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US PGA Championship 2025: day one golf updates – live | US PGA Key events Another birdie for Luke Donald! This one at 8, reward for a wedge sent from 70 yards to five feet. In pops the putt, and the 47-year-old moves to within a shot of the early leader Ryan Fox. There’s a huge group currently at -1, featuring some big names: the 2008 winner Padraig Harrington, his compatriot Seamus Power, Tommy Fleetwood, Jason Day, Jon Rahm, Matt Fitzpatrick, Rasmus Højgaard and the defending Xander Schauffele. -3: Fox (7*) Scottie Scheffler seems strangely out of sorts. He’s not faced with the hardest up and down at 11, but clips his chip into the ridge running across the green, taking all the momentum away. He’s left himself a putt from the best part of 15 feet. He can’t make the right-to-left slider and doesn’t look particularly happy. He’s +1. Bogey too for Rory McIlroy, who three-putts carelessly – an overly aggressive first putt doing the real damage - and slips back to level par. But a no-fuss par for Xander Schauffele, the defending champion remaining at -1. Birdie for Tommy Fleetwood at the par-three 13th. He’s still looking for his first win on the PGA Tour. This would be a decent time to break that duck. … but Scottie catches a break! A decent lie and a route under the branches to the green. He fires out low and sends his ball scampering towards the apron. That’s a decent result all told, and he’ll have a chance to get up and down from the front for his par. Rory meanwhile has found sand down the left of the fairway and Xander the fairway; both find the green in regulation, albeit not particularly close to the flag. Outside chances for birdie. Scottie Scheffler always entertains with a little soft-shoe shuffle as he lets rip with the driver. But this time his feet are way too busy on the downswing, and he nearly loses his balance completely, yanking his ball down a bank to the left of 11 and towards some trees. That’s his second wild shot already. A slow start for Scottie. Opening birdie for Rory McIlroy! He swishes out of the thick rough elegantly, from 30 yards to ten feet. He steers in the gentle left-to-right slider, and the pre-tournament favourite is immediately into red figures. Scottie Scheffler power-splashes out from the fairway bunker to a similar distance, but putts through the break and has to make do with par. Xander Schauffele gets up and down from the swale at the front without fuss and he moves to -1 alongside Rory. The 2015 champion Jason Day is re-emerging as a force in the majors, coming off the back of a top-ten finish at Augusta. The 37-year-old Aussie chips in at 11 to join the group at -1. Jon Rahm, in the group behind, rolls in a 30-footer on 11 and the two-time major champion is -1 as well. Schauffele has an awkward stance, balancing on the edge of a fairway bunker. But he’s obviously been at the old core-strength exercises, because he stays steady and creams his second just off the front of the long par-five 10th. A good chance to get up and down for an opening birdie there. Not so much Scottie or Rory, the former sending a skittish second into a bunker 40 yards short of the green, the latter dunking his into the lush greenside rough. It’s sunny today, but it’s been raining all week in Charlotte, North Carolina, and that vegetation is juicy. A slight look of concern on both of their faces. The morning marquee group is out. The new Masters champion Rory McIlroy, the defending champion and reigning Open champion Xander Schauffele, and the world number one Scottie Scheffler. Rory batters his drive furthest, but he’s in the rough down the right of the fairway. Scheffler a few yards behind him but in prime position. Schauffele in decent nick as well. Ryan Fox often hovers around on the fringes of the action in the majors. Never quite putting four rounds together. No top-ten finishes as a result. Yet. The 38-year-old New Zealander opened with birdies at 10 and 13, and has just driven the green at the short par-four 14th. He’s left with an 84-foot putt from the fringe at the back, but cosies it up to four feet and makes his birdie putt. Meanwhile Alex Noren follows up birdie at 1 with another at 4, and the veteran Swede is on Foxy’s tail. -3: Fox (5*) The European Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald hit the first shot of this PGA Championship this morning. He started out with three pars, then at the 185-yard par-four 4th, sent a gentle draw to four feet, and tidied up for birdie. Donald never won a major during his pomp, despite reaching number one in the world, and the 47-year-old most likely won’t be breaking that duck this week. But just for a moment, he had his nose out in front early doors. PreambleWelcome to our coverage of the 107th edition of the PGA Championship from Starting at hole 1 Starting at hole 10 Source link Posted: 2025-05-15 14:07:46 |
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