The 108th PGA Championship is underway and after round one, seven players are tied atop the leaderboard at 3-under. This is the most players tied for the lead after any round of the PGA Championship since 1969, when nine players led after the first round. There are 48 players within three strokes of the lead heading into the second round.
World No.1 Scottie Scheffler is one of the seven players tied atop the leaderboard. He is looking to join Tiger Woods and Brooks Koepka as the only ones to win back-to-back PGA Championships in the last 25 years.
Aldrich Potgieter leads the field in strokes gained putting, and Ryo Hisatsune leads the field in strokes gained tee to green. Both players are part of the group that leads at 3-under. 2010 PGA Championship winner Martin Kaymer is also atop the leaderboard looking for his third career major victory.
Min Woo Lee, Alex Smalley and Stephen Jaeger round out the group at 3-under. Jaeger’s best major finish is a T21 at the 2024 U.S. Open. Lee’s best major finish is T5 at the 2023 U.S. Open. Smalley has only played in three majors before this one, with his best finish coming at the 2023 PGA Championship when he finished T23.
Aronimink Golf Club was the star of round one with tough pin positions and classic Donald Ross greens holding the players at bay. 2024 PGA Championship winner Xander Schauffele had this to say about the course. “I think really, really thick rough and wind and really difficult greens and tucked pin locations is why you’re seeing what you may feel like are higher scores.”
Some notable former major champions struggled in round one. Rory McIlroy shot a 4-over-74 that included four straight bogeys to end his round. Bryson DeChambeau only made one birdie during his round of 6-over-76 that leaves him in T135. Like Tessa Teachman predicted in “The Teacher and The Pro”, the 11th green was tricky and caught DeChambeau in its web. Keegan Bradley, who won the 2018 BMW Championship here at Aronimink, shot an opening round of 4-over-74.
The player everyone has been watching, Cameron Young, finished the first day at 1-over.
The second round gets underway with the first group teeing off at 6:45am ET with Dustin Johnson, Rasmus Hojgaard and Michael Block in the first pairing.
