On this same course at Charlotte's Quail Hollow Club in 2017, back in August, Justin Thomas won the US PGA Championship at -8. That fact should be on the minds of any contenders for the second Major of the year, which began this Thursday, although it's also true that the grass has changed on this long course of more than 7 kilometers. Rainfall in the days leading up to the start is also affecting the condition of the greens.
After the morning round of the first day, several of the contenders have teed off, and they have also caused quite a stir at the start, such as defending champion Xander Schauffele (+1) and the winner of the last Masters at Augusta, Rory McIlroy (+3). Provisional leaders, among those already in the clubhouse after carding a 67, were the quartet consisting of Stephan Jaeger, European Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald, Ryan Fox, and Alex Smalley.
Rahm, results
But at the start of the afternoon session, local golfer Ryan Gerard, 25 years old and winless, was in a frenzy from the 15th hole, at -7. He made bogeys on the last two holes and took the provisional lead, but only by one stroke over the foursome. Australian Cam Davis arrived at the 15th hole (in his case, the 6th hole), at -6, the new provisional leader, and the Green Mile had already been completed with flying colors.
It wasn't a great day for Basque golfer Jon Rahm, who performed without any major problems at the start of the US PGA Tour, at -1 (70 strokes). He had a first round with two birdies on holes 11 and 15, and the second round was much more uneven with bogeys on the 1st, 3rd, 4th, and 6th, and birdies on the 2nd, 5th, and 8th. He was provisionally in 26th place.
Catalan David Puig also teed off in the morning and shot par (71), but a painful double bogey on the 18th dampened what had been a good round with four birdies on holes 7, 8, 10, and 11. He was under 3 up to the 15th, but the so-called "Green Mile" proved to be a challenge.
Eugenio Chacarra, who was in the afternoon round, finished the first round with a 73 (+2), with three birdies on the 15th, 2nd, and 4th, and five bogeys on the 10th, 11th, 13th, 1st, and 6th. Sergio García was at a worrying +4 after the first nine holes.
In the afternoon round, Eric Cole became the first to make a hole-in-one at the Quail Hollow major on the par-3 4th, making up for his double bogey mistake two holes back.
