do I. Good line. Yeah, by far one of the best T- shots of the day there for Patrick Kentlay. Managed to get it on the fringe cut of grass by the looks of that. Little bit on the UPS slope. That’ll be a very, very manageable second for him. I tell you guys, I really like the mix of hole types here on this golf course. It’s always fun to see these short par fours. These guys bomb it down there. Looks like a half and half win. Another good one somewhere line. Can’t that’s fine. It’s a long tea box here. They uh generally push it up. Gary Hay told the players early in the week there’s a number of holes that will be playing up and to make sure you hit from multiple tea boxes 14 and eight two of those. The other two were of course par threes 17 and four. Rams let this one slip away from him a little bit. Right. Has been his miss today. And that one buries in the rough just to the right of that sand trap. Rahm who had a clean card in the opening nine has recorded four bogeies the second nine closing two holes of our featured group. [Music] [Music] There’s no more misunderstood idea in the world of competitive sports than legacy because it means something different to every man. Rooted in long ago ambitions and dreams. And so the true prize of a major championship isn’t a sterling silver trophy or an enormous check, but something that lives in the distant mountain mist of tomorrow. What it means is a mystery, even to the golfer who wins it and can only be revealed in [Music] time. Great look at the Waker Trophy. 107th playing of this wonderful championship. We appreciate you joining us on ESPN Plus featured round featured group coverage I should say the first round here at Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte, North Carolina. We are winding down our coverage as our players ready for their approach here to the short par 48. I’m Eric Rothman alongside Colin Swatton and Joanna Co. Joanna who is a hole and a half away from a nice tall glass of sweet tea that she deserves after walking this course. 96 degree humidity. I’m from the Northeast. It’s unsweet tea. Oh, you got to adapt to your environments, Joanna. My husband would say sweet tea, but now unsweet for me. Matthew Fitzpatrick, the furthest one back, but that is all relative here. You see that cross-handed grip. Have either of you ever dealt with players who chip crosshanded in your coaching careers? No. I’ve played with VJ Singh, and he is the only other person I’ve seen do it. Um, but I’ve done a pretty good job of curing some chipping yips in my day, so haven’t had to go that far using this slope. Here it comes. Very good. John Rom’s giving a thumbs up to him. [Applause] Well, you you uh we’ve been sort of jocking for that round at at Marion all day, but I’m you had me at Cure Joanna. I’m coming to see you. That’s right. Anytime. Kentley’s ball is right where the fairway and the approach meet. Interesting little lie, but probably similar approach to what Fitzpatrick will do. Okay, didn’t send it pass, but well done. Two very fine pitch shots from the front of the green here at eight. John Rom has a fun one. I think this is full send flop shot. It’s not the worst lie out of this rough, but down slope, not much green to work with. No spin, so this is going to have to be a high high one. I would imagine he was trying to get something up into that green side bunker on the right and just miscued it a bit. There’s places you can leave it and there’s places that you don’t want to leave it. And that is one here for John Ram. That’s a great look there. You can see that little color change halfway between him and the hole. That’s the grain change. His practice swings. The face is wide open in the back swing. We’re down ballistic. M. It’s about all you can do. Yeah, that’s really three fine pitches. all different locations, different types of turf and and grass conditions, but they’ve all got great looks for Birdie after coming away with three pars at the relatively easy par 57th. Like to get one here before the longest par4 on the course, the ninth hole coming up to finish their rounds. I always thought it was a long hole as it was, but they’ve added 29 yards to it just to make it a even more of a stout pug. Usually see the T- box all the way at the back here at the eighth when you play these front pin locations. Then they’ll move the pins towards the back portions. You may see one back there tomorrow. See the T- box up a little bit. Try and create an opportunity for these guys to get it somewhere up around the front of the green. This is a slippery one. Very slippery downhill, left to right, down green. This has been this kind of range. We’ve seen John Rampart a number of these of this length. That sort of 10 8 to 10 foot range for PA. This one of course for Birdie. It’s going to move pretty quick to its right as it loses speed. Oh, catches the right side of the cup and trickles in. The birdie on the card for John Rob. Back to one under. Roller coaster. Second nine for him. Yeah, I can imagine after, you know, we’ll call it a three putt from off the green at seven. I bet he said to himself, there’s no way I’m going to finish this round over par today. And really dug deep to make that three there at the eighth. This is a quick one. Straight downhill. Your members will be shaking over this one. A problem for Matt Fitzpatrick. Three under and two back of the leaders who are currently Steven Joerger and Ryan Gerard. He’s got away with a little bit today, Matt Fitzpatrick, but realistically through the middle portion of his round today, he’s played some good golf through that stretch. This man, on the other hand, really just right from the whistle going off this morning. Hasn’t had his best stuff, but he’s hung in there, and this would go a long way to giving him some some energy and a little boost. 12 holes since his last birdie. Patrick Catlay a three on the scorecard here at the par 4 eighth. And we move to our last hole of the day, the par4 9th. as Colin mentioned, lengthened 20 some odd yards since the 2017 PGA Championship. And this was the fourth hardest green to hit in that tournament. I think with that little addition to length, it might be the very hardest. In fact, this is the longest par four at any PGA Championship in the last 25 years. 529 yds today. 531 on the scorecard and they decide to put that pin all the way in the back just to make it that little bit longer just for good measure. Yeah, there is a little fall off just to the back right portion of this green as well. But so many of these greens here, they have that sort of sort of spine that runs through the green sort of east west. There’s another one here and it sort of creates a a sort of front to back and back to front look going into this green. It is a challenging T-shot for sure. Just the lone bunker up the right hand side. Heavily treelined and wooded down the left hand side. The wind is managed to find the short grass. Yes, you’ll be left with a mid to long iron coming in. More down than left to right, but that’s the way it is. Cantley now three over par for the championship after his second birdie of the day heading towards that right bunker but it’s probably going to be short of Well, it’s in it, Joanna. He’s He’s in it, man. Day at the beach for Kantlay. Great camera work, too, to be able to pick up the flight of that ball and then track it all the way to the finish. Nice clean lie for Camp. Those of course are the practice swings. Matt Fitzpatrick. This is down the left side. That’s in perfect shape down that left side. I think he’s far enough down there. He should have no issue with those overhanging limbs down the left. Little help wind. So John either needs to hit a draw off that bunker or hit something down the left with his stock fade. You’re setting up for that little draw off that sort of left edge, the bunker. This is a good one. It’s exactly that. And two beauties to finish our te balls here at the ninth. Our feature groups final hole of the day. [Music] [Music] One more hole to go in our feature group coverage. Matt Fitzpatrick, John Ra both under par. Patrick Kentlay coming off a birdie at the 17th trying to close out his round with some momentum to take him into Friday. and we have enjoyed bringing it to you. Coming up on just about five hours, our group teed off at 8:00 this morning and we will have afternoon coverage for you as well. Four featured groups in the afternoon as well as the featured holes. And what are your biggest takeaways from our group here today, Colin? You know, we talked about kind of the scrainess of both Fitzpatrick and Rahm in their rounds. Very much still in this tournament and obviously a very disappointing opening round for Patrick Kentlay. Yeah, I think I think I’ve seen enough good from John Ram and you know he’s got a good T-shot here at at his final hole of the day, the ninth. You know, I think he’ll he’ll have himself a birdie putt here. If he makes it, great. He’s in the house at two under. If not, you know, he’s he’s definitely got it back into red figures. So, I’ve seen enough from him, not just in play, but is in poise as well. You know, he’s remained incredibly poised. We know he can run a little bit hot, but even when he was challenged through that sort of opening stretch of holes on his uh backside, you know, it he was still able to remain calm and try and finish this round off. Patrick Can, he’s got to get to the driving range. He’s got to figure some stuff out. He’s been late to the party with that driver all day. Big miss out to the right hand side. Um but also too, Met Met Fitzpatrick, he didn’t get off to a great start early in the round, but he’s really pieced it together. uh and he’s hit a number of really good quality shots and played a number of good holes well. So I think uh I think for both of these guys uh for Fitzpatrick and for Ram I think they’ve got plenty of good signs to take away. Yeah. Yeah. And you can go at it. Yes. This is going a little right. Probably bunker. Oh, nice hop. Very generous kick off the side of that bunker. It’s been that kind of day for him. That’s fitting. Doubt about it. Cantley is 222 out of the fairway bunker. Has to navigate the lip. He’s got to send this up a little bit. Get a great view of exactly that. You can see pretty much that lip of the bunk is level with his waist. Clean strike also heading right and fitting bunker. Coast to coast that is for our man Patrick Kentlay and Joe Lava have to do the duties once again. Can’t have a little club slam on that one. A little perturbed. He’ll be heading to the range after lunch. Yeah, he’s had a frustrating day at the office. Just hasn’t had his best stuff. No doubt he will head to the range and figure things out with his coach. Great caddy etiquette though. Fitzpatrick’s caddy. He’s raking the bunker. He did that on the other hole. It’s been a pleasant group though. John Laba double bagging it. It’s all happening. Doesn’t look Yeah. I’m sorry. That wind bouncing around in amongst the tall logs down here. Seen John Ram back off once already. Starting this left of the flag cutting towards it. Looks good. It is what a great shot there for Ram. not quite convinced of maybe the wind direction or the speed and backed off and hit a gorgeous shot in there to some 15 ft. That’s what champions do is they they’re able to in the face of adversity, not necessarily having their best stuff, able to dig deep enough. And now John Ram with a very legitimate chance of getting this in the house. Oh, a few shots off the lead. Lead currently at five underpar. Let’s see at top 15 in ties are underpar right now. Everybody else even or worse. And some surprising names as you go down the leaderboard. Ricky Fowler two over. Shane Lowry two over. Jason Day. Rory Mroy. Xander Schoffé all two over par. Brooks Keepa plus four on his day. Phil Mickelson plus eight start his tournament. So the teeth of this golf course showing itself as you see some surprising names. Both RDER Cup captains as we’ve talked about on the first page of the leaderboard and Ryan Fox earning his entrance into this tournament with a win at Myrtle Beach last week. Alex Smallley who was an alternate got in yesterday when Sah Fala withdrew Nico who’s had a really nice year especially in the fall season. Robert McIntyre Bobby Mack the lefty at three under par. It’s not too surprising to see one at least one of the Hoy guards in red figures. Rasmus three under par. Scotty Sheffller after double bogeying 16th hole on what was his front nine is now back to one under par. Some other names under par right now. A Patia, one under. Keith Mitchell just started his day. One under par as well. Another bunker for Patrick Kentlay, folks. Good lie here for Kentlay. Beyond the bunker is a down slope, but then the whole location is on a flat spot, so he should be able to get this close. Not the hardest shot of the day. running out right towards the cup. Well, that’s what you want on your final hole of the day when you haven’t had your best stuff is to be able to cozy one up there within tap-in range, not make it any more difficult on yourself. You don’t want to drop yet another one. and he’s going to finish his final eight holes one under par. So, not a bad stretch of golfs. It It just has not been pretty. He has really had to work for every single one of those pars and the one birdie he had in on the eighth hole. Great opportunity for Rahm here. It’s going to move a little to his right. Ram really grinding over this one. He really wants to finish this round off strong. Two birdies in his last two holes would go a long way to him feeling even more confident coming into tomorrow late afternoon tea time. Seen a number of very good putts that have just burnt the edges. And that’s another one that burns the edge on the left side. That’s the second par on the second nine for John Rob as he’ll finish his round with five birdies and four bogeies. [Applause] And a lot of those bogeies really were just a product of being out of position, not being able to get up and down. Just two of six on the day for scrambling from around the greens. Two of two for bunker saves. And coming into this one, Colony’s six career rounds at Quail Hollow. Never broken 70. And he fails to do it again here today. hit 70 on the number, but still under par for the championship. Great chance here. This is pretty flat putt. I don’t see it doing a whole lot either. It would be really incredible for him to get to four under. That’d be the sneakiest four under of the day. Now, you mentioned also too the little bit of luck that he’s had. Couple of fortuitous bounces and sometimes you need that. You need those bounces to go your right way. He was not a fan of that as soon as it came off the club. Not at all. He’s hit some He’s hit some head scratches today with a couple of these putts. you know, as decent as he has putted today. It’s been a couple that haven’t even sniffed the hole. That one I think was a little more of a misread. I think you’re trying to see right to left, but that was pretty straight. The other ones were just either pulls or pushes. So, a solid three under par opening round 68 for Matt Fitzpatrick. Just two bogeies on the card today. And Kentlay taps in very workmanlike final eight holes for him. Seven pars and one birdie to close it out. But it was that Brie over through his first three holes that really had him fighting for every swing the rest of the day as our featured group completes their opening round and we appreciate you joining us. It’s Patrick in a tie for seventh right now. John Rob one underpar. Patrick Kentlay not out of it after one round but has some work to do that’s for sure. He wants to make the cut tomorrow. Steven Jagger Ryan Gerard five under still out on the course. Donald Fox Smallley in with 67s. Keegan Bradley, Matt Fitzpatrick, Alex Norin, JT Poston, and a trio of others at three under. John Roth sneaks on to the second page. See Wu Kim then Griffin. Harry Hall tied for 16th and one underpar. Max Homa getting his round underway. He has had a lot of success at this golf course in his career. Feature groups continue all afternoon long. If you stay on this feed in about 25 minutes, you’ll get to watch Hideki Matsyama, Windham Clark, and Tom Kim as those three will tee off at 136 Eastern right here on ESPN Plus. We appreciate you joining us here in opening round coverage of the 107th PGA Championship. We had a lot of fun bringing it to you. We look forward to more golf this afternoon and tomorrow for Colin Swatton, Joanna Co. I’m Eric Rothman signing off from ESPN Plus. It’s perfect. He might be the nicest, most humble man I’ve ever been around in my entire life. Ever. And he can play and teach. You’re good. You’re okay for now. I just heard in my ear they said they’re not seeing audio from the coach. Someone said I don’t know why I heard that. This thing fell out of my pocket, but I’m not too worried about it. 40 seconds. I would love to get this thing on, but I’m not going to get it on. Do you need help? Got it. All right. The final countdown. Yeah. I never smile this much ever. I know. Honey, how was your week? Wonderful. That’s so much fun. 15 9 8 7 6 Welcome back. We are here at the PGA headquarters in Frisco. I’m joined by my friend Joe Howlet who is going to be taking over for me this afternoon, giving you incredible instruction. But Joe, we were just talking about how some of these players really need to reset after their round, especially I’m thinking Patrick Hantley. He he did not have a great ball striking day. So, how do you think he’s going to be approaching his practice this afternoon? Well, there’s there’s a couple of things. First of all, the best in the world. Don’t hit it perfect all the time. And seen great examples of that. And you know, Patrick, who clearly hit it all over and everywhere on the golf course, he’s just going to go to range and go, can I keep it in this field? and now can I keep it in a certain part of the field? But this is something that players of high levels do. They when they get done with their round, they actually do something called a cool down. And some players need to cool down more than others. I’m sure Patrick’s got, you know, some steam coming out of his ears. But they go back to the range. If they haven’t hit the ball good, they’re not at especially the week of a major, they’re not fumbling around looking for something. They’re going to go to some basics. Do I narrow my stance? Do I stand taller? Yeah. if they’ve hit the ball good, they’re just taking their body and they’re bringing it right back down to the exact place that they start out of. It’s in a weird way, it’s the circle of golf, you know, you start here, you play, and then you come right back down there. Yeah. So, they, you know, they know their tendencies. So, if they’ve played well, they might just be continuing to work on whatever drill it is that they know they need to do in their swing to help them play their best. Um, but they always go in practice. You don’t see these guys hopping in the car and leaving uh right after they’re done playing. So definitely something we could learn from these guys, right? There’s a purpose to it. Go reset yourself and be ready for tomorrow in a very calm mood. Absolutely. We will have more from Quail Hollow after this break. There we go. There, Steve. Hello. Hello. Uhoh. Uhoh. You all right? I was hearing an echo. I still do. Damn it. Really? I only hear myself echoing. Not you. Not the truck. Holy smokes. That’s no good. Let’s see. Test, test, test. It’s not there at the moment, so hopefully it stays that way. Oh, good. Did you watch some golf this morning? I’m sure. Oh, yes. Um, were we a little overzealous with the Rory storyline or you think uh something magical is on the way? Well, if he doesn’t hit it any better than he hit it today, it’s going to be a short tournament for him. I’ve never seen him hit it this poorly. I do. Yeah. Skim. All right. I like that. Guys, can you please guys? Uhuh. Step back. Back up. Are you back? I’m back. I took that video at 6:01 a.m. I was covering my first PGA Championship and I was just starting my day. World number one golfer Scotty Sheffller was just starting his day, too. Put that Keep that hand back there. Sorry. What do we tell you? We’re gonna tell you one more time. Go back on the sidewalk. One more time. I’m just pulling the golf course like, you know, I’m playing. We didn’t know that at the time, but you could tell pulling into the golf course that something crazy had happened just, you know, with the lights going on everywhere. It’s raining. It’s dark and it’s confusing and chaotic and people are trying to figure out what’s going on. And like it’s it’s one of those things where when I see a police officer, I’m going to listen to them because they’re the keepers of the peace. It was early, it was dark, and it was raining. It wasn’t even clear until he was out of his car and in handcuffs right here that it was even Scotty Sheffller. I’m staying back. Here’s the thing right now. Right now, he’s going to jail. Okay. Okay. He’s going to jail and it ain’t nothing you can do about it. One thing that I specifically remember was you trying to approach the police officers and say something like, “Hey, you know, I don’t know what’s going on, but something ain’t right.” Like, “This is Scotty’s. He’s playing in the golf tournament.” Like, and you can just hear the tone in their voice that it went from just normal pulling in the golf course. It is a situation that was very serious for whatever reason it was. Scotty Sheffller was detained by police this morning in handcuffs on his way to the golf course. I did not know that he was a police officer, and that’s why I was so scared. and he was hitting my car with his flashlight thing. There were a few days as mayor that I will never forget and this is certainly right up there. That morning I woke up to just a ton of text messages. I quickly saw uh that somebody had tragically died outside of Valhalla. Immediately jumped out of bed and called my chief of police. And as I was talking to her to just start learning what had happened, I was also seeing the other texts about the arrest of Scotty Sheffller as well. And I knew it was going to be a long day. Sorry, man. I don’t know what to do. Just trying to get in. So, I assume you’re pretty good if you’re playing at PGA. I’m all right now. That was a heck of a way to wake up on Friday morning. My first call was to an attorney I knew um and said, “Meet me at the jail.” This has to be a misunderstanding. It just does not make sense from what I know about Scotty Shuffler. The fact that he is being taken to jail uh still at this point doesn’t compute with me. Everybody kind of went into problem solving mode and tried to gather facts at that point. I read you something about you have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can be used against you in court. I get this ESPN notification on my phone and it was like Scotty Shuffler arrested driving into Valhalla and I was like there is no way. Like someone hacked ESPN. and lean your hands up like this. Taylor Frell and his brother-in-law are huge golf fans and they were driving from Indianapolis to Vajala when they heard the news. I was like, man, how cool would it be if they put out like a mug shot of Scotty and we could put it on a shirt and maybe 15, 20 minutes go by on our drive and notification that his mug shot was released. And so I start calling like every possible print shop I can find. I looked up and there was coincidentally a print shop right next to the hotel that my father-in-law and Cole were staying at. So I called her. I was like, “Hey, this is probably the weirdest request you’re ever going to get. How quickly can you make two t-shirts for me?” I know Scotty’s a fan of the office and so I figured he would get the uh get the reference here and we just kind of went with it. When is the first time that you see Scotty Sheffler after he’s been arrested? So Scotty gets out and it’s the first time I see him and we’re getting in the car and my son was driving and I was in the in the passenger seat and Blake, his agent, and Scotty were in the back. Once we realized Scotty was going to play, my son said, “Well, did you get a chance to stretch?” And Scotty started laughing. He said, “Well, as a matter of fact, I did. I stretched in my jail cell.” So that kind of got us laughing a little bit. Um, but you can quickly see him turn into competitive mode. I mean, he was, you know, in in in short time was going to be teeing it up in a major championship. By the time Scotty got back here to the clubhouse, this place was electric. And social media was taking off too with two now infamous
