GOLF 92nd USPGA CHAMPIONSHIP:THE VISION held by owner Herb Kohler for this terrain – transformed from an old military range into a mystical pile of sand hills – was to replicate an Irish links. Yesterday, he got more than he bargained for. A thick blanket of fog, which could have been transported from any headland on the old sod, enveloped Whistling Straits and thoroughly disrupted the first round of the 92nd US PGA Championship.
In fact, there were two stoppages: the first delayed the start of the championship for three hours and 10 minutes; the second lasted only six minutes, when the group involving Bo Van Pelt – the early leader – reached the third tee but claimed not to be able to see the flag some 181 yards. Thankfully, that stoppage was short-lived, and only contrived to add to the stop-start nature of the opening salvos of the season’s final major.
The disruptive nature of the morning was summed up by Scotland’s Stephen Gallacher, who was in the second group off. He arrived at the course at 5.45am (for a planned 7.10am tee time). “I had my breakfast and went out (to the range). Even though it was foggy, you have to prepare as it can lift so quickly. I did my warm-up and, then, it just came right in,” he said.
Gallacher then went back in for a second breakfast – “some toast and fruit” – before finally getting to hit his first shot in anger over three hours behind schedule. “I didn’t see the ball land until the fifth hole,” he remarked.
As his compatriot Martin Laird commented, “It was an interesting start not being able to see the first fairway when they made us go.”
Still, he made the most of it in shooting an opening 70.
Unlike the sun which struggled to break through the stubborn early-morning fog cover, things on the course heated up from an early stage as players, in the main, took advantage of good scoring conditions with only a gentle breeze and generally receptive greens.
It was a day, once it got going, which was made for scoring and Bubba Watson, who made his breakthrough win on tour when beating Scott Verplank in a play-off in the Travelers Championship last month, claimed the early clubhouse lead with an opening round 68, four under, which comprised six birdies and two bogeys. And, as if to underline the recent trend of newcomers refusing to be intimidated in the majors, Australian Jason Day – the winner of the Byron Nelson Classic earlier this season but competing in his first PGA – posted an opening 69, thee under par.
As you’d expect in a major, though, it wasn’t all plain sailing and among those to suffer the wrath of the course were Sergio Garcia, two-time US Open champion Retief Goosen and last year’s British Open champion Stewart Cink, while Pádraig Harrington rescued his round somewhat with back-to-back birdies on the fifth and sixth, his 14th and 15th, en route to an opening 75.
Harrington, who started on the 10th, had endured a horrible run before the turn where he went double bogey-bogey on the 17th – where he pulled his tee shot into the rocks on the shore of the lake – and 18th and then dropped another shot with a bogey on the fourth before resuscitating his round to at least give himself a chance of surviving the cut. After that, anything is possible as Rory McIlroy proved in the Quail Hollow championship earlier in the season.
For Day, who has an on-going sinus problem, it proved to be a rewarding opening round despite some issues with dehydration. “The biggest problem with me has been always been my health.
“I felt awful the last two days of the World Golf Championships (Bridgestone Invitational) last week at Akron and I was a little light-headed and a little shaky out there today. I ate like six or seven Clif Bars and I drank about 10 bottles of water out there today,” he said.
Day, like all of those with a morning tee time, found it difficult to work out his preparations but found a friendly ally in the range in Stuart Appleby who practised alongside him.
“You want to just try and get back into the same routine and try and feel as comfortable as possible and the PGA’s a major and you just don’t want to change. You don’t want to feel like it’s bigger than anything else. It’s a major, but you got to play it as a normal tournament and you got to try and feel as comfortable as possible like you’re playing any other event,” said Day.
While Watson assumed the early clubhouse lead with a 68, the on-course lead was held by Ryan Moore – who reached five-under through 15 holes – but the effects of the fog lingered through a disrupted first day with half of the field unable to complete their first rounds with the need to return to the course today to complete their rounds and the likelihood that the midway cut won’t be determined until tomorrow.
First round
Early Scores
(USA unless stated, par 72)
68- Bubba Watson
69- Jason Day (Aus)
70- Jim Furyk, John Merrick, Martin Laird (Sco), Kyung-Tae Kim (Kor)
71- Tiger Woods, Stephen Gallacher (Sco)
72- Stuart Appleby (Aus)
73- Soren Kjeldsen (Den), Rob Labritz, Justin Leonard, Charl Schwartzel (Rsa), Vaughn Taylor, Bo Van Pelt, Rickie Fowler
74- Steve Marino, K J Choi (Kor), Geoff Ogilvy (Aus), Alvaro Quiros (Spa), Hiroyuki Fujita (Jpn)
75- Pádraig Harrington,Tim Petrovic, Rich Steinmetz, Scott Hebert
76- Ryo Ishikawa (Jpn), Kyle Flinton
77- Derek Lamely
78- Keith Ohr
