2022 PGA Championship, Southern Hills CC, Tulsa, Oklahoma, 19-22 May: Day One
McIlroy is back at the top; Cameron Smith and Lucas Herbert T7
From PGA TOUR Daily Wrap-up, by the AP:
TULSA, Okla. — Rory McIlroy was more interested in his own history in the majors than the peculiar heritage at Southern Hills on Thursday at the PGA Championship.
Southern Hills has proven to be favorable to frontrunners. As for McIlroy, he has failed to break par in the opening round 15 times in the 27 majors he has played since winning his last one.
So there was reason for that bounce in his step when he finished with an 18-foot birdie putt for a 5-under 65, giving him a one-shot lead at end of a warm and windy day. Read more
From Golf Australia, by AP:
Tiger Woods made it sound as though Rory McIlroy played a brand of golf with which he wasn't familiar with in the PGA Championship.
McIlroy looked free and easy and saw only opportunity at Southern Hills, blasting his driver over trees and into fairways, setting up some of his seven birdies that carried him to a five-under 65 and a one-shot lead.
Woods picked his spots and was never terribly crisp on a right leg he said felt worse than it did at the Masters last month. Read more
From The Irish Golf Desk, by Brian Keogh:
RORY McIlroy insisted he can’t get ahead of himself after opening with a five-under 65 to take a one-shot lead in the US PGA at Southern Hills - his first lead after any round in a major since he won The Open in 2014.
It was also the Holywood star’s lowest opening round in a major since he opened with a six-under 65 en route to a record eight-shot win in the 2011 US Open at Congressional.
But while he made over 100 feet of putts and had just 25 putts in a seven-birdie round to lead by the minimum from Will Zalatoris and Tom Hoge, totally dominating Tiger Woods (74) and Jordan Spieth (72) with an awesome display of driving, iron play and putting, he’s not counting his chickens. Read more
From Fox Sports Au, by Russell Gould:
Cameron Smith likened opening-round conditions at the PGA Championship to a “summer’s morning in Brisbane” before saving himself from a battling start to burst into contention in Oklahoma.
And only two late bogeys from Victorian Lucas Herbert, who also compared the challenging Southern Hills layout to a favourite of his own in Frankston, cost him a spot in the top five.
Like Smith, Herbert finished at two-under, three shots behind opening round leader Rory McIlroy. Read more
PHOTOS: from Yahoo!Sports, by Times Photography Staff
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