CNN
–
Many of the predictions for the opening day of this year’s PGA Championship remained in one star-studded group at the Cool Hollow Club in Charlotte.
The group, world number one Scotty Scheffler, world number two Rory McIlroy, world number three Xander Schauferle, world number three, swayed their tongues as they waving the announcement they were playing together.
However, it was far from a vintage outing as each member of the group struggled to get something.
Newly crowned career grand slam champion McIlroy was unable to take over his form from the master, not an evil whim from the tee.
McIlroy, who won four times in Quazul Hollow in his career, shot the worst round on the course since 2011.
The 35-year-old did not speak to the media after the round.
Reigning champion Schaufele was unusually different, finishing his 18 holes one over par.
However, 28-year-old Schaeffler hadn’t had his best days, but he managed to crush the 2-under per finish in a typical way.
Group day was summarised by the tricky 16th hole, with all three golfers getting double bogeys.
Both Schauffer and Schauffere discovered the middle of the fairway after a near perfect drive, but both simply hit a second shot into the water next to the green. It blocked the momentum heading towards the clubhouse.
The duo expressed their dissatisfaction with the amount of muddy hits during the round. This is the reason for his selfish approach on hole 16.
“I don’t want to go to the locker room because I’m sure a lot of people aren’t very happy with the situation they’re there,” Schaufele said.
“If you hit a fairway, it’s like 50/50.”
Prior to Thursday’s opening round, the PGA of America decided not to use any favorable lies so players can lift, clean and place the ball onto the fairway.
Tournament organizers defended Desaison, calling the play side “exceptional and dry with time.”
“We’re mowing the fairway tonight and look forward to an exciting opening round to the 107th PGA Championship,” PGA’s PGA added in a statement Wednesday.
Schaeffler was also not satisfied with the uncertainty of finding a fairway.
“At 16, I bumped into the middle of the fairway, you have mud on your ball, and it’s hard to control where it goes,” he added.
“It’s one frustrating deal to hit the ball in the middle of the fairway and grab the mud and don’t know where to go. I understand that it’s part of the game, but you’ll learn how to control the golf ball for the rest of your life and learn everything where you ultimately can’t control the golf ball.”
However, despite Topsitterby’s Day, Schaeffler said he liked to play with a group of golf stars.
“It’s always a lot of fun to pair up with these two guys. What excites us is an incredible amount of fun playing the top three in the world together, as players compete against the best competition.”
“Hopefully tomorrow will be a little better. I had a bit of a struggle this morning.”
We are hoping for a better second day as all three golfers try to push the leader down with the tee-off at 1:47pm ET.
Live Jonattan Vegas!
World No. 70 played all his right hands, shot a 7-under 64 of sc fever, and found himself on the leaderboard, sitting two strokes in front of the duo of Ryan Gerald and Cam Davis.
The 40-year-old became the first player to represent Venezuela, shooting nine birdies that led/co-leaded major tournament rounds.
Vegas said he sat on the lead and felt “surprising.”
“It’s kind of what we dreamed of,” Vegas told ESPN Broadcast. “What we dreamed of. Something we train every day. It’s good to hold tournaments this way.”
When asked why he didn’t destroy it despite winning four PGA Tours, Vegas added that he was playing “prioritized” in the majors.
“At the end of the day, we try our best to play well at these events. …We get older, smarter, put less pressure on ourselves and don’t let the game get up. That’s kind of the approach I’ve been working on today,” Vegas said.
Vegas will be teeing off at 9:06am on Friday, so it will be a quick turnover.
Five players are tied down in the fourth, including alternatives to Captain Luke Donald and Alex S Marley of the European Ryder Cup team.
Just 24 hours before the finish on Thursday evening, the 28-year-old American discovered that Sahis Tegara would play in the majors after a neck injury forced him to withdraw before Thursday’s opening round.
Growing up near Charlotte in Greensboro, North Carolina, Smalley said majoring in his hometown was “great.”
“But it’s great to have the opportunity to play,” Smalley told reporters. “I played Wells Fargo here two years ago, and before that I didn’t play here. So I really only have a few rounds under my belt.
One of his favorites to stake, Bryson Deccanbeau struggled with taking part in many big names, finishing uniformly on the first 18 holes.
It was a day up and down for Justin Thomas, a two-time PGA Championship winner.
Despite three consecutive birdies including an astonishing chip on the 16th hole, the Americans finished in two over pars and are tied to 73rd.
But nothing came to the last hole at 32.
Thomas spotted the ball on a rock just off the water, and after taking off his socks and shoes, he escaped the potentially dangerous shot and placed 12 feet from the pin. However, he didn’t sink a par putt to finish with a bogey.
Golf is a humble game and a difficult game for important games.
These tasks can come from the environment around the course, and that’s exactly what happened in the first round.
The turtle decides to come out of the water adjacent to many holes in the quail hollow and pick up the residency in the bunker.
His chip shots slid from green to green landing just off the very quiet turtle before impacting leader Gerald on hole 14.
Brad Gregory of the PGA of America Rules Committee confirmed that there was a delay in the 14th hole throughout the day due to the turtle’s invasion.
American golfer Tyler Colette waited longer than usual as he worked to get the bunker to work and get the bunker back after the turtle wreaked havoc in the sand.
However, the delay did not postpone Colette.
Hopefully, in the second round on Friday, a grouping of Keith Mitchell, Bob Sousse and Adam Hadwin will start things at 7am (7am), so we hope there will be a little less turtles.