Scottie Scheffler tied for lead; Rory McIlroy struggles with Aronimink’s early wet conditions in PGA’s first round
McIlroy shot a 4-over-par 74. John Rahm, Brooks Koepka, and Jordan Spieth were in contention with 1-under 69s.
Scottie Scheffler shot himself into a crowd of seven players tied for the lead after the first round of the PGA Championship at 3-under par late Thursday evening at Aronimink.
Scheffler, who is seeking back-to-back wins at the PGA Championship, finished with five birdies. According to researchers at Elias Sports Bureau, it is the first time in 27 starts that Scheffler has held a lead — tied or outright — after the opening round of a major tournament.
“I think the emphasis would be [on] share of the lead,” Scheffler said after his round. “I think there’s like six or seven guys up there. I mean, it’s a really tight leaderboard. At this moment, it’s anybody’s tournament.”
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Thursday’s opening round had a record-breaking number of players finish within three strokes of the lead. Forty-eight players are within three strokes of the lead heading into Friday, breaking a record set by the 1993 British Open, which had 47 players within three strokes of the lead after Day 1.
While there was talk that a softened Aronimink could prove too easy for the world’s best golfers, the nearly century-old course had some bite. Rory McIlroy (+4), Wyndham Clark (+5), and Bryson DeChambeau (+6) were among the top players in the field who struggled.
The leading group was held unusually near par, too. The last time a score of 3 under par held the lead after the opening round of a PGA Championship was in 2008 at Oakland Hills in Bloomfield Hills, Mich.
McIlroy started with a bogey on hole 10 and bogeyed five out of his last six holes. McIlroy, the world No. 2 and back-to-back Masters champion, switched to a wider shoe after being bothered by a blister on his toe during Wednesday’s practice rounds, but he said his toe was not an issue after his round.
“I’m just not driving the ball well enough,” McIlroy said. “It’s been a problem all year for the most part. I miss it right, and then I want to try to correct it. And then I’ll overdo it, and I’ll miss it left. It’s a little bit of back and forth that way. That’s pretty frustrating, especially when I pride myself on driving the ball well.”
McIlroy said the elements were a factor in low scores. Rain clouds were still hanging over the course when the first group teed off at 6:45 a.m. Though the sun came out by the late morning, the field of golfers battled gusty winds.
“I think it’s the breezy conditions that are sort of making the scoring what it is,” McIlroy said. “It’s hard to get the ball close. Some of the pins are tucked away.”
Other notable first-round finishing scores included Xander Schauffele at 2-under; and Jon Rahm, Jordan Spieth, and Brooks Koepka at 1-under.
Among the early 3-under finishers was Ryo Hisatsune, who had seven birdies. After his round, Hisatsune said the course was a little softer thanks to early morning rain in Newtown Square.
“It’s a really nice start,” Hisatsune said. “A little wet, little soft conditions today, so it’s a little help for me.”
After shooting a 1-under-par 69, Garrick Higgo spent nearly a half-hour in the scorer’s tent behind the clubhouse talking with PGA officials.
Higgo, a South African golfer ranked No. 85 in the world, was issued a standard penalty before he touched a club on Thursday morning. He was less than a minute late for his 7:18 a.m. tee time, but it cost him two strokes.
Higgo could have been part of the group leading the tournament if not for the penalty and said after his round that he was “too casual” in his approach to his starting point at the first tee box.
“If you know me, then you know I am very casual and laid back,” Higgo said. “I don’t know. I don’t want to be there 10 minutes early. I know that five minutes is fine. I thought I had time. I was obviously too casual.”
Higgo said his extended conversation with officials in the scorers tent was an attempt to “get evidence” of his lateness. The PGA’s rules treat tee times as exact, meaning that Higgo needed to be at the tee box at the moment the clock turned to 7:18 a.m.
“I was there on time, but the rule is, if you’re one second late, you’re late,” Higgo said. “So if you think about it, I was there on time, if you know what I mean.”
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Higgo parred the par-4 first hole, but it went into his scorecard as a double-bogey 6.
“Obviously, it wasn’t great,” Higgo said. “I just focused on what I need to do. I mean, I wasn’t going to give up and shoot 80. There was only one thing that I could do, and that was make birdies and pars and hit it where I wanted to hit it.”
Like Higgo, Braden Shattuck started his round with a double-bogey on 1. Shattuck, a Delco native who earned one of 20 PGA Championship spots reserved for club professionals, finished his round at 11-over.
“It doesn’t put me in a very good mood,” Shattuck said of his double-bogey. “It makes it hard to get into a rhythm. But it definitely takes the edge off quick, if you know what I mean.”
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Shattuck needs a miraculous round to put himself back in contention to make the cut Friday. The field will narrow to the top 70, plus ties. The cut was at 2-over after Thursday’s opening round.
“Golf’s a weird game,” Shattuck said. “You can go out and shoot 80, and then the next round, you shoot 65. That could happen. I keep that in the back of my mind, knowing that I can turn it around, shoot a really good one tomorrow.”
Regardless of the outcome, Shattuck is relishing the opportunity to play in a major in his home region. He played in the first grouping alongside PGA Tour cardholders Alex Fitzpatrick and Ben Griffin.
“Everybody’s been super supportive, even though they’re watching me make double [bogeys] on every hole,” Shattuck said. “That just goes to show how great those people are, and it could be worse.”
The 108th PGA Championship returns to Aronimink Golf Club in Newtown Square for the first time in over six decades.
You can watch Marcus Hayes and Jeff Neiburg preview the tournament on Gameday Central from Aronimink, and be sure to check out the PGA Championship Range Show from 12-2 p.m daily, starting Wednesday.
Whether you're going, watching from home, or just curious about what all the fuss is about, we've got you covered with our PGA guide and stories on everything from Aronimink's history and design, to what the players have to say about returning to the Philly area. We even made a golf video game so you can play the course and learn its secrets.
Get it all with our full PGA Championship preview. And follow the latest news and action from the course, right here.