US PGA Championship 2024: first round – live | US PGA

Having scrambled his par on 12, Tiger follows up by ramming home a 15-foot birdie putt on 13. He’s back on terms at level par. And some fine scrambling from Doug Ghim on the monster par-four 16th, playing at 503 yards today. He nearly holes out from off the front, a crisp chip from 55 feet to five inches. He remains at -2 alongside Xander Schauffele.

There were no Scottish players at the Masters last month. But Bob MacIntyre is here to represent the old country this week, and the 27-year-old from Oban has started well, with birdie at the long par-four 2nd. He’s -1, alongside the 2022 Open champion Cameron Smith, who picks up his first stroke of the week at 11.

Xander Schauffele has bounced back as well, from disappointment at Quail Hollow last Sunday, when he was left in Rory McIlroy’s dust. Birdie at 11 and now another at 13, the latest the reward for a fine wedge landed pin high and spun back to 12 feet, leaving an uphill putt that’s drained with supreme confidence. He joins Doug Ghim in the lead at -2.

A huge roar on 12 as Tiger rolls in a straight 25-footer. But it’s just to save his par. The 1999, 2000, 2006 and 2007 winner remains at +1. Meanwhile the man looking to join him on the career-slam roll of honour, Jordan Spieth, crashes his second at 10 into the heart of the green, then nearly drains his 30-foot eagle effort. An opening birdie will suffice. And it’s a bounce-back birdie for Doug Ghim at 15, who grabs back sole ownership of the early lead at -2.

-2: Ghim (6*)
-1: Donald (6), Wallace (4), Schauffele (3*), Hadwin (3), McIlroy (2*), Hovland (1*), Spieth (1*)

Opening birdie for Viktor Hovland at 10. Last year’s runner-up – the Norwegian was in contention until plugging his ball in the face of a fairway bunker at 16 – has himself a share of the lead, with Doug Ghim missing the green at the par-three 14th and dropping his first shot of the day. Meanwhile a fine up and down by Rory from the side of 11. An early sign that his newly rediscovered confidence with his occasionally recalcitrant wedge is not misplaced.

-1: Donald (5), Ghim (5*), Wallace (4), Schauffele (3*), Hadwin (2), McIlroy (2*), Hovland (1*)

Jordan Spieth is looking to complete the career slam this week. Only five players have previously managed to collect the full set: Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods. If Spieth’s to become the sixth member of this exclusive club, he’ll need to up his game this week, having missed the cut at both the Players and Masters. The 2015 Masters, 2015 US Open and 2017 Open champion starts well by cracking his opening drive down the middle of the 10th fairway.

Tiger’s tee shot at the par-three 11th is long and to the right. He can’t get anywhere close with his wedge out of the thick cabbage, and drops to +1. Meanwhile a slow start for another former champion, Shaun Micheel. Three bogeys in the opening five holes and the 2003 winner (and 2006 runner-up) is +3 in short order.

Another birdie for Doug Ghim! He rattles in a 30-footer across 13 and the 28-year-old from Illinois, making his PGA debut this week, hits the front of his own. That’s because Luke Donald visits a native area down the left side of 5, and ends up looking at a 60-footer to save his par. He does pretty well to limit the damage to bogey. But up on 10, the in-form Rory McIlroy opens with birdie, that aforementioned loose tee shot worrying him not one jot.

-2: Ghim (4*)
-1: Donald (5), Schauffele (2*), Kaymer (2), McIlroy (1)

An opening par for Tiger Woods at 10. He looks slightly disappointed, having gotten a bit too aggressive with a six-foot birdie effort, the pace cancelling out the right-to-left break. Meanwhile back down the hole – named after the famous racehorse Secretariat – another thoroughbred, Rory McIlroy, sends his first shot of the week into rough down the left.

It was a misty morning in Louisville, Kentucky. Like the clouds above the storm just had to cry. But that’s clearing up now, and the weather is expected to be fine and dandy for the rest of the day. There is some rain expected tomorrow, mind, which if nothing else should ensure the course doesn’t get too firm and out of hand over the entire piece. Meanwhile Matt Wallace has made his bounce-back birdie at 3, and he joins Doug Ghim in second spot at -1.

Another birdie for Luke Donald! He knocks his second at 4 to three feet, and tidies up to move to -2. Bogey for Matt Wallace at 2, though … but he’ll be moving back into red figures soon enough, as he’s just swished his tee shot at the par-three 3rd to a couple of feet.

-2: Donald (4)
-1: Ghim (3*)

Ludvig Aberg’s first hole in a PGA Championship should have ended with birdie. He sends his approach at the par-five 10th to eight feet. But he misreads what looks like a fairly simple putt and his ball dies away on the low side. No damage done, though, and he moves on with par.

Only one Englishman has ever won the PGA … and that happened a long time ago. Jim Barnes was the inaugural winner back in 1916, and he followed that up with a second victory in 1919. Since then, nothing. Zilch. Nix. Nada. In fact, there have only been three other European winners in the entire history of the competition: Padraig Harrington (2008), Martin Kaymer (2010) and Rory McIlroy (2012 and 2014). But along with the aforementioned Luke Donald, the English charge is ON! Matt Wallace rolls in a 20-footer on 1 to join his compatriot at the top of the leaderboard, for what that’s worth after less than an hour of play. But it’s something, and you’ve got to start chipping away at history from somewhere.

-1: Donald (3), Ghim (2*), Wallace (1)
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+5: Block (3)

The first shot of this year’s tournament was hit by Michael Block. You’ll remember the California club pro’s antics last year, when at the age of 46 he shot 70 in the third round, then made a hole-in-one with Rory McIlroy standing next to him on Sunday. He finished the week in a tie for 15th, as sensational a story as LIV returnee Brooks Koepka winning the whole thing. Fairytale-infused lightning doesn’t look like striking twice, sadly. Block sent his opening drive into the rough en route to bogey, and has followed that up with a disastrous quadruple-bogey eight on the 2nd, after a short-game zig-zaggy meltdown around the green. He’s +5 already, and a year’s a long time in major-championship golf.

Here we go, then … and the first birdie of the week has been made by one of golf’s nearly men. If you can call a former world number one a nearly man, of course. All hail Luke Donald, who drains a 25-footer on the 1st to become the first player to move into red figures this week. Europe’s current Ryder Cup captain jointly led this tournament after 54 holes at Medinah in 2006 … but on the Sunday, he slipped to a two-over 74 while eventual winner Tiger Woods carded 68. Donald’s tie for third remains his best-ever finish at a major; he also tied for third at the Masters in 2005, though arguably came closest to winning a major when eventually tying for fourth at Augusta six years later. Could this be the time for the 46-year-old to finally make the breakthrough we always thought he would, but never did? Well, almost certainly not. But it’d be lovely, wouldn’t it? We’re allowed to dream.

Preamble